Bambu Lab announced the long-awaited seven-nozzle H2C this week at FormNext, the world’s largest additive manufacturing expo. The printer was recently sent to us for review and is currently undergoing testing.
The price revealed to Tom’s Hardware starts at $2399 US for a basic H2C with an AMS 2 Pro. This is the model we are reviewing. You can also pick up an Ultimate combo that comes with an additional single spool AMS HT for $2999. Like the H2D and H2S, you can opt for a Laser Combo starting at $2999 for the basics and up to $4199 for the whole enchilada.
The machine looks great, but U.S. buyers will have to wait until an undisclosed date in December. It’s another Lucy-and-the-football moment: an exciting launch yanked away at the last second thanks to “logistics,” a phrase that usually translates to tariff headaches. We were hoping that after a recently announced tariff truce between the U.S. and China, roadblocks keeping American consumers from the latest Chinese 3D printers would vanish.
The toolhead is a modified version of the H2D, with the same left-hand nozzle, but a new right-hand nozzle that the machine can change out itself. It can’t use two different nozzle sizes at the same time (yet?), so for now you’ll need FIVE matching nozzles.
The new nozzles have inductive heaters and are held onto the Vortek Hotend Change System (attached to the right side of the chamber) with magnets. The Vortek can hold six nozzles, but only four of them are assigned to the AMS. The other two are spares? We haven’t quite sorted this part out, but we’re going to question the Bambu Lab team about the system and learn all its tricks at Formnext. I’m assuming we can hook up another AMS to this and run all seven nozzles, or maybe even more. I haven’t had time to tinker with it yet.
The Vortek system, bolted to the side of the chamber, takes up a lot of real estate. The H2D and H2S have the same-sized heat beds, 350mm wide. The H2C heat bed is only 340mm wide. This means that to convert an already expensive H2D or H2S, you will need at least a new tool head, a new heat bed, and the Vortek system itself.
The Vortek system has two racks, each holding three nozzles. The racks jump up and down when they need to swap. It’s only swapping out the right-hand nozzle. One space needs to be left empty for the nozzle in play (on the tool head) so it has a place to park it. The Vortek system moves insanely fast.
It handles purge waste like a champ, so if your main concern is saving filament, you will be impressed. But it’s not tool-changer impressive yet; it still needs a sizable purge tower, but like the Prusa Research MMU3, it does not make any “poop.” And in case you’re wondering, I did try printing without a purge tower and got a giant pile of spaghetti. So the purge tower is definitely needed.
And though the purge problem has been solved, it is still dealing with an AMS, so it will need time to spool up four (or more) of its colors. During my preliminary testing, I found the H2C could print a five-color Maker’s Muse castle in 11 hours, with only a 43g purge tower. The H2D can print the exact same tower in twice the time with twice the purge tower and an additional 279g of waste. The Prusa XL, a five-color tool changer, makes the same exact print in 6 hours, with a 41g purge tower and no additional waste.
TL’DR: the H2C is twice as fast as an H2D, but twice as slow as a Prusa XL.
As I’ve said before, the machine is still in testing. I’ll be back with full results later.
Follow Tom's Hardware on Google News, or add us as a preferred source, to get our latest news, analysis, & reviews in your feeds.
