Oval Circles, distorted part, but only sometimes

Some of my prints are coming out distorted. But here’s the confusing part: If I go back to the printer and just reprint the file from history, it comes out perfect. This has, so far, worked every single time.

Other details:

  • The distortion also always happens at 45deg to the right. Meaning circles are dimensionally correct(ish) in the SE-NW direction, but way shorter in the SW-NE direction.
  • From the test part, it seems that only circles are affected. Straight lines seem fine, and are correctly dimensioned.
  • The surface finish is noticeably worse. The bottom surface is more sparse in the same direction as the distortion (45deg right). The top surface is very rough to the touch and it looks like a diamond shaped pattern.
  • When this happens, it happens from the very first layer onward. If that layer is ok, the rest will print fine.

All of that makes me think this is some kind of software magic-sauce bugging out, like the input shaper.

What I’ve been doing, which is kind of a pain, is pausing the print at layer 2 or 3 and using a small mirror to visually confirm that the circle is … circular.

Machine Settings:

  • Happens with PLA from Bambu Lab, don’t print with other materials enough to claim it happens with others.
  • Settings are default “0.20mm Standard @ BBL X1C”
  • Printer version: 01.04.01.000 (was also happening on 01.03.X)
  • AMS Version: 00.00.05.96

Thoughts?

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Did you look through this (long) post? It’s a multi-month discussion of distortion of circles.

That said I’m a little puzzled by the “works on a reprint” part.

Yes. Unless I missed something this is different. That thread talks about hole distortion on the Z axis. I’m having issues on the XY plane.

Hi Hurla,

I think you are using the auto calibration stuff so maybe try this and see if it helps clean the micro lidar lens and also clean the carbon rods and see what happens.

Bambu Lab X1 Maintenance

FYI. I use orca slicer and manual calibrated all my settings and I don’t use the auto calibration stuff.

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You might want to check belt tension, that will also cause the holes to oblong.

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I would guess this would present itself on all prints, not be a hit and miss on the same exact file printed back to back.

Yeah, I got that. :face_with_raised_eyebrow:

This is what puzzled me about your issue. I’ve got nothing here, never heard of such a thing and I’ve been on the 3D boards a lot since 2015.

I would suggest you open a Ticket with BL Support. Someone there might have an answer.

The only other thing I can think of is completely remove BL Studio (or OrcaSlicer if you use that) and reinstall. Your Projects and Settings are stored on the BL Cloud unless you turned it off, so everything come back.

Its a Core XY printer, and at 45° angles it is only 1 motor doing the work. Check your belt tension if both belts are having the same frequency. It might be that one of them is not tensioned enough.

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Good point! The X1C is my 1st Core XY, I haven’t got the physics as instinctive in my brain yet. :grin: You keep on getting me there, OK?

You should be able to access prior the gcode and related files from your slicer on your PC. You could then compare gcode/settings, etc and hopefully narrow in the difference.

If using the Bambu Lab’s Slicer (in Windows), %localappdata%\Temp\Bamboo_Model
If using the Orca Slicer (in Windows), %localappdata%\Temp\OrcaSlicer_Model
Not sure of the location of other platforms, but the files should be available on those as well.

From a quick review on my PC, I’m seeing gcode, config, 3MF and similar files for the last few months of projects. Here’s a sample to give you an idea of what’s there…

Here's a sample from my PC to give you a rough idea of some of the files/info available.

Hope this helps! If you figure it out, would love to know!

@Hurla - did you ever get this resolved? I’m seeing similar issues on my machine…but it seems to only be when printing lots of parts in ABS…

I’m seeing the same issue as well, oblong circles in XY axis. Could this be caused by a recent firmware update perhaps?

IN Bambu Slicer, I was trying to up a size on something, I could NOT get it to make an exact 4mm x 4mm circle. It was 3.99mm x 4.01 or there abouts. IT WOULD NOT let me make a perfect circle and noticed some ovaling instead of circles as well… extremely frustrating.

I know OP said this was with PLA…but I found that this tends to happen on our machine after printing lots of ABS, and strangely, only ABS. We haven’t seen this yet with printing lots of PLA.

It’s not random though…it prints fine for a while until 1-2 spools of ABS and then starts to get worse and worse oval shaped holes until you clean the X axis.

I made a YouTube video detailing the problem and how we prevent it by cleaning the machine. Hope this helps someone else.

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Having the same issue but only with PLA. Also, it seems the issue is unrelated to cleaning the rods.

I’m having a similar issue as well on a P1S. I’ve manually trammed the bed, cleaned the carbon rods and tensioned the belts a few times and it didn’t fix the problem. When printing a 100mm x 100mm flat square it is off in the diagonal by around 1 mm every time.