I need some help. I’m getting constant print failures on my new P2S, with the AMS pro 2. Using Bambu Lab PETG HF, my machine struggles to set the first layer without it constantly failing to attach to the default supplied Textured PEI Plate. Have tried cleaning the plate as recommened with alcohol, and dish soap and it continues to be an issue. The first week it was fine, then it started becoming a problem. Switched to the High Quality setting and it seems to work but when using the default Bambu Lab “Standard” setting I’m getting a very high amount of failures. I even tried increasing the bed temp, from 70 to 75, however that didn’t help.
I’ve run all the calibration tests, and it still continues to fail. I had a Prusa mini 2 prior to this, and this was meant to be an upgrade, yet it’s failure rate to adhere the filament to the plate compared to that older machine, is becoming very frustrating. To the point where I’m actually considering returning it, and let’s not even begin to bring up the VFA issues I’m facing on the X axis either, as that seems bad also.
And let’s also not mention the AMS humidity sensor issue that started happening also, where it stated the sensor had become disconnected from the board? Pulled the AMS apart, checked everything, switched it back on, and began working again. Weird.
It seems this only started when I was asked to update the app.
I have reached out to Support and have yet to hear back. However in the meantime, if anyone has some tips on maybe resolving these plate and filament issues, that would great to hear.
Welcome to PETG printing on a Bambu Lab P2S printer… due to a support snapping, from the first layer unable to attach itself to the plate …using default settings.
I hope someone from Bambu Lab sees this and explains why this is happening on their default settings, using their very own filament. Because this is becoming really unacceptable from a brand new printer only 3 weeks old.
And I hope that update to the app, wasn’t what cause this and it’s a defect with the printer itself because if this is the level of Bambu Lab software releases to their own closed system, this is not giving me any hope, esp. in supporting this brand.
This happens constantly, does not matter on filament vendor, bambu, esun, whatever, I finally managed to sort my settings out to get reliable petg prints and then bambu update the studio software thinking they know better and wreck PETG printing and have locked us out of the settings to fix it.
Can’t confirm.
My P2S Combo printed already > 200 hours with BL PETG HF on the factory installed textured plate with factory settings in Bambu Studio 2.3.1.51 and 2.3.0.70 - no issues.
It’s odd, as I’m not getting the same results on the High Quality setting, it’s only when I use the Standard setting it fails. The HQ seems to be fine, however waiting almost twice the time to print something just to get the objects to print without failure is not ideal. I’m still waiting on a response from Support.
Seeing that you have both joined the forum in October, would I be correct in assuming that you have recently joined the Bambu ecosystem?
There are a few peculiarities with these printers that are not immediately obvious.
For example, the textured plate is well known for working perfectly for days, weeks and even months without cleaning… or cleaning wirh IPA only… and then, once the grime has accumulated in the grooves, suddenly acting like Teflon. It happens earlier when using a plate for both PLA and PETG.
At this stage, it is neccessary to wash these plates repeatedly and vigorously with lots of warm water, dishwashing liquid and a clean, stiff brush. It may even be neccessary to do it a few times in a row.
Another item to be aware of is that the high speeds bring out a much higher sensitivity to filament moisture. And PETG is particularly troublesome so it is best dryed thoroughly when taking it out of the bag as those bags actually do let moisture through during their travels on the 7 seas…
One of the first symptoms of filament moisture is curling due to the moisture modified cooling behavior. The first approach against curling is to dry the filament.
Once that is done, there are two further effective counter-curling strategies: Slowing down and reducing the layer height. They are very effective as they work by acting on the volume, i.e. half layer height = 1/8 heat input=output/cooling per time. This probably explains why you have seen an improvement by reducing the layer height.
Interesting. Maybe the seating of your old nozzle was incorrect? As replacing a nozzle within weeks of ownership is not exactly what I had in mind. Surely they last longer than that?
Thanks for the reply @EnoTheThracian. Yeah, am new and first Bambu printer after hearing great things, and thanks for the tips.
Re. washing the plate, I went as far as washing and scrubbing it after every print, no dice. And the drying, I thought my filament was dry as I had run the AMS a few times trying to dry out the filament reaching around 17% humidity. So am unsure what values determines PETG as “dry”?
Re the setting, the High Quality setting in the slicer/app doesn’t seem to change the layer height as it seems to be the same as the Standard quality setting? Maybe it’s only the speed that has an impact? Sorry don’t understand your equation values, is that something within the settings, sorrystill learning.
However, will continue to investigate, and thanks again for the help.
First of all: Bambu Wiki advice is NEVER use alcohol to clean the PEI plate. They recommend to use “soap and water”, without specifying what kind of soap. My personal experience with dish washer soap is negative: even after rinsing generously with hot water, the dish soap still leave some residue on the build plate. I now use a spray bottle of “barbecue degreaser” + rinsing with hot water + drying with paper towels and that makes the PEI plate stick a lot better. However, when I started printing a model with only 4 tiny 4mm² contact areas in BBL Black PETG-HF, it failed. I restarted the same model with the same filament and setting on a Blue BQ “Frostbite” plate and it printed perfect. So depending on your needs, it might be a good €30 investment to buy a “blue” build plate.
I bought a P2S, but I am not new to 3d printing, but I appreciate your advice,
My texture bed is washed and cleaned well, I actually have the issue of prints sticking too well, not the issue of low adhesion. The clumping takes a few hours in to the print to build up after a really good clean, it then wrecks a print mid way through for me.
My PETG is dried well, the green in the photos has been dried for over 20 hours in total, and stored in a dry AMS pro 2. With plenty of silica.
The layer height doesn’t seem to effect the issue for me, a new nozzle helped a lot, so guessing the 250 hours printing finished the 0.4mm nozzle off. I expected a bit longer than it. But the issue is still there, just appeared in my next print, green blob in my black print.
In reality, its probably not going to matter much more, I am sending my P2S back, as the camera keeps failing on it. I won’t be buying another P2S, since they changed the PETG setting to heating it has started my issues, I had it working fine in cooling mode.
I have found the key to getting the grime out is to use a rather stiff, clean brush (like a fingernail brush I keep for that purpose), indeed unperfumed/unoiled dishwashing liquid and to rinse it off with plenty of water. Occasionally, I add a dash of IPA for before the cleaning to help.
As for the 17% humidity, that sounds like air humidity in the dryer. Unfortunately, it has nothing to do with the filament moisture. 2g of water in a 1kg spool can already be a problem. What worked for me was to simply go with the recommended drying temps and times when opening the bags. https://wiki.bambulab.com/en/filament-acc/filament/dry-filament
With respect to the settings, there’s a lot to explore. I usually go by layer height rather than the descriptive text. But as I mentioned, there’s a lot to learn. I recommend looking at the Bambu Lab academy course (they also give points) and of course the wiki. It’ll not all make sense immediately. But it’ll help tremendously. https://bambulab.com/en/support/academy
Indeed, with multiple issues troubling you, it may be best to consider a return.
There still seem to be a few childhood issues with the P2 from what I gather here in the forum. Although Bambu is quite good at fixing things, it does take a lot of time and can be rather frustrating when all you want to do is print.
What I am not certain about, but which could compound cooling issues, is the part cooling fan of the P2. If it is the same as the H2, it may provide more cooling than desired. Most print profiles were developed with the weaker fans of the P/X/A1 printers. That discrepancy could also lead to increased curling and hence lead to additional obstacles in the nozzle path.
The issue with heating/cooling is that bambu changed the filament setting only for the P2S for PETG, turning it from cooling to heating mode, the issue is that in heating mode you have 0 control over the fans, so the part fan is always at 0% and the right recirculating fan is at 50%, no setting in bambu can change this. You can’t change PETG back to cooling, and you can’t even try tricking the printer in to printing PLA at higher temp to use PETG. The lack of fan control causes issues with PETG printing,
By doing this they have basically made PETG printing on the P2S very difficult, the bambu PETG is not too bad, but any other vendors PETG is a no go, practically impossible to use.
I wasn’t aware of those limitations with the P2S.
Are you able to create your own filament profiles?
By just changing a single parameter and then saving it as a custom filament? In Bambu Studio, a pop-up usually allows you to do that. At least for my X1. That should give you control over all filament settings.
One item I forgot to mention, I always enable “wipe on retract” in my PETG filament settings.
I already have a custom filament profile, you still can not override the heat setting, so fan control is fully disabled in custom profiles for PETG. The update was P2S specific only, no idea why they did it.
Even if you go to the printer and change the fan speed they have set it back at every layer.
You can still control bed and nozzle temp etc, but the fan settings are locked out.
Bambu nozzle temp works at 230, but other vendors need 250 or more, so I have a cusom printer, custom nozzle and custom filament profiles, I have friends who have dozens of bambu printers they use, even they are baffled as to why bambu support have crippled the P2S.
I have no Z hop set, wipe on retraction, retract on every layer, 0.5mm retraction, 5mm wipe, all the recommended settings for esun, or sunlu filament. Yet constant nozzle clumping. I have the right density set, right flow rate for esun etc, all fail now. If I go to the printer whilst it starts its print, change the fan settings a few times, it takes it for the first layer, gives the first layer a chance to stick,