Quite the noob here in the world of 3D printing. Received my X1-Carbon Combo last Saturday (March 11) and have printed out about a dozen items so far. My main purpose for the printer is as a hobbyist focusing on printing action figures/statues of characters like Lara Croft, Aloy, Resident Evil, Fallout, and probably a bunch of other characters from 4 inches tall and up.
With that in mind, are there any recommendations on the best type of filament (and associated Bambu Studio settings) for these “complex” prints? I plan on painting most, if not all, of these prints (brush and airbrush).
I do understand that the “low polygon” models will only print out so well regardless of the filament or settings, so I am mostly looking at purchasing (and eventually modeling my own) with medium to high polys.
I use Verbatim BVOH. It works great with the AMS and is water solutable, so can be removed without any visible traces left.
But I am sure other brand and non water solutable will work as well. Since the stuff is expensive, only use it for the interface layers, not the entire support structure and it will last a long time then.
@swateinheit Do you think there would be any improvement in making the layer height 1.0 or even 0.8? Bear in mind, I intend on priming and painting the action figures, so I was wondering if any noticeable improvement in a smaller layer height would even be seen after that.
Those are very large layer heights for miniatures! Such large layers will make your job very much harder in post processing. You will have to do much sanding to make it smooth.
Most miniatures are printed with smaller than usual lines to get better detail and less cleanup.
I {AHEM} assume you want to use such lines because you read that speeds up the print? You usually use such huge layers for rough parts printed with large nozzles (.8 or 1.0 but Bambu doesn’t have a 1.0 available) where quality isn’t important.
LOL! I’m just starting my 2nd cup of coffee! Got ya!
Since you’re new to the 3D game you might pop over to YouTube and watch some vid on printing miniatures. There’s a ton of them, some are actually good too! LOL
There’s some tricks out there that can change your life. I’ve watched a few, but I’m not a miniatures printer, just a fair amount of printing under my belt guy.
EDIT: Also, look into OrcaSlicer. You’ll want to get very dialed in settings for the best prints and it has easy to use calibrations Bambu Studio doesn’t. It’s actually the same software. I wrote a PSA about it here:
Thanks for the quick reply. I downloaded SoftFever a few days ago and have played around with a few of their additional settings. I plan on going thorugh the Calibration Tutorial this weekend and give that a try.
One correction, and I am not totally up on the nomenclature quite yet, but I didn’t mean to imply I was printing “miniatures”. Most of the action figure models I want to print will be anywhere from 127mm (5 inches) to 305mm (12 inches, in connected parts).
I was actually playing around with Variable Layer Height this morning and was wondering if I just lower the height for the head and hands areas, and leave the rest at .12, that would be more than sufficient to give me the resolution I am looking for. The face, hair and hands always seem to be the most challenging.
I ran through the majority of the tests and it made a world of difference. Just be sure you name the filament when saving - I’ll use something like: Polylite PLA Red .6 so I know what nozzle I used.
Pro Tip (he says modestly … ) Different colors of the same filament can sometimes wildly vary in settings. Black can print entirely differently from Red. As annoying as it is you really need to profile each.
The good news is as long as you’re not using bargain basement junk filament you only have to do it once for each company and color. The good filament companies try hard to maintain consistency.
Variable layers is great. When combined with applying to specific areas it approaches magic. BUT - you really need to spend some time sliding through the layers (in Preview) and look like an eagle for oddities - it’s a real PITA to print a 4 hour print and find the face was mangled and you missed that! Ask me how …
Thanks for all the information. This really helps. One final question since you brought up the calibration of filaments. Currently I have only been using Bambu, PolyMaker (PolyLite and PolyTerra), and most recently, eSun. However, I’m very lucky to have a MicroCenter just a few miles away and they sell “Inland” filament. Do you have any experience and/or opinions on that filament?
Don’t feel like you’re bothering anybody here, if someone feels put out they just won’t answer, eh? I’m chillin’ today so no problems.
Well, I personally haven’t used it but I’ve seem many posts that it’s a great filament. I happen to like Polymaker - wide range of colors, types, excellent quality and consistency, and the best documentation out there, like this:
They have data sheets for every filament.
eSun is also very good. Perhaps others will weigh in on their favs.
I looked at the Power BI from Polymaker. Made me realize I have a lot to learn.
I plan on going to MicroCenter this weekend, and like Target stores with women, I always leave with WAY more than I intended. I am going to get one (or more) spools of their PLA and metallic filaments. I’ll let you know the results.
Yeah I hear ya, I’ve been doing 3D printing since late 2015 and still feel like an armature next to some of these people! Baby steps, baby steps …
I LOL’d on this and my Wife asked me what I was laughing at. She’s been on my journey with me and is pretty 3D savvy. She said to tell you she’s offended … then said “Well, maybe I resemble that.”
The even funnier thing - we just came home from Target! I kid you not. You have good timing.
On the metallic filament - it is abrasive. And like all abrasive materials will wear the nozzle and extruder gears (that’s the part that moves the filament, not to be confused with the hotend which melts it).
You must use a hardened nozzle (X1C comes with them). They also work better with .6 nozzles as there are unmeltable particles in there which can cause clogging on .4 ones. Other “filled” filaments are CF (Carbon fiber) glass fiber, glow in the dark, copper, wood, and some others.
Some people have no trouble with a .4 with marble but it depends on brand as to how big the particles are… {Sigh}
You can get away with a 0.4 nozzle, and with a lack of 0.6 nozzle available here for a while I did go with a 0.4 nozzle for various carbon fiber, neon and glow in the dark filaments. I was lucky and got not a single clogging while chewing through a few kg of filament, but it certainly its not guaranteed to work.
But its good enough for testing a few prints if you have to wait for a bigger nozzle. And if you are more lucky then me, you can also learn how to clean a clogged nozzle and how to disassemble the extruder
Hello everyone…new to 3d printing too…I am doing 12 inch statues to bust, I find that poly-maker & eSun work best for me, did the inland and its pretty good, also just bought a couple of nozzles, two 0.4 & two 0.2, going to try to print with the 0.2, had issues with the AMS with filament getting stuck, had clogged nozzles, failed prints, so I am getting to be good at working with this 3d printer, but you were saying that metallic may not work with the 0.4 nozzle? I just ordered it from poly-maker, may have to buy the .6 nozzle.
