Is it possible to fine tune the z-height during printing on BambuLab X1C?
title question says it all but watch this video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GiMCoDomZnA from 11:54 and you’ll understand my question
I honestly don’t know the answer to your question, but I’ve had an X1C for a year and I’ve not once worried about or had to fine-tune the Z height as it was printing.
And I had an Ender 3 Pro before the X1C, so I remember that nonsense.
TLDR: No z-height tuning on the Bambu printers, none needed.
I’m sure that his tips work well on his printers, large, inexpensive bedslingers that he needs because of the size of his products. It is old tech.
Most of the tips do not apply to any Bambu printer.
- Tighten the frame - nothing to tighten because Bambu printers are not made of Meccano parts.
- Make belts very tight - semi-auto tensioning.
- Check the belts every 5-6 prints - Not even mentioned in the periodic maintenance wiki. Try once a year, just because you can, and its easy.
- Re-level the bed every 5-6 prints - How flimsy is the frame that the bed will not stay level? Once a year would be overkill on a Bambu printer.
- Use slow speeds - He says that he prints his bases at 100% recommended (80 mm/sec) speed and then slows to 80% (64mm/s). Watch the printer printing a base in the background, try not to go to sleep. Bambu speeds are about 200-300 mm/s.
His main point is that the layers need to be consistently smooth and he achieves that by adjusting z-height for EVERY print. He has no idea why that is necessary. It is NOT necessary on a Bambu printer. You can get the same result on your Bambu printer by properly calibrating flow rate once per spool, or less often if your filament manufacturer makes a consistent product.
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I forgot the main reason you do not need to fine tune z-height on an X1C. It has LIDAR and other sensors to adjust flow and pressure advance, level the bed, and set the bed height. It will do all that automatically, on every print if you wish.
I had forgotten those features because I seldom use them. By calibrating each filament, I can turn those features off and save several minutes of preparation at the beginning of each print.
I assume you’re referring to the flow rate calibration (Pass 1 and Pass 2) in, say, Orca Slicer. There’s a difference between that, which provides a calibration for steady state flow on higher levels, and the z-height of the first layer. I’ve just now done the classic “perfect first layer” test on my X1C, and it’s not perfect. The first layer z-height seems to be off. The flow rate calibration is perfect for subsequent layers, however.
You’re right in the sense that if I could specify a different flow rate for the very first layer, that would address the issue, but AFAIK that isn’t possible either.
In contrast, on FlashForge and Qidi, for better or worse, there is a separate z-height adjustment that one can dial-in during a first-layer test print. This amount will vary by filament type because of the different rates of thermal expansion, and it may even vary between rolls of the same filament type from different manufacturers, because of differences in formulations. I suppose even color could be a factor, as the amount and influence of the pigments could vary.
So, with respect to the “perfect first layer test,” I seem to be stuck with regards to my X1C. What to do to make it right?
[Edit: I should note that this particular problem wasn’t observable with the Bambulab Engineering Build plate, but instead is now a problem with a brand new Wam Bam Carbon Fiber build plate. Are there parameters for different build plates that are stored somewhere? I have no way of creating a new kind of build plate to work from, AFAIK, so I hope this problem doesn’t arise every time I change build plates–assuming it’s even related to that. ]
In case you need convincing, this is how the first layer of the calibration print went down:
Not sure if you can tell, but really none of them went down right.
Nonetheless, here is the final result after the full stack of layers was printed:
You can ignore the bottom row in the second photo, because I did a real-time “skip” when it became apparent they were likely to fail.
And this was the result of my trying to do a “perfect first layer” test:
Far from perfect: z-height was weigh too high. You can maybe tell from the photo because you can see all the way through the print onto the build plate almost a bit like looking through a Venetian blind. Also, when I pull it off the bild plate, each bead of filament layed down separates into their own separate strand. I could provide a photo of that as well if no one gets the gist of what I’m saying.
Hopefully someone reading this has some worthwhile suggestion on what to do. This has been enough torture for one day, so I’ll wait for replies.
Because the wam bam carbon fiber build plate does not include any kind of market that the bamblab x1c might recognize, at the moment my working hypothesis is that my X1C goes insane when it can’t recognize the build plate. Or, to put it differently, it defaults to an insane z-height when it can’t recognize the build plate.
I had always thought the build plate type check was just a nice added bonus that kept you from printing with the wrong one, but maybe there’s an internal z-height table that gets indexed based on build plate type and filament type to yield a plausible z-height? I have to ask, since there’s no way to interrogate the code, if it’s in the firmware.
Oh joy, another wild goose chase! 
Or maybe the microlidar is getting confused by the wam bam CF plate? It is highly reflective. I’ll also try disabling the microlidar first layer inspection to see whether it makes any difference…
Meanwhile, anyone with suggestions please jump in!
I seem to have confirmed that the Micro Lidar was the problem. After disabling Micro Lidar, I’m getting results that are in-line with expectations.
In short, BambuLab micro Lidar appears to be incompatible with the wam bam carbon fiber build plate.