It looks like I’ve solved it.
Now it’s actually printing even better than the X1C.
Apparently, in my case the problem was in the firmware — maybe a bug. I was away on vacation and couldn’t update to the latest FW until today. So I installed the newest firmware available (01.02.00), and then did something I had never done before: I reset everything back to factory settings. I went through the whole initial setup again, recalibrated everything, leveled the bed at high temperature, calibrated with the Vision encoder, calibrated the nozzle offset, and printed a model I had already tried before with terrible results.
This time it came out perfect.
Don’t ask me how or why — but that’s how I fixed it.
Z-banding occurs on straight edges because a steel linear rail is used to control the x-axis of the printer and two extruders are positioned. This structure is very heavy and has difficulty stopping at straight corners and edges, which causes layer slippage. However, the x1c uses carbon rods and has a much lighter extruder, so it can accelerate and stop much more easily. Unfortunately, the h2d will never be able to print straight edges with as much quality as the x1c. This is a fundamental design problem. Furthermore, as the travel distance increases, momentum increases and vibration increases, which reduces the surface quality of the printed parts. If larger diameter carbon rods and a single extruder that everyone trusts and has proven its quality had been added to the design from the beginning, these disappointments would most likely not have been experienced and we would have experienced the Bambu Lab layer quality we are accustomed to in larger volume products.
@insanesoul1978 Are you serious? I told you exactly these steps and you said, you´ve done all that before. Now you say its the first time…this is what I meant with all my posts before. This has nothing to do with the latest firmware.
Before going on vacation I had tried everything, including opening a ticket. I had never done a factory reset until I got back home — but before that, I updated the firmware. Now, whether the new firmware was responsible or not (or maybe it was just a bug in the older firmware), I have no idea. I just reported exactly what I did and what happened. If you’re here nitpicking my words just to argue, you’re talking to the wrong person…
I talk to the right person for sure. I wouldn´t lose a single word if you hadn´t tried putting me down in the other thread about this topic and now, surprise surprise…I gave you exactly these instructions a few posts back here. Nothing more to say, it speaks worlds itself.
Z-Banding guys, just do a belt tensioning procedure exactly how its described in the wiki, do a factory reset and a full calibration afterwards and check your print quality again.
Beyond the fact that I don’t owe you an explanation for what I did or didn’t do, like I said, I did everything multiple times except for resetting to factory settings — because honestly I found that absurd, I’ve never had to do that with any other machine. That’s why I think it might’ve been an issue with the older firmware, which apparently wasn’t overwriting calibration data properly. It’s just a guess, I can’t know for sure.
The fact is that TODAY (I just got back from vacation yesterday, and as you can imagine it was kind of hard to run tests from 500 km away) I did exactly what I said I did.
I don’t get it — does it bother you that I didn’t mention you? Do you want me to thank you? I don’t understand. Yes, I had said I’d done everything, and I also mistakenly said I had reset the machine, when in reality I had only logged out… stupidly. So what now? Please, have me arrested!!! I’ll start packing my bags.
And anyway, a few people have already messaged me privately saying they tried the exact same thing I did and it didn’t fix anything… so honestly I don’t even know what to say. I guess mine is just an isolated case…
If only that would also solve the support absurdness with h2D … currently can’t (won’t trust) print anything with supports higher than couple cm. Trees just get uprooted by head (yes it’s observed, not speculated) and normal supports just melt down. Only replies I got is “user error” “bad filament” but those do not explain how any of my other 40+ machines print the model successfully but the moment I push it to h2D it just… fails…
