3D Printing InfoPrinter comparison
Bambu Lab A1 mini vs UniFormation GKtwo
Compare hardware, build volume, printing specifications, dated prices and sources.
2 selected · all documented properties
Open these two in the interactive comparisonMore Bambu Lab A1 mini comparisonsMore UniFormation GKtwo comparisons
| Property | Bambu Lab A1 miniBEDSLINGER | UniFormation GKtwoRESIN |
|---|---|---|
| Identity | ||
| Brand | Bambu Lab | UniFormation |
| Class | BEDSLINGER | RESIN |
| Identity & Market | ||
| Manufacturer & exact marketed model name (verify the exact product identity first) | Bambu Lab A1 mini. Store title: "Bambu Lab A1 mini 3D Printer"[1] | UniFormation GKtwo 10.3" 8K Resin Printer[2][3] |
| Release date (announcement and actual shipping) | Shipped in the second half of 2023; Tom's Hardware published its A1 mini review on 13 October 2023, ahead of the full-size A1 review of 14 December 2023[4][5] | Not documented |
| Street price (USD; dated snapshot per entry) | From $219.00 (base A1 mini) on the Bambu Lab US store, Aug 2026, during an advertised Back-to-School sale; the product page lists A1 mini and A1 mini Combo variants[6][7] | $749.99 on uniformation3d.com but marked Sold out, checked Aug 2026 (the page shows a compare-at price of $0.00, i.e. none set)[2] |
| Variants & sibling models — and how to tell them apart (spec-contamination risk) | Two SKUs: A1 mini and A1 mini Combo (adds the AMS lite). Distinguish from the full-size A1 by build volume (180 vs 256 mm cube), bed ceiling (80 vs 100 C), screen (2.4 vs 3.5 inch), Z drive (single leadscrew with a coupling vs dual leadscrews belt-synced) and weight (5.5 vs 8.3 kg)[1][8][9][10] | UniFormation lists GKtwo variants by region and bundle (GKtwo ALL, GKtwo ALL UK) rather than by hardware, so the hardware specification is common; what changes is what ships in the box. Not to be confused with the earlier GKone[2] |
| Market position: superseded? successor announced? | Still the entry model in the Bambu Lab US store line-up in Aug 2026 and the cheapest machine listed[6] | Not documented |
| Physical & Frame | ||
| Build volume X×Y×Z (mm) — advertised vs actually usable | 180 x 180 x 180 mm (manufacturer figure)[1] | 228 x 128 x 245 mm[2][3] |
| Machine footprint (mm) & clearance needed (cable/spool overhang) | 347 x 315 x 365 mm (Bambu tech specs; Tom's Hardware prints 347 x 314 x 365 mm)[1][4] | 350 x 315 x 455 mm[2][3] |
| Net weight (kg) | 5.5 kg net[1] | 20 kg packaged (UniFormation publishes package weight, not net weight)[2][3] |
| Frame construction & material | Steel plus extruded aluminium chassis[1] | Not documented |
| Enclosure: open / enclosed; panel material; door/lid | Open frame, no enclosure[1] | Open-frame MSLA with a UV-blocking cover[2][3] |
| Kinematics & Motion Hardware | ||
| Kinematics (bedslinger i3 / CoreXY / other) | Cartesian bed-slinger: toolhead on an X guide rail and crossbeam, print platform moving in Y on a guide rail, toolhead carried in Z[9] | MSLA — photocuring LCD, single Z axis, straight-lift peel[2][3] |
| X-axis guide type (rods / linear rails / V-wheels; size) | Horizontal linear guide rail with the printhead on a sliding block; rail size not published[9] | Not documented |
| Y-axis guide type | Horizontal linear guide rail carrying the print platform, belt-driven in Y[9] | Not documented |
| Z-axis: leadscrew count & type, sync mechanism, anti-backlash | Single leadscrew with nut, coupling and stepper motor - the motor drives the leadscrew directly through the coupling. This is the clearest hardware difference from the A1, which uses two leadscrews synchronised by a belt[9][10] | Not documented |
| Speed & Acceleration | ||
| Max print speed (claimed, mm/s) | 500 mm/s max toolhead speed (manufacturer claim); no independent measurement found[1] | Not documented |
| Max acceleration (claimed, mm/s²) | 10000 mm/s2 max toolhead acceleration (manufacturer claim)[1] | Not documented |
| Max volumetric flow claimed (mm³/s) | 28 mm3/s claimed on a 150x150 mm single-wall model in Bambu ABS at 280 C - note this is the ABS figure quoted for a machine whose own spec sheet lists ABS as not recommended[1] | Not documented |
| Extruder | ||
| Type (direct drive / bowden) & design name | Direct drive with hardened-steel extruder gears; toolhead also holds the cutter unit, filament hub and filament sensor[1][9] | Not documented |
| Hotend & Nozzle | ||
| Hotend design (proprietary/standard; quick-swap mechanism?) | All-metal integrated hotend (nozzle plus heatsink in one unit), quick-swap; stainless-steel nozzle, 0.4 mm included, 0.2/0.6/0.8 mm optional[1][9] | Not documented |
| Max nozzle temp claimed AND firmware max temp limit (both values) | 300 C claimed max hot-end temperature[1] | Not documented |
| Heated Bed & Surface | ||
| Max bed temp claimed AND firmware limit | 80 C max build-plate temperature - the lowest of the current Bambu range, and the reason ABS/ASA are listed as not recommended[1][9] | Not documented |
| Bed surface (material, texture, coating), single/double-sided | Textured PEI plate; Smooth PEI and Dual-Texture PEI plates also compatible[1] | Not documented |
| Leveling & Z-Offset | ||
| Auto bed leveling: probe technology (inductive / strain gauge / load cell / touch probe) | Nozzle-touch automatic bed levelling and automatic Z-offset; Tom's Hardware confirms the nozzle itself is the probe[4][9] | Not documented |
| Filament Handling & Detection | ||
| Filament runout sensor (type, location) | Yes - run-out sensor, filament odometry and filament-tangle sensor[1] | Not documented |
| Multi-material/multi-color capability or official upgrade path | Optional AMS lite (A1 mini Combo); AMS / AMS 2 Pro / AMS HT need an AMS HUB (SA013) accessory[7] | Not documented |
| Cooling & Air Handling | ||
| Part-cooling fan(s): count, size, ducting design | One custom 5015 centrifugal part-cooling fan with two opposing outlets; closed-loop control. A separate MC board cooling fan is also fitted[1][9] | Not documented |
| Electronics & Power | ||
| Mainboard model & MCU (exact chip markings if teardowns exist) | Bambu names the motion controller as a dual-core Cortex-M4; no board model or chip markings published[1] | Not documented |
| Input voltage (110/220 V, switch or auto) | Not documented | 110/220 V[2][3] |
| Total rated power draw | 100-240 VAC 50/60 Hz; max power 150 W for the whole machine. Bed heater wattage is not published separately[1] | Not documented |
| Firmware & Openness | ||
| Firmware base & current version (Klipper fork / Marlin fork / proprietary) | Closed-source proprietary firmware - not a Klipper or Marlin derivative, and no printer-firmware source is published. The bambulab GitHub organisation carries 11 repositories (Bambu Studio, wxWidgets/boost/ffmpeg forks, the wiki); none is printer firmware. Updates are delivered over the air via Bambu Studio / Bambu Handy[11] | Not named. Slicers: CHITUBOX, the GKtwo slicer, and Lychee. File format STL[2][3] |
| Connectivity, UI & Camera | ||
| Display: size, type, touch? | 2.4-inch 320x240 IPS touchscreen[1] | 5-inch touchscreen (control panel — not the masking LCD, see W1)[2][3] |
| On-device UI capabilities (model preview, per-object controls, etc.) | Touchscreen plus Bambu Handy app and Bambu Studio PC application[1] | Not documented |
| WiFi (band/standard), Ethernet, USB ports, SD/flash-drive | Wi-Fi 2.4 GHz only (802.11 b/g/n), Bambu-Bus, microSD card. No Ethernet, no USB host[1] | USB file transfer[2][3] |
| Camera: built-in / optional? Resolution & framerate (verify — marketing often omits real fps) | Built-in low-rate camera, up to 1080p, timelapse supported[1] | Not documented |
| Calibration Routines & QoL | ||
| Assembly level & time from unbox to first print | Arrives mostly pre-assembled - only the filament wiper, spool holder and Bowden tubes to fit[4] | Not documented |
| Materials Support | ||
| Officially supported filament list | Ideal: PLA, PETG, TPU, PVA. Not recommended: ABS, ASA, PC, PA, PET and fibre-reinforced polymers[1] | 402.5-405 nm photopolymer resin. No closed compatibility list published[2][3] |
| Noise & Power Consumption | ||
| Noise: claimed dB and independently measured dB (distance/method) | Manufacturer claim only: the US store page claims "49dB Whisper-Quiet Operation" - the identical sentence appears on the A1 page, so treat it as line-level marketing copy rather than a per-model measurement. No independent dB measurement with a stated distance was found[7][12] | Not documented |
| Reliability, Support & Ecosystem | ||
| Warranty length & support reputation (evidence, not vibes) | 2-year limited warranty for consumers in the US, Canada, the EU, Switzerland, Norway and Iceland; 1 year in the rest of the world. Bambu Lab's own policy records the US/Canada term as a 2026 extension from one year to two[13] | Not documented |
| Independently Measured Performance | ||
| Dimensional accuracy measurements (third-party, with numbers) | Not documented | Printing tolerance +/-0.1 mm for lengths up to 100 mm, +/-0.1% beyond — a manufacturer specification, not an independent measurement[2] |
| Review scores from major outlets (list outlet + score + date) | Tom's Hardware: Editor's Choice, rating 4.5 out of 5 in the page's structured data (13 October 2023)[4] | Not documented |
| Resin & MSLA | ||
| Masking LCD | Not documented | 10.3-inch masking LCD, 7680 x 4320 px (8K), XY pixel pitch 29.6 um (manufacturer specification)[2][3] |
| Light source | Not documented | Photocuring LCD light engine at 402.5-405 nm. UniFormation does not publish the LED count or optical design on this page[2][3] |
| Layer exposure times | Not documented | 2-3 s per layer at 0.05 mm layer height (manufacturer figure — one of the few makers here that states the layer height its exposure figure assumes). Sortable value is the midpoint[2][3] |
| Layer height range | Not documented | 0.03, 0.05 and 0.1 mm (three discrete settings, not a continuous range)[2][3] |
| Resin vat & feeding | Not documented | Resin vat capacity 0.7 kg, with built-in resin heating: UniFormation quotes warming to 95 F (35 C) in 8 minutes from 50 F. No auto-refill and no level sensing published[2][3] |
| Fume extraction | Not documented | Built-in odour filter[2][3] |
Manufacturer claims, independent measurements, packages and test conditions retain their source wording. FDM linear speed and resin vertical speed use different units and are not directly comparable. Unknown values are marked “Not documented”. Prices and source dates remain historical snapshots; check the linked guide for product details. Differences highlight text, not a universal winner.
Sources for this comparison
- Bambu Lab A1 mini - Technical Specifications bambulab.com · 2026-08 · vendor
- UniFormation GKtwo 10.3" 8K resin printer product page uniformation3d.com · 2026-08 · vendor
- UniFormation GKtwo technical data table 3djake.com · 2026-08 · vendor
- Tom's Hardware - Bambu Lab A1 Mini Review, 13 October 2023 tomshardware.com · 2026-08 · review
- Tom's Hardware - Bambu Lab A1 Review, Denise Bertacchi, 14 December 2023 tomshardware.com · 2026-08 · review
- Bambu Lab US Store - 3D Printers collection listing (base prices, Aug 2026) us.store.bambulab.com · 2026-08 · vendor
- Bambu Lab A1 mini store page (A1 mini / A1 mini Combo variants) us.store.bambulab.com · 2026-08 · vendor
- Bambu Lab A1 - Technical Specifications bambulab.com · 2026-08 · vendor
- Bambu Lab Wiki - A1 mini introduction wiki.bambulab.com · 2026-08 · doc
- Bambu Lab Wiki - A1 introduction wiki.bambulab.com · 2026-08 · doc
- GitHub - bambulab organisation repository list (11 repos, checked Aug 2026) github.com · 2026-08 · doc
- Bambu Lab A1 store page (A1 / A1 Combo variants) us.store.bambulab.com · 2026-08 · vendor
- Bambu Lab Warranty Policy bambulab.com · 2026-08 · vendor