I own a KS X1C and an EB P1P. Both came with textured plates or I ordered textured plates when purchasing my printers. After 100’s of hours of printing on my “Discontinued” PEI plates I decided to order the newer Gold PEI. To my disappointment the texture on the new plates do not hide the layer lines like the older PEI plates. At first I thought it was my X1C acting up until I received my P1S last week which shipped with a TOTALLY different Gold PEI plate. Color tone is different and texture is the same as the original PEI. My parts look AMAZING printed on the P1S. I also ordered 2 additional Gold Plates with my P1S. These plates match the previous purchased plates that have a finer/smoother texture than the original PEI and the new P1S PEI.
Bambu @BrotherC@SirWill3D what’s the deal. I cannot produce production parts for my product line with inconsistent texture. How do I get the same plate that came with my P1S?
Does anyone have any recommendations for a 3rd party PEI plate? I need a rough texture that will hide layer lines and wall loops, like my original prints. Or can someone direct me to a company that will manufacture plates for me? I’m printing ASA, PETG, PLA that need a rough texture.
I’m not sure if you’re mixing metaphors or I simply don’t understand your question. You say:
However, unless you’re referring to the plate contact pattern between the media and the build plate, plates do not do anything to layer lines.
Do you have pictures that show how your are experiencing this issue?
It’s important to note that seeking assistance from Ciprian or other forum moderators may not be the fastest way to get your issue resolved. Moderators in any discussion forum are there to manage the forum, but in my experience they typically don’t handle direct customer service requests. It’s a bit like telling a hotel restaurant waitress about a problem with your hotel room’s linens – they may try to guide you in the right direction, but what would they know about how the housekeeping department runs.
If your grievance with the textured plate being obsoleted by Bambu us what is got you upset, yes, it sucks when a product you’re used to can be bought again. Have you done a search on YouTube for Bambu Lab plate reviews? There a lot of good one’s out there that can tell you the plusses and minuses of each.
Here’s Google search trick I learned a while ago. Hopefully, this preformatted link will function as intended. What it does is take your specified keywords and narrow down the search results to articles posted within the last 12 months that are hosted on YouTube. This should limit the search to videos specifically related to Bambu Lab build plates.
Len Dizzle probably has done one of the more comprehensive and balanced reviews.
This one actually covers not just the PEI plates but other textured plates. If what you’re looking for is a consistent camouflage of the build surface, some of these might be good alternatives to Bambu. He spends a great deal of time comparing textures.
This guy recently did one about Bambu Lab plates but my only gripe about him is that he sounds more like a shill for suppliers who give him free stuff as opposed to candid unbiased reviews. However, he still does provide some helpful data despite sounding like a shill.
@Olias Thanks for your time and very lengthy reply.
Attached is a picture showing the texture difference between the Gold Plate that just arrived with my new P1S (left) and a new Gold Plate (right) that was purchased directly from the store. Everything is exactly the same except the build plate. As you can see the P1S Gold plate has a deeper texture (same as the original PEI textured plate) than the other which hides the layer lines and wall loops.
Print is Polymaker ASA
My purpose for pinging @BrotherC and @SirWill3D is to bring the issue to their attention. As I have done numerous times privately and publicly. There is a purpose to this and I don’t need educated on how and why and what is the proper way to do this.
Your search, which I appreciate, is irrelevant to my needs as they’re talking about adhesion and not finish quality. I’ve never had adhesion issues that I didn’t know how to address. I have seen all these videos already but thank you for your efforts. Maybe they will help another person.
Current Print Status:
Print hrs = 2000+
Production parts = 3000+
I am not sure, but I could speculate that you are working with sub-extrusion. For whatever reason. Because the first layer should be perfectly smooth. You get a visible separation of the wall lines if, for example, the extrusion is set too low. On the other hand, you can also adjust the line width of the first layer, the printing temperature and more. I would experiment with these parameters to get a nice and closed first layer. That way, you don’t have to rely on a specific accessory because it happened to give a nice appearance to the first layer with that and their print settings used.
I just looked at some prints of mine made with PolyMaker ASA on a gold PEI plate purchased separately mid July (USA) on my X1C. I see lines similar to the ones shown on your two photos. I never noticed them because I use the default monotonic pattern and I tend to have just 1 or 2 walls and the lines become a pattern I don’t really see.
In your samples you must have many walls or the concentric pattern? I have the feeling that this accentuates the lines. Maybe try using monotonic on a diagonal and select “only one wall on first layer”. That combined with a bit boosted “first layer flow ratio” as KanneKaffe mentions should get you to a point you like.
NB: your use of “layer lines” is confusing 'cause that’s generally used for vertical layers
This is on the quality tab. I have the advanced toggle set in the sidebar and the developer mode in the preferences, dunno whether these matter. BL Studio 1.7.6.92
But I’m still frustrated and concerned that we’re getting different build plates when we’re to believe that the build plate sold separately is the same as the build plate that ships with the P1S. Which it is not. As I mentioned I have 4 brand new Bambu Store purchased Gold plates that are all the same (smoother texture) but the P1S build plate has a deep/rougher texture similar to the original Black PEI plate.
Leads me to believe these are coming from different sources.
You can see the option at @3dsurfr-picture, names “first layer flow ratio”. E.g. try >1. I would first check whether the filament is really calibrated accurately.
I’m fairly confident that what you’re seeing isn’t really a defect or quality issue more than just the texture that’s sprayed onto the sheet via powder coating. It could be as simple as one had a higher texture powder than the other when being applied. My guess also is no two sheets will be identical with this process.
You are correct. I don’t feel it’s a defect as I have 4 plates exactly the same. My point is the plates purchased via the Bambu Store are different than the plates that are shipping with the P1S.
The plates from the store have a finer/smoother texture which is different from the original PEI and what shipped with my new P1S. I can’t print production parts with different textured plates. And the Bambu Store plates are not as nice aesthetically.
Everything else on my prints look great. And TBH the first layer looks great to the naked eye when printed on the new P1S Gold plate. But I like the idea of perfecting the first layer so the lines are less noticeable.
When the first layer is optimised, it will look even better. How high the outer structure is on the printed part and whether it looks good or not is also a question of personal taste, but of course it depends on the print plate.
And before you change the flow ratio, increase the temperature a little for the first layer, print a little slower and see what the result is.
I see exactly the same effect on my whambam textured plate. But there it’s more obvious since it’s a different plate from a different vendor. However the print bottom surface on my old black textured bambu plate is much nicer.
Probably bambu uses different suppliers / product batches which is not uncommon but quality should be consistent within the same product.
