Bambu Lab H2D Laser Edition: Beginner's Setup Guide and Settings

When Bambu Lab announced they were putting a laser inside the H2D, I was skeptical. Lasers make soot, smoke and debris, and 3D printers rely on clean belts, rails and electronics. So when Bambu Lab sent me the H2D Laser Edition, I wanted to find out if my concerns were justified.

This guide covers the whole process: installing the laser, the first calibration, Bambu Suite, the safety features, and real tests on wood, slate, leather and metal, with the settings I used. If you've got one, you can use them as a starting point.

Jump to: What's included · Extraction and e-stop · Laser platform · Fitting the module · First calibration · Bambu Suite · Material test · My settings · Verdict

What's in the Laser Edition

• The 40W laser module (there's also a 20W version)
• The Bambu laser platform and six cutting slats
• An air assist tube with its coupler
• An exhaust coupler, extraction hose and hose clip
• An emergency stop button
• A laser test card. My box also had the cutting module, a strong grip mat and pens.

The H2D's windows are green tinted to block the laser's wavelength, so once it's closed you don't need glasses. I also tested it with Bambu Lab's smoke extractor (air purifier), which is a separate extra.

Step 1: Fit the extraction and the emergency stop

Turn the printer off and turn it round so you can get to the back.

1. Fit the exhaust coupler with the screws from the bag that has the coupler and air assist tube, using the Allen key from the H2D toolkit. The orientation matters. Turn it the wrong way and the screw holes won't line up. Once it's on there should be no movement at all, because you want an airtight seal.
2. Fit the extraction hose. Slide the hose clip over the end of the hose, push the hose over the coupler (it's a tight fit, which is what you want), then tighten the clip clockwise until you can't pull the hose off.
3. Remove the air pump fixing screw. The manual tells you to, and it's easy to forget.
4. Plug in the emergency stop. Remove the safety key plug if one is fitted, then line up the keyed connector (two pins at the bottom) and push it in.

Turn the machine back round. There's a cutout on the stop button that slides under the edge of the machine, by the label on the side. Twist it clockwise and pull to release it.

Step 2: Set up the laser platform

The slats lift your material off the plate when you cut, so the beam spreads out before it reaches the metal. Slot them into the grooves down each side, points facing up. Spread them evenly (I left three gaps between each) and make sure each one sits in the matching slot on both sides so it's straight.

1. On the H2D screen, go to the motion controls and home the axes. That brings the bed up and centers the tool head.
2. Use down 10 to lower the bed a few times so you've got room to work, and nudge the head a little forward with Y minus. Not too far, because the laser module has some thickness.
3. Take out the normal build plate.
4. Put the laser platform in with the Bambu Lab logo at the back. It's magnetic. Slide it to the back like your normal build plate, until it locates against the plastic tabs in the corners.

Step 3: Fit the laser module and air assist

1. Take the protective cover off the bottom of the module.
2. Remove the front cover of the printer (grab the two top corners and pull), and I'd take the glass lid off too so nothing hard touches the glass.
3. With the module's lever up, line its runners up with the runners on the tool head and lower it on slowly. It holds itself in place.
4. Push the lever down to lock it.
5. At the back of the tool head, peel back the small rubber flap and plug in the four pin connector, with the two larger pins toward the back of the machine.

6. Push one end of the air assist tube into the coupler on the module until you can't pull it out.
7. Route it round with the cable chain to the second coupler, between the two PTFE tubes at the back, and push it in there too.
8. Clip it into the little clips on the cable chain bracket so it follows the chain.

If you're using the smoke extractor, connect the H2D's hose to the inlet on top, run the outlet hose wherever you want it, and plug it in.

Step 4: Power on and run the first calibration

Power the printer on. If it won't start, check the emergency stop isn't pressed in and that its key is fitted. Then:

1. Accept the laser terms and conditions.
2. Update the firmware if it asks. Mine said the module wasn't compatible with the firmware until I updated.
3. Tap Go to setup and work through the checklist: air pump screw removed, exhaust fitted, quick release lever fastened, air assist fitted, laser platform in.
4. Place the laser test card that comes with it on the platform, centered, and as close to the homing area as you can.
5. Close the door and the top cover.
6. Press and hold the button for one second. It homes, checks the lever and platform, then calibrates its laser power using the card and the camera.

If you ever open a laser while it's running, wear laser safety glasses rated for that laser's wavelength.

Step 5: Bambu Suite

The H2D uses Bambu Studio for printing, but for the laser and the cutter you need Bambu Suite. Download it, log in with your Bambu account and pick your printer. It recognizes whether you've got the 40W or 20W module. The device page shows a live camera view and ticks for the emergency stop and safety key, plus the maintenance guides.

The workflow for every job is:

1. Put your material on the slats. There's a stop at the back of the platform to butt it against so it's square, and rulers along the top and side.
2. Click Prepare. Choose the mode (I used plane machining), pick your material from the library and enter its thickness, so the laser knows where to focus.
3. Click Capture. The head moves over and takes a photo of the bed. Right-click and choose Show captured image. The blue box is the area the laser can reach.
4. Import your design (an SVG, a photo, or something from the built-in library), place it, then right-click and set the process type (laser fill, laser line and so on).
5. Set your power and speed. Each material has a calibration matrix you can view to pick from.
6. Click Make, confirm the checks, Send, then press and hold the button on the printer for one second to start.

If you move your material, Suite warns you and asks you to capture a new image. Small, but it stops mistakes.

Step 6: Run a material test first

Always run a material test on a new material, and on a new laser even more so. Click Calibrate for the built-in test. You can do engraving, cutting, or even image tests.

1. Pick the test type (I used a laser fill test).
2. Set power along one axis (I went from 10% to 100%) and speed along the other, with how many squares of each.
3. Drag the test box to size, keeping it inside the blue laser area, then Prepare and Make.

Mine took 1 hour 20 because I filled the whole bed. The slowest, most powerful squares cut straight through, which I expected from a 40W laser. Higher up I found a nice dark square that hadn't cut in: 30% power at 400 mm/s.

While it ran I tested the safety: open the door and the laser stops immediately with an error on screen. Close it and tell it to continue. When a job finishes, it asks you to wait 30 seconds before opening the door while it clears the smoke. In my office with the extractor running, I couldn't smell a thing.

My settings

These are the settings I used in the video, on the 40W module. Treat them as a starting point and test on a scrap first.

For more tested settings on laser engravers, my free Laser Settings Library covers xTool machines.

Wood, with a scored outline

After a fill engrave on wood, I like to score a line around it to make it pop. Without moving anything, right-click the design, set the process type to laser line, and run it again. It's also a great accuracy test, and it landed exactly on top of the engraving.

Slate

I used a vector from Suite's built-in library and added some text, which you can bend to follow the shape of the coaster. The contrast was really strong, with a slight tinge of gold, just like the matrix showed.

PU leather

Suite even has a pebbled PU leather in its library. Nice contrast, and the position was exactly where I put it.

Stainless steel

A diode laser isn't ideal for stainless, and marking it is always slow, but it worked. It came out with a nice golden tinge.

A photo on bamboo

Import the photo and use the image adjustment panel to crop it and adjust it. Under bitmap mode there are several dither modes. Jarvis is a common one, and the preview shows you the dots. I freestyled the brightness and contrast without a proper test, and it still came out pretty good. A 40W module has a bigger dot, so photo detail is always harder than on a lower power module.

Cutting

I found a no glue birdhouse in the laser and cut section on MakerWorld and opened it straight into Bambu Suite. It cut through the thin plywood in one go, with clean, sharp edges that were barely charred.

Was I right to be skeptical?

Honestly, no. Setting it up was far easier than I expected, and the software was a pleasant surprise: the material library, the test grid, the image tools and the camera all work together well. The camera was accurate enough that my scored outline lined up exactly.

My big worry was contamination. After switching back to 3D printing mode, the inside was surprisingly clean, with no gunk. I'd still give it a clean with IPA and re-lubricate it afterwards, because regular maintenance still matters.

What could be better:

• I'd like a few more slats in the cutting bed.
• The laser module sits in front of the tool head, so you lose some working area compared to the full build volume.
• For fine photo work I prefer the smaller spot of a lower power module, like the 20W.

For my own workflow I still prefer dedicated machines for dedicated tasks. But if you're short on space, already in the Bambu ecosystem, or want one machine that can 3D print, engrave and cut, it's a well designed system, not a gimmick.

Got an H2D Laser Edition?

Ask me anything in the comments on the video and I'll do my best to help.