Hey everyone,
Excited to share that we’ve kicked off a major upgrade to Zephyrus, one of our Bambu P1S machines (without AMS). The first phase is complete: a high-temperature all-metal hotend is now installed and ready to use. A new build plate and chamber heater are on the way and will be installed at the upcoming volunteer day.
So what does the hotend change actually get you? A lot, it turns out.
The stock Bambu hotend uses a PTFE-lined heat break, which puts a practical ceiling on printing temperature. The all-metal replacement removes that ceiling entirely. Paired with the hardened steel nozzle that came with it, Zephyrus can now handle abrasives and high temperature materials! If you’ve had a project on the back burner because PLA or PETG wasn’t going to cut it, Zephyrus is now your machine.
One thing to be aware of: the hardened steel nozzle is fantastic for engineering materials, but it’s actually not ideal for PLA. Brass nozzles have better thermal conductivity and surface properties for low-temperature materials, and you’ll typically get nicer surface finish and easier dialing-in on the other P1S machines. Consider using the other printers for PLA and PETG jobs for slightly better print quality, unless they are also abrasive filled (CF-PETG for example would want Zephyrus).
More updates to come as the build plate and chamber heater go in. Once those are installed, we’ll do some tuning and post some recommended settings on getting started with PPA-CF and other materials. In the meantime, feel free to experiment with the upgraded hotend — just make sure you’re using an appropriate engineering profile and that your filament is dry.
Happy printing! 