Lightyear G10 plate defective unable to reach them?

Bambu Lab X1 Series User mods
21

Just an update…

So I finally gave up and filed a dispute with PayPal explaining how I was unable to contact them to return a defective item and I tried 3 different methods of contact over a 3 week period and now wanted a full refund and would be open to send both plates back to them if Lightyear sent me a prepaid label.

Within 2 days of doing this, magically I get an email that says they will ship out a replacement and it will arrive mid March. No hey I’m sorry we took so long, or we were away. Just an order number showing a replacement that hopefully will ship soon. So it took PayPal contacting them to do anything. Also still less than stellar support with no accountability or apology for ghosting me for 3 weeks. Had I not involved PayPal I’d likely still be waiting.

To be honest after all this hassle I would have preferred the full refund as I don’t have much confidence in their product lasting but hey its something I guess. So to those who also mentioned being in the same boat with Lightyear, get PayPal involved if you used them. If you paid with a non insured option you may be ignored forever unfortunately.

2 Likes
22

What filaments are you printing with?

I’m exclusively printing ABS. Works great on the stock BL plates + glue, but doesn’t stick AT ALL on that Lightyear plate even when cranking up the bed temp all the way to 110C (fortunately I only bought 1). I though G10 was supposed to be that “magic” material where everything just sticks to.
Not to mention that the printer can’t read the plate’s code because it’s not printed in the right place where the printer expects it to be.

23

Hi,

Which ABS filament are you using? I’m using this enhanced ABS:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0BXN5ZMC8/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&th=1

and it sticks reliably to my Lightyear build plate at a bed temperature of 120C. It has worked out well for me, because the high bed temperature raises the chamber temperature to 48-50C during printing.

24

I have several X1C.
Fully calibrated with the Lightyear plate on.

I tried the following ABS brands in a variety of colors: BL, eSun, Sunlu, Filright, Polymaker, REAL, Fiberlogy, Spectrum, Nobufil and Filamentum.

Notable exception: red filament (BL, eSun, Filright and REAL) for whatever reason sticks a little bit better in that the first few layers seem to initially stick, but as soon as the part becomes thick enough the corners come of fast and the part simply slides away as it’s pushed by the nozzle. Every other color just balls up at the nozzle as if I was printing on oil.

Bed temp set at 100C and 110C → same results.

I don’t know how you’re able to push your BL to 120 because it can’t go that high (unless you have the X1E maybe?). Setting 120C trips the overheat sensor, pops up a warning message and causes the printer to fall back to 110. (all my printers do this)

The Lightyear website says you need to wash the plate with soap before first use, so I did. It didn’t stick, so I washed it 3 more times, to no avail. Wiping with IPA: still same result.

Actual surface temps when fully soaked at 100C:

  • no plate: 96.6C
  • BL stock plate: 96.1C
  • Lightyear G10: 90.7C
    (all measured on the same spot with IR gun)

Set at 110C the Lightyear plate’s highest temp spot is 98C, which should help, but no dice, still doesn’t stick.

So the Lightyear is 10C to 12C lower than the set temp and has a large delta with the stock plates.
This result isn’t surprising since the plate is so thick and fiberglass tends to dissipate heat.

I’ve had zero issues with any of the aforementioned brands using the stock plates over the past 2 years.
Given the hype and raving reviews about Garolite plates I was expecting either identical or better results. I was hoping to save time and money on glue.

I’m also curious why they made it so thick. Garolite sheets can be purchased as thin as 0.3mm. The rigidity of the Lightyear plate makes it unpleasant to use as it’s hard to remove and prone to pinch your fingers when it snaps into place, unlike flexible plates.

My last complaint is that the build plate isn’t recognized by the printer because its QR code is 18mm away from where the printer expects it to be (it doesn’t line up with the QR codes on the BL plates).

I have yet to reach out to Lightyear as I wanted to complete testing first.

25

The top plate is the Lightyear G10 for BL, the 2 below are stock BL plates.
As you can see, the QR code on the G10 is misaligned.
This causes the printer to not find it and to display a warning message before each print since it thinks I forgot to put on a plate.

IMG_20240322_2107051
IMG_20240322_21070511382×691 108 KB

26

I also have an X1C. I’m guessing your line voltage is 220v? In that case, strangely enough, the bed temperature spec limit is 110C. I’m on 110v, and for that the spec limit is higher, at 120C. Go figure.

I suppose if it mattered enough you could step your voltage down to 110 and run at that voltage instead.

FWIW, I didn’t get reliable adhesion at 110C either. 120C was the magic number for me.

27

FYI, I only just today noticed some slicer settings geared toward reducing warpage. I haven’t had a chance to try them out yet, but they sound promising. Not sure if they would make enough of a difference in your case, but probably worth a shot if you haven’t yet tried them either.

I do get some warpage on long ABS prints on the G10. Up to now I’ve been using large mouse ears to counteract it, and that mostly works for me.

28

Your Lightyear plate looks different from mine. Did you get yours before February?

Anyway, the X1C doesn’t recognize my Lightyear plate either. I turned off that function from the printer console, so now it doesn’t waste time looking and doesn’t complain anymore either.

29

I got mine 2 days ago.
I’m in Europe so it’s 230V here.
I bought just 1 to try it out.

I have a print farm and lots of printers. The security feature checking the presence of a plate has saved my ass a few times so I’m not going to turn it off. If Lightyear can’t figure out where the QR code is supposed to be, too bad for them.

I’m almost done with Lightyear. They can take it back and refund me.

I think the main culprit is that they went with a super thick sheet.
0.3mm would’ve allowed a much better heat transfer. I ordered one from a Spanish company and I’ll 3M glue it on a stock BL plate for testing as soon as it arrives.

Here’s a couple of videos of failures for your entertainment. I filmed the main colors/brands I use for daily production. I recommend fast forwarding.

30

“using large mouse ears”
My goal with G10 was to save time by not having to glue up build plates anymore. I print anywhere between 200 and 1800 parts/month. Having to clip and clean up mouse ears takes longer than washing off a little bit of glue.

31

Understood. Well, if you ever do find something to your liking, please make a post and let us know what it is. :grinning: It’s useful to pool information.

32

Just checking, have you taken a scouring pad to your plate? That was the fix for my new G10, in a sink of hot soapy water with the green scouring pad.

33

Sure will.
I think by next weekend I should have the 0.3mm sheet. I’ll make sure to post some results.

You did answer my original question though: 120C, so thanks for that. :+1:
It’s just unfortunate my printers can’t reach that for whatever reason.

1 Like
34

BTW, in a different thread, some people reported that washing their lightyear with dawn soap and scuffing it with a blue scotch brite made things adhere. If you’re ready to throw in your towel, you’ve got nothing to lose by giving that a try. It also worked for me on a different piece of thick garolite that I sourced from amazon. The scuffing isn’t even visible (or if it is, only barely so).

35

Indeed, I washed it but didn’t scruff it.
Will try if it comes to that.

36

This may be your problem. Disable the QR code checking and try again. Any time I try to continue after that warning (even with the corrrect plate, and even with no oozed filament in the way) my first layer doesn’t stick because the nozzle ends up too high. If I instead disable the checking, it works. I have filed a bug report but they either don’t understand or do not care.

2 Likes
37

OK, I’ll try that next just for kicks.
However as I mentioned earlier, I do need that security feature to be enabled.

The QR code not being in the right place is a design flaw on Lightyear’s part. How hard was it to copy the stock plate’s shape and position of QR code? :wink:

38

Yeah I can’t fathom how they failed to put the QR on it. But you can 2D-print a QR code, or order one from eg. Etsy.

39

If only the tab on the G10 was long enough for that, but they made it too short.
Check out the photo I posted earlier.

40

Oh, that’s even worse, I could fix my stellar white G10 with a sticker. My plate is just a nicely looking coaster anyway though, it’s crappy in so many aspects.