Hi everyone, i am new to 3d printing, bought my X1 Carbon about 2 weeks ago. Until now i had absolutely no problems with the printing.
Problem 1 & 2(lifted corner & bad layer adhesion)
Yesterday i wanted to print my first bigger print and i went with the poop bin from the makersworld.
At about 20mm in height i noticed on camera, that something strange is happening and i canceled the print. One of the corners has lifted up and messed the print (the one closest to the big fan on side).
After i removed the print i noticed that the print itself is very weak in terms of layer adhesion. You can see on the pictures, that the infil had almost no adhesion to the bottom layers.
Material: Bambu PLA black (fresh from the factory closed bag, it is in AMS with loads of desiccant)
Print profile: stock Bambu PLA
For the additional info: Last week I printed some parts with the included 250g of PLA-CF without problems on the 0.4 nozzle. Would it be possible that i gor partial clog from that?
Problem 3 (first layer)
Today i checked the first layer and to my eye it doesn’t look that bad, except for one spot in the front of the plate. Pictures are worth more than words, so if one could please look at these and give me a suggestion how to fix this. One is with the print still on the plate and you can see the problem on the front of the plate. The other picture is that same print exposed to some backlight (monitor in this case)…
Clean (scrub) the plate with dish soap and rinse well with clean water. Don’t touch the surface with your fingers in any area that is used for printing. Oils in your skin will ruin an otherwise good print. The very front tab and the rear nozzle scrub area is about all you should touch. You can also handle the plate by the very edges.
I am allways very careful not to touch the surface and clean it with soap and water. I will do one more first layer test, but this time i will also wipe it down with IPA. If the problem stays, can we say that my bed is warped?
Also be careful when placing the plate on the bed. It’s very easy to get the plate resting on top of one or both alignment tabs at the rear of the bed. That will destroy any print. I used to do it a lot before I printed the extended guides for both of the rear bed guides. Now, I only do it occasionally. But I usually catch it. You have to develop that steep angle slide to get the plate to the rear before letting it down on the bed.
Black basic pla has at times been problematic for me too. It seems particularly sensitive to moisture and I’ve also had some layer adhesion issues. It generally happens when my desiccant material is getting full.
As to plate adhesion, on textured PEI I run the temperature up an extra couple of degrees to help hold better. My last print was problematic to keep from lifting corners. Tried heavy and light glue on a cold plate and a textured PEI plate but still got lifting. The way I finally got a proper flat-base print was to use brim on a cool plate with glue stick. Brims are a minor pain but seem to be the way to keep some models properly down during a print. I have yet to use a raft on my Bambu but they were also handy at times with curling prints on my old one.
Cabinet temperatures also seem to be involved. I try to keep temps in the cabinet as high as possible but below 35C (because warnings of possible clogs). It seems to help but my experience level is still low so might just be coincidence.
One other thing since you mention cross contamination between filaments - I don’t think that was an issue between PLA and PLA-CF since the base material is the same. (Could be wrong though) The similar temps should let one flush the other effectively.
Where I saw it was I needed to do a print with ASA filament (significantly higher extruder temperature) and afterwards when I went back to PLA I kept seeing thin strings of suspected ASA coming out of the print head for a while. I think the lower PLA temps didn’t allow easy flushing of the ASA. I think I should have used an entirely different print head for the ASA (or any other high temperature filaments).
The good news is I think it all eventually flushed out but stringing was an issue for a while. I bet in your case that it’s not an issue though.
I tried another 1st layer test, this time with bed temperature at 60°C instead of stock 55°C bambu profile. The result is maybe a bit better, but still bad on that same spot on the front of the bed, as on that picture in 1st post.
I currently have only this textured PEI plate, had ordered High Temperature Plate (Smooth PEI), should arive in the following week…
What about the problem with bad adhesion between the layers? I was shocked yesterday when i broke that failed print, that the supports had practicly no adhesion to the bottom layer. This concerns me a lot, as i bought the printer mainly for functional prints… i am in a bussines of repairing industrial machinery, so many times i need to replace some broken plastic parts that are not available any more…
Poor adhesion between layers can be caused by a number of things which all add up to the plastic not being melty enough to melt into the last layer more than what you are seeing. You can try slower extruder print speed and use a hotter extruder temp and see what that does. What I know is of all the Bambu filaments I’ve used so far, for my setup PLA Basic Black tends to have those issues noticeably more than other colors. No idea why.
Big prints seem to make it worse by giving more time for the last layer to cool as the head is off printing other parts of whatever you’re printing.
Be careful when raising temperatures though. Be sure to observe the limits on build plates and filament, and especially when running hotter, keep an eye on cabinet temps (if you have a cabinet) since high cabinet temps can apparently lead to clogs.
Poor adhesion in an area doesn’t sound like a warped bed to me. I’ve got a textured PEI build plate that also has an area where adhesion is poor. I’ve tried isopropyl alcohol, and separately soap and water but neither has really fixed it. I mostly just use the other side of that one.
I totaly forgot that the plate has two sides, will try tomorrow to flip it over.
Thinking now about what you are saying about black PLA, this is the first time i am using it. I got two packs of them without spool (as a deal, together with printer) and was waiting that i will have one empty spool. I will try to reprint that poop chute with the grey one, when i receive my order in the following days, maybe even in PETG-CF, which i also ordered
After some tests, i can say that it is indeed a filament problem. Either that roll of filament is bad or as you said, black PLA is just more difficult to print.
I received the smooth PEI plate with my order, so I could make the flow calibration (included with the printer was textured PEI). Even after flow calibration that black, just didn’t work as it should. Now with the smooth plate it is also more evident that the first layer on printed parts is not perfect with the black PLA (looks to me like an underextrusion).
The parts printed with the gray PLA looks MUCH better than those in black. Everything looks better, first layer, outer walls, top surface, layer adhesion, etc.
Makes me wonder, is it possible that the filament was not stored correctly, or maybe it is old (i don’t know if shelf life has anything to do with this).
As i said i got two rolls of that black PLA as a deal with the printer at the local supplier…
But I usually catch it. You have to develop that steep angle slide to get the plate to the rear before letting it down on the bed.