Hi everyone. I recently got a P1S (with AMS/Combo) as my first 3d printer and I’ve printed small pieces from Fusion360 without any problems. For my first bigger piece I tried to print a small keyboard case from the .stl provided here: Printables ( 6col_flat_left.stl).
I loaded the .stl into Bambu Studio, selected the Bambu PLA Basic black preset/filament and the print began. I left all settings to default with bed leveling before the print, 0.4mm default hot end, textured bed. The whole print was expected to take about 1 hour. Everything was looking great for ~40 minutes or so, after that near the end there was a lot of chaos.
The lower half looks great but the top half is very stringy. Do I have to optimize my print settings or try the print at 50% speed? How do I start diagnosing such an issue as a new user?
No, there is something very different going on with your printer and it’s not the model. If speed were an issue it would show throughout the print. Something is interfering with your filament feed if I were to guess. I say that because it is failing mid-print.
I would go back to basics and ensure that you don’t have a feed problem. The best test for this is to simply print a primitive, either cylinder or cube and scale the height to your model height and then run a test print. See if the primitive fails in the same location.
If it does not, then the next step is to take your model and use the cut tool in the slicer and cut off just a section of the model and print only that to duplicate the circumstances. If the model section shows the same pattern then something in the STL file is corrupt.
You should also try exporting to a STEP file if your using CAD. The slicer will do the conversion to a mesh(STL). That will rule out an export error from Fusion360. I’ve seen Fusion360 corrupt output and the remedy is to change to STEP which is much more stable. The best format is to use the lowest revision of STEP which is AP203 if I recall.
Thank you very much! I will try to print the same model again tomorrow and see if it fails at the same spot.
Unfortunately I don’t have a STEP (or Fusion360) source file for the model I’ve linked, there are only STL files and other users seem to have printed them successfully, that’s why I thought my settings are at fault here.
I tried the “Is your printer clogged?” guide from the documentation but after loading the basic PLA again and extruding a bit everything seems fine. I will try again and report back. Thanks again!
I see - would you say one should default to printing with an open door for every print longer than a few minutes? I opted for the P1S thinking the enclosure would help with heat stability (well, and humidity and loudness maybe), I didn’t think it would cause problems when printing
I will try, thank you very much for your suggestions!
I’d leave the door open or print an AMS riser that will allow you to have the top open (usually they have a ledge that you can sit the glass on) while printing PLA.
It doesn’t have to be wide open, just a crack about an inch or so. With the riser I don’t always leave the door open, heat rises.
The enclosure will come in handy if you start printing ABS, ASA or some of the other technical filaments. That’s a hill worth climbing, but later. Before the P1S the P1P lacked the enclosure and really was only great for printing PLA and PETG, TPU.
Aaah I see, I just thought enclosure == better. That makes a lot of sense, thanks for the explanation Can’t wait to get back to printing tomorrow and learn more. Thanks again!
Also think it’s a feed problem. Is anything hitting the spool? Like the AMS lid? Or tangle in the spool? I’d start with some simple 20mm cube for test.
Bambu recommends door open and/or top off when printing PLA, PETG, and TPU. That has always worked with my X1C, which does report chamber temperature. With those materials, I risk problems when the chamber gets above ~40°C.
Low chamber temperatures can also be a problem. In winter when my shop is usually cold, I need to use the heat bed to warm the (closed) chamber above 26°C before starting any print.
Printing the same model with the door open was exactly what I needed, the new prints turn out great. Thank you again for getting me on the right track and teaching me new words like “heat creep”. Now I’m looking into risers for the top glass plate to not have the door swinging around
