Bambu Lab launches H2C flagship for high-speed multi-material printing

Bambu Lab announced the H2C on January 14, 2026, introducing a flagship desktop machine built around a new Vortek Multi-Material System aimed squarely at prosumers, makers, and small labs. The headline features are rapid multi-material capability and raw speed: the company cites print velocities up to 600 mm/s and very high accelerations, while the Vortek system uses multiple interchangeable hotends that can be swapped quickly to print many colours and materials in a single job without lengthy purging.

At the core of the H2C is a workflow-first design. The hotend array is described as supporting up to six independently exchangeable nozzles, which changes the calculus for multi-colour and multi-material parts by reducing the need for long purge moves or giant wipe towers. The machine is fully enclosed and includes active chamber temperature control, which helps with material compatibility and dimensional stability when printing at speed or with engineering filaments. Automatic calibration and built-in vibration compensation aim to preserve fine detail while the platform pushes acceleration and travel to meet its performance claims.

The H2C also layers in cloud slicing and job management, signaling Bambu Lab’s continued push to streamline remote queuing, profile distribution, and fleet workflows. For small labs or makers managing multiple printers, centralized slicing profiles and job tracking can shorten setup times and help maintain consistent output across different operators and locations.

Practical value for the community is clear: faster multi-colour prototyping, lower filament waste from purging, and improved throughput for short-run production or iterative design cycles. The H2C’s enclosed chamber and active temperature control will be particularly relevant for printing higher-temperature engineering materials and for reducing warping on larger models printed quickly. Vibration compensation and automatic calibration address two common pain points when pushing printers into the high-speed regime: print quality and reliable first-layer adhesion.

Key details remain open. The announcement focused on technical highlights and workflows; availability, pricing, and regional release windows were not specified. That leaves verification and real-world testing to the community: confirm material compatibility, tool-change reliability, and actual throughput once hands-on reviews and user reports start appearing.

Verify slicing profiles and filament strategies when the H2C becomes available, and plan for testing both single-material high-speed prints and complex multi-material jobs to see how the Vortek system handles oozing, stringing, and color transitions. If the H2C delivers on its specs, it will push the bar for desktop multi-material printing by combining Bambu Lab’s high-speed DNA with a more modular multi-tool approach, shifting how makers and small labs tackle colorful prototypes and mixed-material parts.