I create a lot of 3D printed art using PLA exclusively. Many of my pieces feature up to 16 different colors. To make the most of each print, I use the full build plate area (325 x 324mm), so no prime tower.
I’m running into an issue where filament swaps are required through the same nozzle. After the extruder has finish purging the filament and returns to the print after a swap, it’s leaving behind a small blob of filament right where it touches down (see attached photos). It looks like there’s a bit of oozing happening after the swap.
I’ve never encountered this problem on my X1 Carbons and it’s really impacting on the quality of my prints. Is anyone else experiencing this?
If you want a clean color swap in a nozzle, you need a prime tower or try to place it in your infill, which in your case is not possible.
that you had good prints on the X1C was probably just luck.
Yeah, a prime tower is not an option. I bought the H2D specifically to create large prints. Both of my X1C’s print flawlessly between colour filament changes without a prime tower, as with many other hueforge creators using X1C’s. I don’t think it’s a luck thing.
I notice that after a filament change, the H2D only performs a wipe with the rough wiper. I wonder if there is a way to force a wipe with the fine silicon wiper also.
Yeah, I’ve raised tickets with Bambu but they say it’s normal (it’s not), and they just tell me to lower nozzle temp, which doesn’t work either or to use a prime tower, which I’ve never had to do to utilise the entire build volume with my X1C. I’m seeing more and more people raising this issue (check this from time-stamp 19:46), but Bambu are continuing to play Ostrich.
Geez, if you enable the prime tower, then it would wipe the nozzle. If you don’t, please, just tell me, where the filament can go when it’s heated up again in the nozzle? It’s gonna either ooze (not enough retraction) or bubble gap (too much retraction), the heated up filament doesn’t follow the same rule of extrusion/retraction so there’s no way to fix it other than using a prime tower, or at least something to wipe it. The silicone wiper is not made for this and it will cause issues as well. The video you brought up here (I’m not saying you, I’m just saying about the video and the uploader) is an utter example of lack of professionalism and just have a look at the comment section, like literally half of the top comments are criticizing him.
Prime tower is designed with a purpose, denying to use it when it’s necessary is just… I don’t know, like complaining a lock would lock you outside the house if you don’t bring the keys. If you really hate prime tower, you can use enforced wipe, which is an option in the print profiles, but again this comes at a cost of potentially ruining the print if the color swap is near the top area.
The prime tower isn’t perfect, and I think bambu should come up with a better nozzle wiping option other than the prime tower, but just have a look around any other multi tool 3D printer, see if they don’t need a prime tower to print flawlessly. I’ll give you a short answer: no, they can’t do it perfectly without a prime tower, that’s the end of story as of 2025, probably 2035 even unless some manufacturer can implement a better, sustainable wiping mechanism. Until that day, we would still need the wiping tower.
