I am currently on the steep learning curve of 3D printing so I am hoping someone can help with my following struggles!
I have two P1S printers, both only a few months old and I seem to get a different finish on the bottom layer from the print plate, I think this could be down to under extrusion but I am not too sure.
In the photo below I printed these with BL PETG-HF on a Bambu Textured PEI plate and have kept the settings the same on both printers and used the same filament roll. The differences are subtle but the one marked 2 is the one I am having problems with. When printing large flat pieces the textured finish on the bottom layer is quite noticeably different between the two printers, one having more of a rougher glistening appearance which looks better, the other being a bit smoother.
I am also having issues with the infill if I use Rectilinear, Adaptive Cubic or Grid with the PETG-HF and I get spikes at the junction points. I seem to have got round this by using Gyroid but again this seems to happen more on the one printer than the other.
I am wondering if I should do some sort of calibration on the problematic printer but when looking at the BL Wiki it implies that I should not have to do this if I am using BL filament. What is the general consensus on this?
This is the results I get when printing Adaptive Cubic:
Rectilinear infill can cause a lot of issues. Where filament crosses there be peaks that the extruder hits. It can knock the model off the plate if adhesion is low or the model gets tall.
The other bit is PETG HF really needs to be dried. Maybe you did and just didn’t mention it but that filament undried can cause zits and stringing. There’s lots of posts here where people discovered the need for drying PETG HF.
Also, just to head it off, filament right out of the bag can be too wet even though it has a desiccant pack in there. The bags are water permeable. Not like there is nothing, but they leak in water.
Thanks for the reply, yes I forgot to add that I had recently dried the filament, I dried it at 65 degrees for 12 hours in the AMS 2 Pro.
I have just tried a sample print with the Gyroid infill and that fixed the issue with the spikes. I am still having the issues with the pattern imprint on the base of the print though, the 2nd printer seems to be far smoother and seems to pick up less of the textured appearance from the plate than the other printer. Could this be down to extrusion differences between the two printers and if so is there a calibration process I should go through, or is this something that I should not need to do if I am using BL PETG-HF as opposed to a non BL filament?
Are the textures different on the plates? There were some changes to vendors/processes with some textured plates a while back. Might search for old threads. But if you swap build plates does the different texture follow the plate?
But you also say you recently dried the filament. How was it stored between when it was dried and when it was used and how long ago was that?
About calibration, I can’t really help you with that. I have yet to calibrate any filaments on mine.
PETG will be somewhat similar from different manufacturers but generally may have small differences from additives or coloring. My only experience with that has been with PLA from other manufacturers and I was able to use Bambu print settings just fine but PETG HF may or may not have that kind of consistency between manufacturers. It’s a little more sensitive to water and the HF formulation may also have differences.
Both printers are out of the box and both have the same BL dual sided textured plate. Good call, I will try swapping the plate between printers though and see if the problem follows the plate, thanks.
Worthwhile checking. I have an X1C with two Textured PEI plates. PETG-HF REALLY sticks to one of them (the older of the two) and ‘sufficiently’ sticks to the newer plate (ie, finished piece removes easily). Same kind of plate and same printer and filament.
