Cutter Module Bambu Suite Frustration

[Jas280z]

Bambu Suite needs A LOT of work and documentation. I just got the cutter module for my non-laser H2D and have found the software very frustrating.

Initial tests cutting out simple svg patterns into the vinyl sheets I bought with the cutter went very well, but Print then Cut has been a major learning experience. There are no preinstalled settings for laminated vinyl sticker sheet, and the non-laminated sheet settings did not work as they failed the initial cut calibration. Dialing in the settings to get a clean cut that wouldn’t fail initial cut calibration has been a major chore. There is no explanation of how the cutting pressure and speed may impact your results, and it seems the material thickness setting makes no difference at all. You just have to do multiple test cuts at different settings until you find a setting that works well. Even then, it may still fail the initial pre-cut calibration since it doesn’t do multiple cutting passes on the calibration even if you have your actual cuts set up like that.

I have found I need to cancel the first job after it fails the cut calibration, then re-send the job and have it cut the same spot twice to get it to pass. After that it cuts beautifully if you want a through cut. I cannot get non-cut through cuts to work. The settings I need to pass the initial calibration always cut fully through, even when using the sticker tool to set it to not cut through or provide an extra frame around the sticker.

My current settings are 175 gF, 50 mm/s, and 3 passes. Even with this, it will fail the initial cut calibration, but cancelling the job and sending it again (without touching the sheet), results in it passing after the second cut calibration.

There is also the issue of print sizing. The layout defaults to A4, but I have 8.5x11 vinyl sticker paper. I have to print A4 size onto the 8.5x11, if that makes sense. I have to tell the printer it has A4 paper loaded, even though it doesn’t. This results in me losing some of the working width of my sheet and having to be cognizant that I don’t have the full length shown in the preview to work with. Why can’t I just change the template to 8.5x11, or any size of paper I may have that will fit for that matter?

And the birdseye camera needs to be made available for non-laser users. Even if we lose some accuracy, it would be a huge benefit to placing cuts onto sheets.

Overall, for $69 the cutter seems like a great value. But the software, lack of official documentation, and lack of youtube or similar tutorials from creators is currently really holding it back. Hopefully with the recent release of the stand alone cutting module Bambu will realize that they need to invest significant time into polishing Bambu Suite, specifically for the cutter, or the cutter will quickly become a major missed opportunity.

P.S. And now the software crashes every time I try to prepare a cut. I have restarted my computer and uninstalled/reinstalled the software. Just crashes every time now. So currently the cutter is completely unusuable. Great.

[lsuen]

I had the same issue. You need to change the paper size in the Print Then Cut settings first before printing and also make sure your printer is printing in Letter Size.

[maxim3D]

You can change the paper size over here:

Im having other issues with macOS version. Bambu Suite just crashes when I hit “make” every time on M4 MBA and mini.

[Jas280z]

I’ll have to try that out, thank you!

I found that clicking on my printer and viewing the camera through the program seems to have corrected the crashing issue.

[maxim3D]

Mine keeps crashing on all 3 of my computers every time I hit “make”. I tried to run it in rosetta, that did not work. Also tried to run it in a Windows VM with no luck. So my cutting module is unusable due to the software, will try to figure out whats going on.

[maxim3D]

Well I can get it to cut the calibration pattern… the problems seem to be with “print and cut”, Bambu Suite tries to address a memory location that is invalid.

[maxim3D]

Figured out what is causing the problem. Seems like Bambu Suite has a problem with certain SVG files, especially multi color ones.

[simtom]

Yeah, I’ve also been fighting with Bambu Suite. My main point of frustration is that it moves objects without me asking when going to the “Prepare” stage. Apparently you have to “Attach” first, but this is not always possible. I really don’t know why it doesn’t just keep the placement from the first stage.

[maxim3D]

I also had a bug where I turn an item into a sticker and in the next prepare stage the stickers white outline is beside the graphic instead of underneath it. They need to do a lot of work to fix Bambu Suite.

[Jas280z]

Just as an FYI, the letter size setting has a typo. I believe it should be 279mm, not 297. That was what originally threw me off when looking to change the size. I can confirm the letter size works with US 8.5"x11" paper.

Also, I found that you can run calibration runs of your paper to create an array of different settings to help dial in the pressure. But, this still doesn’t help if you find that multiple passes are needed to get the best cut. For me, the initial Print then Cut automated calibration fails. I actually have to cut off a piece of my lamination sheet so the bottom left target is not laminated, then when it does the cal cut there it passes. This works, but is a pain. It would be great to be able to either have the cal cut match the number of passes your profile is set up for, or allow users who’ve manually calibrated to skip that portion of the initial start up.

[Jeffs3d_Corner]

I would like to see just a print option.
I have a sublimation printer as well and am using bambu suite to make designs. I find having to install the cutter and calibrate it before I can print the file hampers the work flow. I would like to see the option to add registration marks or not and calibrate after printing.

[Dulphy]

I just installed the cutting module as well and I found the experience to be lacking. The software is confusing and it seems like you are going to fail on your first few passes, especially if you are like me and have zero knowledge about cutting.

Reminds me of 3d printing years ago, you fail when you don’t know what you are doing.

I bought some sticker paper, letter size. Set the settings that are talked about in this thread and I ran a calibration test. The test is supposed to make many cuts and you determine the cut that passed the test and that becomes the settings for that material. Again, reminds me of manually setting up my first layers on older 3d printers

All of my 15 cuts they make for the calibration pass failed.

I then measured the thickness of the sticker paper, it said .192mm, the default is .17mm. I changed it to .18 (didn’t want to upset things too quickly) and ran another calibration, same results.

I did get a message at one point that I had to clean my nozzle camera, I did that with a cloth and the message hasn’t come back.

Another issue I am having is the images I want to become stickers are printed outside of the 4 corner markers Bambu Suite places on the print. The cutter then complains that it can’t line things up.

Seems like a bit of a learning curve, and I admittingly don’t know much about this subject. I’ll learn over time, but it is more of a pain than I thought it would be. The software seems very limited.

[DameD]

Cutting is a funny thing. It’s “deceptively” simple. I found my cricut the same at first. I haven’t even opened the box for mine as of yet. Too many work hours… I hope to get to it soon, but don’t give up!

[Jas280z]

I’ve found that the material thickness is not used at all for blade cutting, it seems like it is only there for the material. Or, at least if it is used by the software it does not make a significant difference.

The main factor in cutting is the cutting pressure, which is set in the individual material settings. Note, it has to be set separately for basic cut and print then cut.

There is a calibration option that will create an array at different cutting pressures. Scroll way to the bottom, past all of the laser stuff, to get to the cutting calibration instructions here: Bambu Suite Material Parameter Calibration, Input and Machining Optimization Guide | Bambu Lab Wiki

I see that you ran that test, but did you change the material type? That will auto adjust the pressure range for the test. If none of the tests cut though, you need to increase your min and max pressure.

As far as the registration marks not lining up on the paper, the software defaults to an A4 size. If you print on 8.5x11 you may run into that issue (I did). If you scroll up in this thread, another user showed how to change that in the prepare tab. You want to switch it to Letter if you are using 8.5x11. There is a typo in the metric dimensions listed in the Letter description, but it works correctly.

[Dulphy]

Here are the calibration results I ran on the sticker paper

hard to see with the glare but the first two columns don’t cut enough, then the last 3 columns cut enough, but none of the cuts looks correct. When I peel the paper off of the plate, it tears, none really stick correctly.

I should try some matt paper to eliminate the glare as an issue, this paper is pretty shiny.

[Jas280z]

I’m not a fan at all of the design they chose for the calibration template. It is WAY more intricate and complicated than 99% of my cuts. I get that it may make sense to dial in on a worse case scenario, but I had the same results as you. Even cuts that I knew were too much pressure and leaving visible marks on the cutting surface still didn’t come away cleanly. I’d much rather the option for a simple calibration with 2 cm squares. I basically ended up doing my own manual pressure calibration using squares and varying the pressure or number of passes with each job until I found settings that worked well for me. Right now I’m at 190gF pressure and 3 passes using vinyl sticker paper with matte laminate on top.

[philch]

Cutting seems fine for me, it’s the drawing option I cannot master. I wonder how you make a multi color drawing. I tried importing all tupes of files but when the drawing is multicolored, only options I have is laser or print and cut, no way to draw in several colors. What’s the catch?

EDIT: OK I got it, need to separate by layer color in photoshop for instance and assemble the different color layers in bambu suite. There may be a simpler way but this works at least. Not that I really need that but I wanted to succeed

To avoid smearing also need to set order of colors from the lightest to the darkest…

[maxim3D]

Found another issue with print and cut. Got some holographic sticker paper… its the best compromise as white paper looks a bit cheap, and on clear paper the colors looks dull. Holographic paper looks the best after printing. The problem is the H2D camera can not focus on the placement marks on the shiny holographic paper, failed multiple times. This could easily be fixed by allowing to print the calibration marks separately on the back of the paper, and cutting the paper face down.

@SupportAssistant

[yandards]

Used the cutter on some PU cloth, no massive dramas but I wanted to etch the cloth. Studios workflow was very clunky, it asks you to flip the PU for cutting which meant I couldn’t align the cutout with the laser pattern cleanly.
Then tried it around the other way, ie cut then laser, that wasn’t ideal as the cut part ends up with a massive solid black blob - PU was also moving about a bit during lasering as the smaller grids were not available then.
Not tried the vinyl yet.

[deald21]

Just adding to get traffic to this thread. If we added the Birdseye camera to our H2D with the cutter module. We want Live Spatial Alignment. Also I would love to use what I purchased. I have to disconnect it currently because it’s looking for other Laser accessories.