Print-Then-Cut on the A2L: Stickers From an Office Printer and a Phone Camera

What Print-Then-Cut actually is

The name describes the order of operations, not the machine. Bambu's Suite documentation defines the process type plainly: "This feature requires using a 2D printer to print the pattern on the material (such as A4 paper) first, and then paste it on the cutting platform after printing. The cutting is used to cut down the border or cutting path along the pattern, which is often used to make small stickers." The A2L contributes exactly one thing to the color part of that sentence: nothing. It cuts. Your office printer prints.

That distinction matters because the A2L's cutting kit already did plain cutting since launch. Load a sheet of vinyl, set the process type to Basic CutBambu Suite's process type for single-color cutting: the knife follows vector lines, and whatever color the material is, that is the color you get., and the blade follows vector lines. What you could not do before September was cut around something that had been printed in full color, because the printer had no way to know where the artwork sat on the mat. Print-Then-Cut closes that gap.

Bambu names two things the workflow is good at. For bitmaps such as a photo or a logo, "the cutting path will be cut along the edge of the image", and the image tools in Suite let you remove the background first so the outline follows the subject rather than a rectangle. And Suite's sticker tool, which got custom cutting paths in version 1.4.0.00, sets the Print-Then-Cut process type automatically, so a sheet of die-cut stickers is a few clicks rather than a drawing exercise.

Why the A2L needed its own version

On the H2D, H2S and H2C, Print-Then-Cut has existed for a while, and it works because those printers have a camera on the toolhead. When you send a job, Suite prints four small markers around your design; before cutting, the toolhead camera finds all four and computes where the sheet really is. The H2 guide is strict about it: if the camera fails to recognize all four markers, "the processing task will be terminated".

The A2L has no such camera. Bambu's own FAQ says it directly: "The A2L does not have a BirdsEye camera, so it cannot perform the fully automatic Live Spatial Alignment found on the H2 series Laser versions." The same FAQ, written at launch, listed Print-Then-Cut as "currently under development and may be released in a future OTA firmware update". That OTA is 01.01.05.00, and the replacement for the missing camera is the one you already own.

The release note phrases the trick carefully: "use the Bambu Handy app to capture and recognize the contour via your phone's camera, for high-precision edge cutting." In the Basic Cut workflow, Handy photographs the whole platform and Suite uses that photo as the canvas background. Print-Then-Cut works differently: Suite prints two fixed 34 × 34 mm positioning markers (upper left and lower right) next to the design, the blade draws lines into them, and Handy photographs both markers. Bambu explains why the markers are large: the app extracts their four corners to correct the photo angle into a straight top-down view.

1. Jun 1, 202601.01.00.00 A2L launches Launch firmware: Basic Cut and pen drawing with the optional kit. Bambu's FAQ lists Print-Then-Cut as "under development".
2. Summer 2026Suite 1.4.0.00 Software side ready Bambu Suite 1.4.0.00: "Print Then Cut Support for A2L" appears in the release notes, waiting on firmware. Also new: custom cutting paths for stickers, PIN-code connection.
3. Sep 3, 202601.01.05.00 Print-Then-Cut live Firmware 01.01.05.00: the feature ships, together with better top-surface ironing, fewer false HMS alerts and quieter fan control.

The workflow, step by step

Bambu documents the workflow in its own A2L Print Then Cut guide (updated September 10, 2026). The steps below follow it; installation and calibration come from the A2L cutting guide.

1. Design in Bambu Suite and pick the process type

Import or draw the artwork, vector or bitmap. For a bitmap, remove the background so the cut line follows the subject. Set the process type to Print Then Cut, or use the sticker tool, which does that for you and, since Suite 1.4.0.00, lets you edit the cutting path around each sticker. Choose the material from Suite's material list; for stickers that means adhesive printing paper.

2. Print on your 2D printer, at 100 %

Click "Make" and Suite offers to print the calibration point paper on a connected paper printer or to export it as a PDF. The sheet carries your design, two positioning markers and a 150 mm test line. Print at 100 % scale (actual size) and switch off "Fit to page" or "Scale to fit", because a scaled print shifts every edge and the cut will land next to the artwork instead of on it. Measure the test line afterwards: if it is not 150 mm, print again. Suite can also add a bleed of about 0.15 mm around the design so tiny printer offsets do not leave white slivers at the edge.

3. Mount the cutting module and calibrate

If you were printing, unload the filament and pull the PTFE tubes first. Then: raise the X-axis, remove the build plate, lay the cutting platform against the edge of the heatbed and peel its transparent protective film, lift the toolhead front cover, remove the rotating wheel, and slide the cutting module down the toolhead's groove until it seats. Lock the quick-release lever, connect the module's cable behind the dust cover, and only then take the protective cap off the blade. The first time, and whenever the printer asks, run Mounting Calibration: the blade probes five points across the platform so the machine knows the module's real height and whether the mat needs levelling.

4. Put the sheet in the second slot, flat

The cutting platform is a sticky mat. Put the printed sheet on it and run the printed roller tool over the whole thing; a sheet with an air bubble under it cuts at the wrong depth. The A2L guide fixes the position: the sheet goes into the second slot from the left on the low-tack mat, as the Handy sticker guide shows. Placed anywhere else, the blade may draw its calibration lines outside the printed marker squares, which spoils the offset calibration.

5. Calibrate and photograph the markers in Bambu Handy

Click "Make", then "Send" in Suite, and take the printed sheet to the A2L. Bambu Handy walks you through four steps: the sticker guide (sheet in the second slot from the left), an offset calibration in which the toolhead draws lines into the upper-left and lower-right marker squares, a photo of both markers (each inside the white viewfinder, in focus, shot straight on) and Make, which starts the cut.

6. Make, then weed

The Make step in Bambu Handy starts the job, and the A2L cuts. Afterwards the printed weeding tool and scraper lift the cut piece off the mat without tearing it. Put the protective film back on the mat when you are done; Bambu warns that an uncovered mat collects dust and loses its tack.

What you need, in one list

Limits worth knowing before the first sheet

• Cutting area: 300 × 300 mm. That is Bambu's figure for the A2L cutting module (drawing area 300 × 255 mm), so an A4 sheet fits; the cutting platform is the limit, not the 330 mm bed. Our kit explainer covers materials and working area.
• No published accuracy for the photo method. The H2 guide quantifies its toolhead camera: the markers must sit within about ±10 mm sideways and ±5 mm vertically of the expected spot. For the A2L Bambu fixes the slot (second from the left) but publishes neither a placement tolerance nor a cutting-accuracy figure. Until it does, treat the first job as a test cut on cheap paper.
• The blade wears. Bambu's maintenance notes: clean filament debris out of the end cap, replace the blade tip when cut quality drops, replace the mat when it stops holding paper.
• It is a head swap, not a second machine. Filament out, PTFE tubes off, module in, calibration, and the reverse afterwards. Batch your cutting jobs.
• No laser, ever. The FAQ rules out laser modules on the A2L "for safety reasons related to its open-frame design". Print-Then-Cut here is knife only.
• Suite version matters. The A2L process type only exists in Suite 1.4.0.00 and later; an older Suite simply will not offer it, and Bambu Studio does not do 2D jobs at all.

Versus a Cricut

Cricut has sold the same workflow under the same name for years. Its help center describes it as: "The machine scans the printed cut sensor markings, then cuts your design with precision." That is the H2 approach with a dedicated sensor instead of a camera. The honest comparison is not about the cut, it is about what you buy.

If stickers are your business, a dedicated cutter with a sensor and a mat-feeding routine will beat a head swap and a phone photo every day. If stickers are the occasional label on a printed enclosure, a cardstock box for a gift, or classroom material, the A2L version costs $69 and no desk space, and that is the pitch.

Our take: A clever workaround for a missing camera, and the first firmware that makes the kit worth its price

The cutting kit was a curiosity in June: single-color vinyl cuts and pen plots on a 3D printer. Print-Then-Cut is what people actually mean when they say "I want to make stickers", and Bambu shipped it on the cheapest machine that takes the Cutting Upgrade Kit ($469 for the A2L, against $1,199 for the H2S, the cheapest H2), without adding hardware. The cost is that the alignment now depends on your phone and your hands. We would buy the kit for the feature; we would not promise a customer sticker sheets from it until we had cut ten and measured them.

Bambu Lab A2L specs and review

Cutting Upgrade Kit for the H2 series and A2L: $69 in the US store (checked October 18, 2026), 69.99 EUR in the EU store (checked September 11, 2026). Sold separately, not in the printer box.

Sources

• Bambu Lab Wiki, A2L Print Then Cut Introduction (updated 2026-09-10)
• Bambu Lab Wiki, A2L firmware release history (01.01.05.00, 2026-09-03)
• A2L Cutting/Pen Module User Guide
• Bambu Lab A2L specs (cutting and drawing area)
• Bambu Suite: 2D Processing Type Introduction
• H2 Series Print Then Cut introduction
• Bambu Suite V1.4.0.00 release notes
• Bambu Lab A2L FAQ
• Cricut Help: How to Print Then Cut. Photos and the labeled module drawing are from the Bambu Lab Wiki; diagrams are ours.