I ordered the MicroSwiss NG Direct Drive kit for Ender 5 5 Pro Plus. Since the Neptune X I have is pretty much a clone of it, I expect to be able to switch over without too much trouble. Then I should be able to print some materials that I can't now with the Bowden Tube setup.
Michael has an in depth look at the X1C Plus firmware:
Derek - So no longer blocked from use? IIRC Bambu had done something to stop its use, or am I misremembering?
You need a specific firmware still as Bambi closed that security hole the devs used.
At the end of the video Michael mentioned that he put the dev team in touch with Bambu, so hopefully Bambu will come to an agreement with them to use an official upgrade method.
Update to the Micro-Swiss NG direct drive head install:
It went well, but in changing the location of the BL-Touch from the right side to the left side caused an issue that puzzled me for a while. Auto-level was not working. I finally got it pinned down to the fact that the actual offset is too large so I had to reduce it to 29mm instead of the 36mm actual measurement. Once I did that, auto-level started behaving normally.
Now to get the direct drive tuned. I just finished a calibration ruler, but the quality is not what I would have hoped. I think the green PLA I used for it might not be that great. I'll have to change filament and try again to see if the quality is better.
e-steps is quite different with this extruder. The stock was 90. The NG has it set as 400. I think it is because of the beveled gear drive teamed with a stepper motor that likely has more available steps.
Edit: I switched to white PLA, and the same ruler printed out much, much better. There was almost no stringing and definitely no blobbing. That lets me know the green PLA was likely not very good.
Would you look at that...
Itās a good outcome for those that want to do this. 
Definitely good to seeing them playing along rather than just saying no, and making it harder for anyone trying to use custom firmware. Sure it comes at a warranty cost, but that seems more than fair in my opinion
Can be a smart move as long as it doesn't result in a big new set of problems for users that will be harder for them to troubleshoot since they'll have to deal w/two different possible FW versions (at a minimum).
Presumably/hopefully when they and the devs of the customized FW met they worked out some rules of engagement that will minimize issues/confusion.
Once the printer is out of warranty, it becomes less of an issue.
I don't Bambu (I'd consider it if they can come up with a way to do colour swaps and not waste so much filament), so I don't know if they have a warranty for the machine and a separate one for ongoing firmware updates.
The one thing I don't like is that some of the replacement parts are basically paywalled; you can only get them from support, you can't buy them directly from their site.
If you've waived your warranty rights, how can you open support tickets?
They know those who want to run custom firmware are a super niche group who donāt mind fixing their own gear. So I think itās pretty fair.
Plus Bambu parts are dirt cheap, especially compared to other OEMās.
Just because youāve voided your warranty, they arenāt going to block you from the support portal, they just flag your printer as our of warranty.
Agreed, might get a little more tricky for Bambu with getting into support cases. Though, I'm sure they can pull firmware version on the printer and whether the account has waived warranty, if someone were to open a support case with aftermarket firmware. Hopefully it doesn't get much more complicated than that, but I guess we shall see.
I think a lot of this has been the evolution of a new company in terms of supporting their product. In the beginning, they offered many less replacement parts, and I know since I have owned one they have been adding more parts to their store. I assume this is just responding to the need of customers, saying a certain part is damaged and they would like a replacement. I'm sure as the devices continue to age, there will be more and more replacement parts offered on their site. Hopefully it gets to a point where you could buy any piece (or small assembly) for the printer, without the need to contact support, but who knows if they will go that far or not.
Here's a really good video with the developers behind the X1 Plus firmware:
Aha, thought I read this somewhere.
Using up a spool and doing some small prints till it runs out.
How many filament clips does one need? 
That is beyond my meager mental capabilities... 
I don't care about custom firmware, but I may well get one of these if/when they ever come back in stock, as I have a P1P.
'*' not that it is P1P specific, just that it is more attractive a device when you only have a dinky lcd screen to start with.
Nice! Iād get one for a P1 series too.
