Bambu Lab A1 Combo Setup and First Prints: My Honest First Look

The Bambu Lab A1 Combo got through my first two multicolor prints without a problem. Assembly took a little attention around the gantry, underside wiring, and AMS lite tubing, but the actual first-print experience was straightforward. The two things I would plan for before unboxing are space beside the printer for the AMS lite and a way to collect the material purged during color changes.

This is my hands-on setup and first-look report, not a long-term reliability review. I assembled this machine, loaded four spools, and printed a filament catch basket and a four-color French bulldog. Below is the setup sequence, what stood out, and the purge weights from those two jobs. Where I suggest additional checks, those are general setup guidance rather than problems I experienced.

Quick verdict: a good start, with two practical tradeoffs

My initial impression was positive: both multicolor jobs completed successfully, and I was happy with the results. The filament setup was also convenient: the four spools I loaded appeared on the touchscreen with PLA and their colors identified.

That does not make this a complete review. Two successful prints do not establish long-term dependability, dimensional accuracy, maximum practical speed, or how the printer handles every material. I did not record a controlled speed comparison or a detailed first-layer measurement in this video.

The immediate tradeoffs were easier to see. The side-mounted AMS lite takes up useful desk space, which matters in my crowded workspace. Multicolor printing also produced measurable waste: 61.2 g for the catch-basket job and 182.2 g for the bulldog. Those are the purge amounts from these particular jobs, not a prediction for every A1 print.

If you are comparing the setup experience with another machine I have used, my P1S setup and first-print guide provides a separate hands-on baseline. Neither first-look article should be read as a head-to-head benchmark.

What was in the box—and what to check before discarding it

The main pieces I unpacked were the printer base, gantry, AMS lite body, AMS lite stand and rotary spool holders, build plate, PTFE tubing, sample filament, standard spool-holder parts, and the tools and accessory hardware. This is the equipment shown during my unboxing, not a promise that every regional package or later revision will have an identical accessory inventory.

One detail worth watching is the outside of the foam packaging. Some smaller parts can be easy to overlook when you are concentrating on the large printer components. Check the packaging and accessory bags before putting anything out for recycling.

I liked the lifting bag used around the printer: it made getting the packed machine out of the box feel manageable. Once everything was on the table, I removed the cardboard, ties, and other shipping restraints before assembly. Keep the hardware bags separated by their labels rather than combining all the screws into a single pile.

Plan your work surface before assembling the A1 Combo

You need room for assembly as well as room for the finished machine. In the video, I rotated the printer and tipped it onto its side to access the underside connections. Having a clear surface is more useful at that stage than trying to work in the printer's final tightly packed corner.

For calibration, I wanted the machine on a solid surface and lowered my desk before running the routine. General guidance: place the printer securely, make sure nothing obstructs the bed's movement, and check that the cables and tubes can move without catching on nearby objects. Do this before starting a moving calibration routine, not after it has begun.

The AMS lite is part of that space calculation. In the arrangement shown here, it sits beside the A1 with four spool positions, so the Combo occupies more of the worktop than the printer base alone suggests. I did not measure the complete operating footprint in this first look. Measure your own available area and use the manufacturer's placement guidance rather than estimating clearance from a product photo.

A1 assembly: gantry, covers, wiring, and purge wiper

Follow the guide included with your machine for the precise hardware and diagrams. My video is useful for seeing how the parts fit together, but it is not a substitute for revision-specific assembly instructions. Bambu's A1 Combo quick-start guide also identifies the purge-wiper part discussed below.

1. Remove the shipping restraints and fit the gantry

After removing the protective packaging, I removed the four transport screws called out around the Z-axis assembly. I then brought the gantry into position at an angle, fitted it to the base, and lowered it into place.

Take a moment to check the seating before moving on to the base fasteners. As general assembly practice, if the parts do not line up, stop and check their orientation rather than using screw tension to pull them together.

2. Open the Y-axis cover and install the base hardware

The Y-axis cover was one of the slightly fiddlier steps for me. The movement was a small pull, a lift, and then sliding it out of the way. It was not a part I simply lifted straight off.

With the cover removed, I installed the base screws at the marked locations. Moving the bed gave access to the remaining locations shown in the assembly sequence. I then slid the cover back into position. Keep checking the labeled hardware against your manual; several different screws are used over the course of the build.

3. Connect and secure the underside wiring

I tipped the printer onto its side for the underside connections, protecting the surface as shown in the video. The matching labels helped identify the connections: the white- and green-marked wiring, the USB-C-style connector and its retaining screw, and the yellow-marked connection in the cable channel.

I opened the cable-channel cover, routed the cable, connected it, and refitted the cover before putting the printer upright. General check: inspect the cable routing before closing a cover so you are not trapping a wire beneath it. Do this assembly work with power disconnected.

4. Fit the purge wiper and finish the small details

The small assembly fitted near the end of the X-axis is the purge wiper. I refer to it loosely in the video, but Bambu's guide names it a purge wiper and specifies its M3-12 retaining screw. It is worth making that distinction so you can find the correct part in the instructions rather than confusing it with the filament cutter.

I also positioned the touchscreen and showed the camera's sliding privacy cover and the access area for the SD card. Those are orientation details from setup, not tests of camera quality or print-monitoring performance.

AMS lite setup: stand, holders, tubes, and connection

The AMS lite assembly starts with the stand. I oriented the numbered positions as shown, attached the stand with its supplied hardware, and fitted the rotary spool holders by matching the colored fittings. Keep the green and yellow positions straight while working around the unit.

Next came the four PTFE tubes between the AMS lite and the toolhead. In my setup sequence, the shorter pair went to the yellow side and the longer pair to the green side. Use your kit's routing diagram to confirm the arrangement before pushing all the tube ends home.

The practical check here is the complete filament path, not just whether a tube looks connected at one end. Follow each tube from its AMS lite position to the printer, check that both ends are seated, and look for tight bends or nearby objects that could interfere with movement. These are preventive checks; I did not have a tube-feeding failure during these first two prints.

Finally, I connected the AMS lite cable to the back of the printer and connected the printer's power cable. The hotend cable also needs to go through its retaining clip. I pointed that out around calibration in the video; on your own checklist, put it before starting calibration so routing is already finished when the machine begins moving.

First boot, account binding, calibration, and firmware

On first boot, I worked through language and region selection, then the connection and account-binding process. In the Bambu app, I added the printer, scanned to bind it to my account, and named it A1.

I then ran the initial calibration. The screen estimated approximately half an hour. That is the estimate shown during setup, not a stopwatch measurement of how long my calibration took. I also did not time the entire unboxing-to-first-print process, so I would not present this as a verified one-hour setup or any other fixed completion time.

Before loading the filament, I checked the settings for a firmware update and installed the available update. The video documents that step, but it does not establish a particular firmware version as the best version to use indefinitely. Read the prompts on your own machine and allow an update to finish before proceeding.

At this point, the important milestones were complete assembly, a bound printer, calibration, and the firmware check. If your machine reports an error at one of those stages, resolve that message before sending a print. My unit did not need a troubleshooting detour here.

Loading four spools and checking the filament assignments

I fed the filament into an AMS lite inlet until the mechanism took hold, then repeated the process for the remaining spools. Once loaded, all four positions appeared on the printer's screen as PLA with colors identified through the spools' RFID information.

That convenience depends on the filament providing the information. In the video, I also point out the manual path for third-party filament: select the slot and edit the material type and color yourself. Do not assume that a spool's physical color means the printer or the sliced job already has the correct assignment.

Before starting a multicolor job, compare the actual loaded spools with the slot information and the intended colors in the job. That is a general workflow check, not evidence that I had incorrect mapping on this machine.

The video does not show a complete slicer-settings record. I have therefore not supplied a supposed tested nozzle temperature, bed temperature, layer height, speed, or flushing-volume preset. Start with the appropriate A1 and material profiles for your setup and record any changes you make. The claim here is that these two jobs worked—not that I verified every default or never touched a setting.

First-print results: catch basket and four-color bulldog

My first print was a filament catch basket, a useful accessory when the printer will be ejecting purge material during multicolor jobs. I showed the completed basket and was happy with the result. The reported purge waste for that job was 61.2 g.

The second print was a four-color French bulldog statue for another project. It completed successfully too. The close-up gives a useful view of the face, contrasting color regions, paws, and base, rather than just a distant view of a completed object on the bed.

The bulldog's 182.2 g of purge is a substantial amount of filament to budget for. It is approximately 18.2% of a 1 kg spool, simply as a mass comparison. That does not mean 18.2% of the job was waste: the model's own weight and the complete material accounting were not recorded here.

Likewise, these numbers cannot tell us whether the A1 is more or less efficient than another printer. That would require a controlled comparison with matching models, colors, and relevant slicing choices. The useful day-one lesson is narrower: the prints worked, but the material discarded during color changes deserves attention alongside the finished model.

Use the multicolor print planner to think through the material and cost side before a larger project. Treat estimated consumption as planning information and compare it with your own completed jobs. Do not reduce flushing blindly just to chase a lower waste number if that compromises the color transitions you need.

My pre-print checklist

• Check the foam and accessory bags before discarding the packaging; remove the specified shipping restraints.
• Confirm the gantry, base hardware, underside connections, and covers are installed according to the supplied guide.
• Check the purge wiper, cable clip, AMS lite connection, and both ends of every PTFE tube.
• Put the printer on a stable surface with unobstructed movement and space for the AMS lite and spools.
• Complete the initial setup and calibration, and check for a firmware update.
• Match the loaded filament types and colors to the displayed slots; enter third-party spool details manually where needed.
• Check the job's intended colors and material estimate, and provide a suitable place for purge material to collect.
• Keep a record of your first successful job before experimenting with settings or mounting changes.

Who this first look helps—and what still needs testing

For someone considering the A1 Combo for multicolor projects, my first experience is encouraging: I got through assembly and two successful jobs without a print failure or feeding problem. The setup involved real assembly steps, but I did not hit a major obstacle.

If you have limited worktop space, the side-mounted AMS lite is the main concern I would investigate before committing to this arrangement. I mentioned a plan to print and try a top mount on the gantry. That had not happened in this video, so I am not presenting a top mount as a tested fix or recommending a particular mount file here.

If your decision depends on long-term reliability, engineering-material performance, acoustic measurements, or verified speed, this first look is not enough evidence. Those questions need separate testing. The same applies if you are choosing a machine for a production workflow where the cost of every color change matters.

For now, keep the baseline intact. Once you have a repeatable successful print, the Bambu Studio settings guide is a useful next step for controlled changes when a specific surface-quality problem appears. There is no reason to start changing unrelated settings just because they exist.

A1 Combo setup FAQs

Did the first multicolor prints work?

Yes. My catch-basket job and four-color French bulldog both completed successfully, and I reported no issues with those two prints. That is a first-use result, not a lifetime failure-rate claim.

How much purge waste did these jobs produce?

I reported 61.2 g for the catch basket and 182.2 g for the bulldog. These are job-specific purge weights, not finished-part weights or universal A1 waste estimates.

How long did calibration take?

The setup screen estimated around 30 minutes. I did not provide a measured elapsed calibration time or total setup time in this video.

Did third-party filament need manual setup?

The four spools shown were recognized with PLA and color information. For filament without that automatic information, I showed that you can edit the slot's material and color manually. Confirm those details before printing.

Is the AMS lite top mount tested here?

No. It was a planned follow-up because I disliked the amount of desk space used by the side-by-side arrangement. The results in this article are from the setup shown in the video.

Bottom line and next steps

The A1 Combo made a good first impression: assembly, filament loading, and two multicolor prints went well. My immediate reservations were practical rather than a failed-print story—desk space for the AMS lite and the amount of purge material to collect and pay for.

Start with a careful assembly check and a known successful print, then evaluate the changes that solve an actual problem in your workspace. For the rest of my printer coverage and related workflows, continue through the Bambu Lab guides and reviews hub.