In just a few short years, Bambu Lab has come to dominate the consumer 3D printing market. Now it seems that they want to set their sights on the consumer/prosumer laser machine market. That push began with the H2D Laser model, which has a blue diode laser module. Today, Bambu Lab launched their first dedicated laser machine: the R1.
I’ve spent the past couple of weeks testing the new Bambu Lab R1 and have a lot of thoughts to share with you.
The Bambu Lab R1 is a dedicated laser cutter/engraver — it doesn’t do anything else. It has a 55W CO2 laser tube, directed to the material through a system of mirrors, which is the standard setup for a CO2 laser machine.
The machine size is pretty typical for a desktop CO2 laser, with a working area of 600×300mm. The conveyor accessory expands the Y axis to 3 meters. I’ll talk about that conveyor (and the riser base it requires) later in this review.
Notably, this is a smart machine and it has a whole suite of sensors and cameras — plus sophisticated motion algorithms borrowed from Bambu Lab’s 3D printers — to make the user experience as pleasant as possible. Those and a number of nice convenience features are what really set the R1 apart from basic CO2 laser machines.
At launch, the Bambu Lab R1 will only work with the Bambu Suite software, available for Windows and macOS. That may be its only shortcoming.
The Bambu Lab R1 is big and heavy. It weighs 33.5kg and is too large to reasonably set up alone. You’ll want a helper for unboxing.
Fortunately, Bambu thought out the unboxing process. As with their 3D printers, the box is designed as two pieces, with the top lifting off easily to give you access to the contents. From there, you and your helper just need to haul the machine up onto a work table.
Readying the R1 for the first cut is also pretty easy. There are a few pieces of tape and a handful of screws to remove before you can turn power on. Then, once you get to that step, the built-in LCD screen will walk you through the setup and calibration.
You will, for example, need to fill the CO2 tube’s coolant reservoir with the right ratio of distilled water to antifreeze. However, most of the calibration is completely automatic. That includes the laser alignment.
This part of the setup gets its own section in my review, because it is a big deal.
The laser beam gets from the CO2 tube to the workpiece via a series of mirrors. All of those mirrors need to be properly aligned and with most machines, you need to do that alignment manually — literally turning little screws to adjust each mirror’s angle, in sequence, until you get it right. It is a huge hassle.
The Bambu Lab R1 doesn’t need anything, because it handles the alignment process on its own. Just clip on a little magnetic alignment tool and the machine takes care of the rest.
On my machine, that worked perfectly. It only took a couple of minutes and I didn’t need to do anything except clip on that tool.
In my opinion, this is a very good feature. Manual alignment processes are so cumbersome that they scare off many users and that simply isn’t an issue with the R1.
This may change in the future (though I doubt it), but for now, the Bambu Lab R1 is only compatible with Bambu Suite. Note that is different software than Bambu Studio, which is what you use with Bambu Lab 3D printers.
You may have already used Bambu Suite if you have an H-series 3D printer with a laser.
I wrote about Bambu Suite in July of 2025 when I reviewed the Bambu Lab H2D Laser Combo and, unfortunately, it hasn’t changed much since then. I say “unfortunately,” because there are a couple of ways in which I think it is very lacking.
I’ll touch on those in a moment, but first I will say that Bambu Suite mostly works fine. It performs the basic functions that it should and it is reliable. It is also intuitive and user-friendly in most regards.
I have two major complaints: the camera view/canvas display and the process settings.
Bambu Suite works in two stages. In the first stage, you create (or import) your design on the canvas. In the second stage, you place and arrange your design on the material, using the view from the camera.
The problem with that two-stage process is that it doesn’t give you an opportunity to use the camera view as a visual aid when creating your design. If, for example, you want to engrave a rectangle on a picture frame, offset from the frame’s edge, a camera view on the canvas would let you do that in seconds. But because you don’t get a camera view on the canvas, you have to measure the frame and then calculate your rectangle dimensions based on that.
This is frustrating, because every other laser’s software does have that feature and it would be easy to bring into Bambu Suite.
There is a feature where you can analyze the camera view andextract edges, then bring those edges into the canvas. That is nice and is helpful in many ways, but it isn’t a substitute for a camera view in the first stage.
When it comes to process settings, my complaint is more straightforward: there just aren’t as many things to control as I would like.
For instance, I couldn’t find any setting for stepping down between passes. I was cutting thick foam for my toolbox and the top cut very well, while the bottom cut very poorly. If I could have set it to step down between passes, that wouldn’t have been an issue.
Both of my complaints are easy for Bambu Lab to address and I think they probably will, as the R1 is proof that they’re taking lasers seriously.
My only complaints about the Bambu Lab R1 are related to the software. The hardware is amazing.
55 watts is a very healthy number for a desktop CO2 laser machine. That is more than enough to easily cut through plywood, MDF, and acrylic — which are the materials best suited to CO2. If you plan to cut those materials, I can’t imagine any way you’d be disappointed. If you’re interested in other materials (particularly metals), you’ll want to do some research on different laser types.
I was expecting the R1 to cut well, based on my experience with other CO2 lasers. What surprised me was how well it engraves.
There are three different lenses available for the R1: S (short), M (Medium), and L (Long). Those differ in how they tighten the laser beam into a point, so S works best for cutting thin material and engraving, while L works best for cutting thick material. The L has a longer range in which it cuts well, while the S has a finer spot size.
To put some numbers on it, the S has a spot size of 0.11mm, the M has a spot size of 0.17mm, and the L has a spot size 0.19mm.
Bambu Lab only sent me the S lens, so that’s what I used for all of my testing. While it wouldn’t be the best for cutting thick material (as evidenced by my attempts with toolbox foam), it is very good for engraving.
As you can see, the S lens allows for very fine, crisp engraved lines. I’ve always thought of CO2 lasers as being brutish, so I was impressed by the engraving quality here.
That quality is also the result of the sensor system, which nails the focus without any effort on the user’s part. In addition to the laser-based ranging for autofocus, there is a dual-encoder system for positioning accuracy.
Going even further, there is a vision-based calibration board for the positioning. If you’ve used the calibration plate on a Bambu Lab 3D printer, this is similar. The cameras look at that board and help the R1 figure out how it actually moves, compared to how it thinks it moves, so it can compensate if there is a difference between the two.
Bambu Lab says that with the Vision Encoder, absolute motion accuracy is within 0.1mm over 600mm. It is hard to imagine a scenario in which that would be insufficient.
Beyond performance and accuracy, there are sensors for monitoring machine health and safety. For example, the R1 can sense if the tube coolant is low or if the tube is too hot. It can also detect a fire and activate the automatic fire extinguisher (an add-on accessory).
One of the primary reasons to purchase a CO2 laser machine is to cut acrylic. Unfortunately, acrylic smells terrible when cut with a laser. In my experience, cutting acrylic always results in a strong, lingering odor in the room that takes days to fully dissipate.
I was very pleasantly surprised to find that wasn’t an issue with the Bambu Lab R1, because the enclosure sealing is so good. The built-in exhaust fan and the external purifier/filter take care of all of the fumes, while the enclosure sealing prevents any fumes from escaping before then.
The R1’s display even reminds you to keep the lid closed for 30-60 seconds after a job finishes, so it has time to fully filter all of the air inside the enclosure.
These two accessories are important if you want to cut or engrave large things — anything larger than the 600×300mm working area of the bed.
The Riser Base is required to use the Conveyor, but the Conveyor is not required to use the Riser Base.
So, if you just want to work with material that is thick in the Z axis, you can get the Riser Base. As a bonus, the Riser Base has access doors on the front and side. Those make it easy to get material inside and even to stick the end of a large object in there.
If you want to be able to feed long material through, like a 2×4-foot sheet of plywood, you’ll need to get the Riser Base and the Conveyor.
Those arrive in pieces and you will need to assemble them. It isn’t difficult, but you should set aside an hour or so to get through the entire assembly. You’ll also need a friend available to help you lift the R1 and place it on the Riser Base.
I didn’t have any plywood on hand in an appropriate size, so I tested the Riser Base and Conveyor using a piece of a cardboard. That worked very well, with the automatic feed doing it exactly what it should. Before engraving, it even pulls the material through to do a full image scan, so you can position your design.
The support arms have rollers on top, so material slides easily across them. And those support arms are very easy to remove (just a couple of thumbscrews on each) when you aren’t using them.
I really like the Riser Base and Conveyor combo, because it makes the Bambu Lab R1 practical for large-format work. I see myself using it for big acrylic signs and enclosures, as well as for plywood furniture parts.
However, it is worth noting that the Riser Base affects that enclosure sealing I talked about, making smoke and fumes more likely to leak out. So, consider whether or not you actually need the Conveyor or Riser Base before buying them on a whim.
There are quite a few desktop CO2 laser machines on the market. You have plenty of options.
But most of those are, in my opinion, relatively generic machines. Some models, like the K40 (my first CO2 laser machine, almost a decade ago), are truly generic.
Of the models on the market that stand out, the xTool P2S seems like the Bambu Lab R1’s closest competition. It has a similar working area, similar features, and also has a 55W CO2 laser tube. It even has an available Riser Base and Automatic Conveyor Feeder, just like like the R1.
I haven’t tested the P2S, so I can’t compare it to the R1 directly. But I have tested several other xTool laser machines and think they’re among the best on the consumer market. xTool is well-established in that market now and Bambu Lab is a newcomer.
If nothing else, I can say with confidence that xTool Studio is better than Bambu Suite. That may change in the future as Bambu Lab pushes updates to refine the software. But for now, xTool Studio is a clear step above Bambu Suite.
When it comes to hardware, I don’t see an obvious winner between the P2S and R1. Based on my testing of the R1 and my experience with other xTool machines, my impression is that they’re equally matched on the hardware side.
Though it is worth noting that the P2S does not have the automatic alignment feature that I talked about at the beginning of this review. If you aren’t comfortable performing manual alignment, that alone could settle your decision.
If you already own a Bambu Lab 3D printer and have a positive opinion of it, that might push you towards the R1 over the P2S. But in this particular case, I don’t see much of a benefit to staying within the Bambu Lab ecosystem.
I think that for most people, the decision will come down to price.
Bambu Lab seems to be well aware of that, because they have set the price for the R1 at $2,499. Compare that to the regular price of the P2S, which is $2,999 (currently on sale at $2,799).
So, the R1 is cheaper than the the P2S by an amount that isn’t trivial. Is that enough to make up for Bambu Suite’s shortcomings and Bambu Lab’s inexperience in this industry? I’m not sure. If I were spending my own money, I would genuinely struggle to decide between the P2S and the R1.
When Bambu Lab released the H2D, I think they found that most people don’t really want to mix their laser and 3D printer. Personally, I believe the concerns about soot and motion system cleanliness were overblown. I also thought the H2D’s laser functionality was respectable. But, the community made it pretty clear that they would prefer a dedicated laser machine.
This is Bambu Lab’s first attempt to provide that and I think they did a very good job. When it comes to hardware, the R1 is fantastic. Bambu Lab clearly put in the research to determine what features they should include.
Yes, Bambu Suite is a bit lacking right now, when compared to xTool Studio and some of the other top competition’s software. But software updates are easy and Bambu Lab has always been good about incorporating new software features quickly, so I think my complaints will likely be addressed soon.
Potential buyers have a tough decision to make between the Bambu Lab R1 and the xTool P2S. The latter is a few hundred dollars more, but has the better software and xTool’s experience behind it. The R1 is more affordable and has the great automatic alignment feature, but it may take some time for Bambu Suite to reach parity with xTool Studio.
I don’t think you’ll be unhappy with either decision, but neither is an obviously superior choice. All I can tell you is that I think the Bambu Lab R1 is very good and I like it a lot.