Could Bambu Lab add an official prototyping mode for the printer?
The idea would be that, once the machine is powered on, it performs its normal startup routine one time per power cycle. After that, when a print file is sent, the printer could begin printing immediately without the usual 6.5 minute wait, (6.5 minutes it takes on my H2D with Flow dynamic calibration, Auto bed leveling and nozzle offset calibration turned off to get the printer printing)
After the first print finishes, the printer could keep the filament loaded and remain ready for the next print without repeating the full startup process, unless the machine is power cycled. For safety, it could still do something minimal before each new print, such as a single bed touch and one endpoint move.
In a typical workflow, I would power on the printer and then prepare the print file. During that window, the printer could already complete its one-time startup checks, so that when I actually send the file, it can start printing right away. And every print after that is even faster because it does not have to re-load the filament.
Thanks, I know that, but rather than using the rolls in the AMS, I want Bambu Lab to implement this properly so people no longer have to rely on workarounds. Also, this only solves the unloading issue, not the long startup routine that gets repeated over and over again. No user should have to tamper with the machine G-code either.
If bambu could implement this before the next printer or in the next firmware update then I’d be a very happy chap.
Also, I found that if you do several prints back to back and never remove the plate, the printer will always do auto bed levelling. Even when its turned off in the slicer.
And adding some sort of toggle in the slicer to check if the same filament was used before a new print would be really nice. Or an option to stop filament retracting at the end of a print.
I think there’s a distinction to be made between full mesh leveling for the full part footprint, quick 5-point leveling, and then single point height probing. That’s what the documentation seems to point toward for the on/auto/off settings, in that order.
I dug into the H2C machine start G-code, and those three cases are present. I guess the only reason it isn’t happening is if the flag (on/off/auto) isn’t setting properly.
If it’s not following the expected behavior, then we should definitely submit a bug report.
It certainly is possible to leave a filament loaded after a print - the Leckiestein/Steinwipe Gcode mods for the X1 have had this for years.
On that note, there’s a lot of opportunities in the machine start G-code in terms of optimization, be it starting bed warming sooner, not doing certain calibration steps, or hanging onto certain calibration parameters from the previous job.
The sky’s the limit, really, but at least some of these optimizations are going to be very specific to the print jobs being run, so I’m not sure it’s a matter of a single switch so much as several switches to allow startup steps to be skipped based on the need.
I’d love to get a prototype feature as well. When I develop parts I often print small segments of it to check for dimensions, fit, shrinkage…
These segments often require less than 10 minutes print time, so the prep time exceeds the print time in many cases.
With just 5-6 test prints, I have wasted about an hour just for print preparation, plus the purged material. Even when loading material from the AMS to the nozzle manually, the printer unloads the material after print. To adapt to this, I create multiple segments of one large object and print them in one job, just to save some time but this requires some planning and kind of disturbs my workflow.
I certainly see the value in a functionality that allows more granular print control - ideally there would be a control panel option to enable “prototyping mode”, and then in the preflight print screen users would get extra controls that would allow:
Don’t unload filament after print is complete
Use previous flow calibration data
Use previous nozzle offset data
Use previous bed level data
Use previous vibration compensation data
…did I miss anything?
I think the chances of actually getting this are slim, but I’d like to take a crack at actually implementing this, first just with printer script modifications, then as an actual feature request, which would probably have a better chance of being accepted if the underlying scripting was already there.
Worst case we’d have a way of doing doing it on our own, best case Bambu implements it.
Maybe it would need a disclaimer that says if this mode is selected, it’s at the users risk of damaging their machine/plate/nozzle if something goes wrong or something is out of alignment as essentially you are starting the print “blind”.
It does make so much sense though and almost makes me want to have another printer dedicated for this reason, quick fire prototypes that I can bash out one after the other without doing any checks. My Anycubic i3 mega was like that, literally hit print and go with (obviously due to its age and lack of functions) no checks.
I remember that there were some quick start g-code improvements posted in the P-Series section. Never got these suggestions to work reliable on the P2S so I didn’t bother to test something like this on the H2. But maybe that would be worth to investigate too.
3D printers were invented to be, and patented as, Rapid Prototyping Machines. Compared to the alternatives, 3D printers, in all their variations, are the best rapid prototyping machines we have. One could always use a CNC machine, but the set up efforts and clean-up hassles can become quite burdensome. There was a time when I would build prototypes out of cardboard and masking tape to demonstrate proof of concept to higher-ups so that I could get the approval to have parts made in the machine shop in order to create a proper prototype.
When one prints something on their 3D printer, the first thing the printer must do is to heat the build plate and the nozzle to the appropriate temperature. An oven in one’s kitchen typically takes 10 - 15 minutes or so to come to the desired temperature. It is not unreasonable that it would take your printer 6 minutes to warm up. Based on conversations I’ve participated in, apparently the 220 volt machines sold in Europe warm up considerably faster than the 110 volt machines that are sold in America.
I agree that 3D printers started as “Rapid Prototyping” machines, where the results were only to be used as visual prototypes.
But over the years that has transformed/expanded into “Additive Manufacturing”. Where as the parts coming out now can be real functional parts. Even turbine engine components are produced with 3D printers nowadays.
Additionally, you can create geometry that is not possible to be created with other manufacturing technologies.
The discussion here is not so much about the heating times, but more about the time for ABL Nozzle Offset Calibration, Dynamic Flow ¶ Calibration, etc.
Bambu Lab does this to make sure the results are of the highest possible quality, and also make it “Fire and Forget”, but some, who need a lot of iterations of prototypes, don’t want all those time consuming checks.
Nonetheless, the majority of the prepare time is spent warming up the machine.
What you are describing is poor design practice. What kind of a designer one must be to be in the need of constant quick little iterations of prototypes?
Bambu rose to the top of the 3D printing world by the quality of the prints they are capable of producing. Which includes what you deride as time consuming checks. What you and the OP are asking for is a way to bypass the quality checks. Bambu would never agree to this because if there were a simple way to disable the quality checks, there would be a crowd of those who would disable the quality checks on their machines and then complain that their machines were performing poorly. Just like the crowd that disconnected from the cloud, went all LAN mode, switched to a third party slicer, and now insist that it is Bambu’s fault that their printers have lost functionality. And apparently they never seem to reflect on the source of their woes.
I am not stating that Bambu needs to introduce the prototyping solution. I am merely responding to your interpretation that the heating times is what they are complaining about.
I am not complaining about anything in this thread. Just coming op with possible solutions, for the ones that want a quick start.
I have a 230V version and my heating times are negligible (20-70C in 70 seconds) in relation to the other preparation activities it does. For heated chamber jobs it takes a bit longer and the printer has to wait for the camber to reach the requested temperature.
The majority of the times are into loading (previously loaded) filament, defining PA, Nozzle cleaning. ABL measurements that sometimes do a full print area scan with 2 nozzles, nozzle offset calibration, etc.
As in respect to a poor design process, I can partially agree with you. If you have access to 3D scanners, professional 3D design and simulation software, knowledge and whatever else there is available in the industry, a design process can reduce the number of iterations to a minimum.
But here on the forum, most people don’t fall into that category, they are hobbyists and have to work with limited tools, knowledge and experience. So I can definitely understand their request, though I personally don’t have an issue with the startup times.