I purchased Bambu’s PLA Silk Dual Color. I cannot get it to print without getting clogged in the nozzle. I’ve tried both a .4 and .6 nozzle, with only the .6 printing SOMETHING (see pic below, a benchy that ended up 1/3 done before clog). I confirmed my settings in Bambu Studio are good, Silk settings applied, etc.
Any advice?
Is the nozzle clogging or is the filament getting soft before the hotend and jamming? They are slightly different problems but both result in filament not extruding.
Nozzle clogging often means the nozzle temp is too low. Jamming normally happens when heat creep is the issue.
Personally I would try upping the nozzle temperature and seeing if that helps. There are a couple forum members that have printed a fair amount with silk filament and will probably chime in.
Ah, thank you for clarifying the terms. I would say “Jamming” is the more appropriate word. The filament stops coming out and I need to clear the nozzle with a cleaning pin.
That would be a clog then. A jam happens between the extruder and the hotend where soft filament “mushrooms” and can’t feed into the top of the hot end. Once the “mushroomed” section is removed the filament will feed through the nozzle without issue.
Is that a Generic PLA Silk or a Bambu PLA Silk setting? I’ve noticed that Bambu PLA Silk profile uses 230°C settings, so I wouldn’t go higher than this. Probably lower, idk. I use other silk brands and I upped my temp to 225°C, which is already high imo. I guess you can do a temp tower, flow calibration and PA in Orca, which I always do, even if it’s Bambu filament. Also I find Silk more brittle than normal PLA, so it’s probably getting more water in it. Their profile also say volumetric speed 12, which is quite high for silk, I use like half the value. I also half all my speeds for silk and outer walls and surface is like 60 or so for perfect look and shine.
After drying, calibrating the filament and changing speeds, I get no printing issues. Also no stringing in the end.
Studio shows it as “Bambu PLA Silk”. Default settings in pic below.
Do you think changing the volumetric speed to 6 mm/s will make that big a difference? Also, what speeds do you typically use? I had been 120 mm/s outer wall, 150 inner. Tried dropping to 100 and 120 respectively but no real change.
My biggest issue is just getting the filament to even come out of the nozzle the majority of the time.
Yea, those default settings are a bit over the top imo. I don’t really trust them, it seems a bit pushed. Maybe it works for X1/P1, who knows.
Lowering volumetric speed will definitely lower overall speeds as well. That’s one way to do it. But like I said, I load and use the default 0.4 nozzle standard profile then I go through every speed and basically half it. The, like I said in my previous post, I go to outer wall and surface and make it 60.
But speed is just one factor. This filament need drying and calibration, both equally important, otherwise I don’t get that shine and smoothness, I get a stringy mess, no shine and walls with little bumps.
I haven’t tried Bambu Silk yet, if I did I would try the stock settings first.
But I was printing Duel Silk all weekend with my A1 Mini…3 different models…without any issues.
I will post a screenshot of my generic settings, but have you tried any other Silks besides Bambu…??
This is my first Silk. I can try another brand but so far, all the PLA has been fantastic from Bambu. I will try dropping the volumetric flow to 6 instead of 12 and see what impact that has.
I’ve also been having this issue, with two freshly purchased dual silks (the teal/green one and the orange/pink one). I have one dual silk (blue/purple) that I purchased a few months ago which works fine. However, the two new ones both fail to extrude every single time I try to print (with a .4 nozzle).
The setting I posted are for a Generic PLA+ or Silk…not Bambu.
I haven’t tried there’s yet, and really don’t plan to at this time.
The Dual Silks I used are from Mika3D.
It could actually be both. The clog is the result of the extruder not creating enough pressure in the nozzle. Most dual color silk is not round, it tend to be more oval. I’ve been printing with silk on many projects and have had 0 issues. But I’ve only printed single color silk. Check your extruder, look for signs that the filament is getting chewed up. silks are much softer than standard PLA so a little slippage can grind gashes in your filament, Then it won’t feed properly.
Oh is this a single extruder or the AMS Lite? I’ve fount that if your bend on your bowden tubes is to sharp the filaments tend to hang and jam. No tight curves only gentle smooth bends. Trying to have your filament do a sharp bend is a recipe for a problem.
Seeya
M1
Ok, I think you may be onto something. I tried printing again with the changes to volumetric speed etc, and the filament wouldnt feed through. I disconnected the tubing (I use the AMS Lite) and pulled out the Dual Silk PLA and this is what the end of it looked like, the end trying but failing to feed into nozzle.
The bowden tubes are smooth, no bends. The issue may be the extruder having an issue grabbing the filament. Any recommendations?
To be safe, I cleaned the Extruder gears, they seem to be good. Nothing in it, cleaned with compressed air etc.
I’ve noticed the same on my dual-silks that fail to print.
I’ve done a comparison, and my Blue-Magenta dual silk purchased in January still prints fine. My Blue-Magenta purchased in February, fresh out of the packaging, clogs the extruder and fails to print. So, I think something went wrong with their manufacturing process and the newer silks are defective.
I can confirm oval on my dual silk from Bambu. The A1 extruder gears slip on it and fail to extrude - not a clog. See pics below - you can see the gears tear up the surface of the filament, and there aren’t any deep teeth marks on it. Also the measurement in 2 directions. The A1 Mini failed to complete the calibration pattern print twice.
Don’t take this the wrong way but I’m glad its happening to you, cause that means its not just me and it seems to be an issue with the Dual Silk itself and not my machine. Very frustrating still. Waste of money if we cant properly use it…
Hopefully the supplier gets some equipment in the production line to detect things like this and prevent these going out in the future. Money - I think Bambu will sort this out (as you say, it’s not just me! So it’s pretty clear it’s a batch issue). The time spent troubleshooting, filling out the ticket, waiting for the new filament, not having the right filament for my project, etc. is the annoying part…
I just opened a support ticket and referenced this thread so we shall see…
Can I ask you guys a question? Since we’ve proven the oval shape is an issue, are you using the AMS Lite to feed it? Reason I’m asking is that the damage my be starting in the AMS Lite extruder and getting multiplied in the main extruder. Have you tried feeding from without the AMS Lite. You might be able to adjust the main extruder to overcome the lack of roundness.
Seeya
M1
