I got my hands on my first 3D Printer a few days ago - The Bambu Lab A1, and so far I’m really surprised about the quality. I’ve primarily gotten it to print Miniatures and Terrain, and while do need to figure out a few tweaks, I’m really happy with the results.
With the exception of one thing I can’t quite seem to eliminate - There are some, for lack of a better word, wide gaps in some of the outer walls. They are seemingly placed at random parts of the Model, and when I tilt the Model they move to a different location. If I’m lucky, I can “move” them to areas that are less noticeable.
However, in the most extreme cases there weren’t just gaps in the outer walls - the outer walls were straight up missing., instead replaced with “Overhang Walls”:
I’ve tried this with both the default “High Quality 0,06” Template with the 0,2 Nozzle as well as with some others - that didn’t really change much. I only ever (partially) fixed it with the Variable Layer Height tool, or - if that didn’t work - tilting the Model. Am I missing something, or am I simply pushing the limits of what a FDM Printer is capable of atm? The results so far are fantastic, just a bit inconsistent depending on the model.
Your approaching the limit of FDM technology. I would have said, try a narrow nozzle but you already have done that. This sort of fine features is best suited from resin printing not FDM I’m afraid.
At first I was a bit confused because the issue seems to happen in the slicer, before the actual print. If I understand this correctly, it’s not that the slicer is making a mistake - Just that it’s working within the mechanical restrictions, and that these “openings” have to be somewhere? Albeit with some ways to mitigate them.
Your overhang walls will look much better when using a PETG interface layer with a concentric interface pattern and 0mm z-distance.
Apart from that, there are FDM tech limits beyond which life gets really difficult.
I actually did consider purchasing Bambu’s “Breakaway Support” for PLA. It used to be known as “Support W”, it seems. My only concern is that the product details on the Shop Page specifically point out that it has to be dried out before use, which I have no way of doing…
The Shop Page for PETG states that it needs to be dried as well, and that it’s not compatible with the 0,2 Nozzle. Do you have any recommendation for the drying process?
Correct. The slicer is trying its damndest to get a 0.2 squiggle into a 0.21 layer.
I have a similar shape I found on the Internet that I keep on hand for simple experiment purposes. It was designed for resin printer and it was something I tried to print when I first got my P1P. I learned a lot from this exercise. I learned what “doesn’t” work.
That’s a shame, but I’m still happy with the results. Resin was absolutely out of the question for me, so it’s either that - or nothing. And after printing some Minis, I’m quite satisfied with “that” so far.
One more thing though - Since it’s limited by the Nozzle / Layer Size, I assume that increasing the Size of the Miniature won’t do much, if at all. After all, the Nozzle / Layer Size doesn’t change, correct?
Maybe if I try to cut the Model into smaller parts and use different angles to print them separate? That way I might be able to improvise a bit more…Of course, that won’t be possible all the time.
One of the things that convinced me to pick up the printer was this video:
Starting at around 12:00 Minutes, the Wonder Woman Statue just blew me away. I really like my results so far, but I can’t help but feel like I’m missing something to reach quite that level of detail and quality.
This has been my latest, and probably best print so far:
And while I love how the little guy turned out, he hasn’t reached some of the other results I’ve seen so far. Maybe it’s the Filament? I’m using the Bambu Matte PLA. Though this is probably getting a bit off-topic
Both Bambu Matte and Bambu Silk are the devils spawn as far as I am concerned. Anything else but that and you’ll likely get much better results. Overture has a better Matte than Bambu.
For the holes: Did you try Wall Generator = Arachne? It may fill those holes in better.
I would avoid the support specific material and use PETG/PLA interface, everyone raves about it (as another commenter mentioned).
I happen to love PLA Matte, great surface finish, never had a single issue with it since I would never use it for mechanical or load bearing parts. I think PLA-CF is the only way you can get better results and results may vary for fine detail, you aren’t even supposed to use 0.2mm hotend with CF.
I imagine the chin overhangs you evidenced were not supported? The dark blue lines are overhang walls 100%+, they have their own speed setting now, you may want to slow it down or even speed it up depending on if the overhang sags (too slow) or pulls off (too fast).
For the holes: Did you try Wall Generator = Arachne? It may fill those holes in better.
Others have answered for support interface I think.
I did look into it, but it didn’t seem to change a whole lot sadly. That being said, it has many more options than the “Classic” method, so I’m definitely gonna have to give it a closer look - Thanks!
You can also try upping the width of the offending line segments, in this case outer wall (IE try 0.50 - 0.60). If I understand correctly this will work great when there is something below to support the squish and if there isn’t the software knows and will revert back to the hotend diameter.
Edit: Perhaps in this case of such fine detail it would be better to increase wall count and lower the line width. Of course all of this is highly dependent on the nozzle size. I’m obviously grasping at straws now… But this is easy enough to test in the slicer.
I tried breakaway support exactly once. It was immediately clear that we’d never ever become friends I just can’t find a point to its existence Especially with the PETG<->PLA approach and the existence of BVOH.
You can dry filament on your printer while you wait for your order to arrive. A cheap one will do.
Edit: Only now saw your note regarding nozzle comparibility. According to the filament guide, it is compatible.
Thanks! I’ll definitely gonna look into it. I had a hard time removing some of the supports, so this might be a game changer. Can you recommend a brand for the PETG Filament? I don’t mind paying a little extra, if it shows in the results. So far I’ve been looking at SUNLU PETG, as well as Bambu PETG HF or the “Translucent” Variant.
@Lenyo
You can also try upping the width of the offending line segments, in this case outer wall (IE try 0.50 - 0.60). If I understand correctly this will work great when there is something below to support the squish and if there isn’t the software knows and will revert back to the hotend diameter.
Edit: Perhaps in this case of such fine detail it would be better to increase wall count and lower the line width. Of course all of this is highly dependent on the nozzle size. I’m obviously grasping at straws now… But this is easy enough to test in the slicer.
Definitely worth a shot. I’m give it a try, thanks!
Ah, tricky. The original Bambu PETG was a bit nasty and tedious to dial-in. After a month, I managed to print pretty challenging geometries though. At the time, there were also a load of PETG threads. Since they died down, I expect that is not much of an issue anymore though.
Any other PETG worked well for me, but the Generic settings were of course much slower. Does not matter so much though if you only print the support interface with it.
I do have a roll of the Bambu PETG-HF lying around but have not tried that yet myself.
For water soluble stuff, the Fiberlogy BVOH worked great when dryed thoroughly.
Except for the Base I use the same filament I’ll use for the Mini, and for the Interface I’ll use the PETG? (Probably either the Bambu-HF or the SUNLU one).
Or should I use the PETG for ALL the Support Structures? This will probably double the printing time, but honestly - If that will give me cleaner edges and less struggle with removing supports, I don’t care. Heck, I’ll leave the thing running for days if it means I squeeze every bit of detail out of it.
I usually only change the “Support/raft interface” to PETG (for PLA). The other one can just be default. I have not tried myself but it could be that if you set the base filament to the same as the model the printer may try to “swap” to the same filament. With all the purging, etc.
The PETG interface works in my experience for everything except “islands”. So if, for example, you print a figurine with hanging arms, the printer will need to support the fingers (and hand and arm up to the shoulder). This works with PETG only… but not always. I managed Grogu this way (12 on the same plate) but my little PETG fairly required special treatment using additional solid support constructed from filaments.
