Any way to use registration marks without using Print then Cut?

Bambu Lab H2 Series
1

I want to print the stuff I want to cut but I don’t want to use the print then cut feature from Bambu Suite. Is there a way to include registration marks when printing outside of Bambu Suite?

Maybe the Bird’s Eye camera could help with my issue in some way, but that firmware update is nowhere to be seen…

2

The target points are never at the same place, they are printed around the model so I can’t see how they could be printed outside of bambu suite.

I wonder why you can’t use the print feature of bambu suite. Can you elaborate what you want to do so that we may find a way to do it?

3

I need to print with Photoshop because I can only obtain the correct colors with it. I already tried printing stuff with the Print then Cut feature but the colors are obviously wrong, and the picture gets all blurry. I don’t know why.

I already tried to use the printer settings window that comes up when using the Print then Cut feature but it still doesn’t work.

I came up with a possible solution, which was to print twice. Once in Photoshop and the other by using the Print then Cut feature. Then I place the Photoshop print under the P&C print and align them. I then tape them together so I can cut both together on the H2D. But unfortunately, I can’t align them properly so that doesn’t work.

For now I’ve been doing it manually, which is by printing it outside of Bambu Suit and using the Basic Cut feature. It gives a lot of work because I have to guess where it’s gonna cut. I managed to make it work, but it’s not perfect and it’s a big headache every time I want to print something outside of Suite so I can cut it.

I could try printing twice again and aligning the prints, but this time, the Photoshop print goes above the P&C one and after aligning them, I try to draw the marks on the Photoshop print. That might work but I have to test it.

4

What you can do is to add a rectangle around your picture so that you can cut both pictures exactly right and fill the empty space of the printed one from bambu suite with the one printed separately.

Now, I would try to understand why the printed quality is different, I see that bambu suite can import illustrator native file type (.ai) directly but not photoshop’s (*.psd). The best format is certainly .png but I would try different formats that bambu suite accepts until quality is right (bmp, pdf?).

5

I’m gonna see if that works, thanks!

The thing is that, even if I could use PSD files, I have to use the printing menu from Photoshop because I need to use the “Manage colors with Photoshop” option for the colors to come out well. So I really think I’ll be better served with an outside solution that doesn’t involve printing in Bambu Suite.

6

For anyone coming across this thread looking for a solution to print outside of the terrible Bambu Suite software, here’s what I made work:

  1. Import cut lines as a PDF into Bambu Suite and position appropriately. Change cut lines to the Print Then Cut process type, and open Preview to make sure your cut lines are being processed correctly. Note: I was disappointed to see that “Print Then Cut” severely restricts the cut area from the normal 300 mm down to 260 mm—I’ve yet to find any way around this very unfortunate limitation.
  2. Send the job to the Bambu printer. Before clicking the button to print to your 2D printer, you’ll be given an option to export a PDF rather than print directly. Do this. This PDF will contain your cut lines as well as the 4 registration marks needed for cutting.
  3. Open the exported PDF into Illustrator, Photoshop, or whatever software you prefer and align to your printed artwork. Ideally, you’ll hide the cut lines from the exported PDF (they become rasterized and ugly) after you use them to align to your artwork, while keeping the 4 registration marks visible. Important note: maintain the relative position of the artwork and registration marks to the page boundaries in the exported PDF (close to one edge of the paper so you can position the paper/artwork on the cutting mat where indicated).
  4. Print normally, adhere to the cutting mat at the correct position, and the Bambu will detect all 4 registration marks and cut precisely over the artwork you printed.

It’s slightly tedious but I found the process much less cumbersome than dealing with Bambu’s software. I hope that helps someone!

If anyone finds a way around the Print Then Cut area limitation, please do share!