I have owned this X1C for about 9 months and every time I have tried to print PETG it’s a disaster…
This being said I tried to print a 3D Boaty with the link below and I am just using a straight out of the box X1C with the Bambu PETG Basic (White) that was dried at 65c for 72 hours to make sure its dry.
This is the results I get and for the life of me don’t understand why this printer just out of the box has had problems since day one printing PETG.
I suspect you are referring to the unsupported bridging.
Your photos are showing bridging.
It doesn’t look like you added any support to minimise the bridging required to span the distances in the model.
The underside of any bridges where support has been omitted will show the type of effect you are seeing.
Layers are typically created using downward pressure applied by the hot end acting in concert with the surface of the build plate adding upward resistance.
Where you have layers created that lack any upward resistance because no material below those spans are created by trying to cool material in realtime from being very hot while maintaining elasticity or it will tear it will have a stringing appearance.
With support offering a base of sorts under the bridged spans, this will be minimised.
Different materials have different outcomes. This isn’t a printer issue, it is a physics problem. Slicing techniques can mitigate some of these issues.
I totally understand the physics of it and not using any supports the intentions was to try and test a print that a coworker did on his P1S and has absolutely no issues printing this model without supports.
The biggest issue I see with the PETG when printing is nozzle build up seems to be the culprit for most of my PETG attempts.
I am doing both calibration tests now to see what it does, and I can already see build up on the nozzle not even a minute into the test.
Try “thick bridges”. Bambus can make long clean bridges. External bridges will try and match layer height if thick bridges isnt enabled. Since the extrusion is effectively a tube(since theres nothing below it to flatten against), if youre running .2 layer height, the bridge will be a .2mm tube instead of .42 to match your line width. This means your bridge strands wont stick to the strands next to them. Internal bridges are automatically “thick bridges”. The setting only effect external bridges. The wiki covers it.
This is how PETG prints. You can try to reduce your bridge flow ratio. If I need really tight bridges then I’ll run anywhere between 0.9 to 0.85. It reduces the flow which almost keeps the molten filament taut while during the bridge.
Props for drying your PETG, most people don’t (I’m too lazy). But it does make a noticeable difference in print quality.
The PETG Basic had some really big issues with its default settings when it came out. There are quite a few threads here in the forum from ~late 2023.
When I print it from my stock now, I copy over the cooling related settings from the Generic PETG profile (you can see that they actually do not have much in common in Studio) and set all printing speeds to below 100 mm/s while also reducing accelerations to 25% of defaults.
That helps a lot with PETG Basic.
Still, PETG is very good at retaining heat, leading to worse bridging and “better” support adhesion than PLA.
After my coworker brought it to the office the bottom was like mine but his was much cleaner looking.
So, I started back at square one and cleaned the carbon rods over and over, cleaned the plate and lathered it with glue stick, increased the temp to 265, and bed temp to 75, calibrated both the Flow Dynamic and the Flow Rate which was coming back different than Bambu had for its own filament. Also changed the volumetric to 12 instead of 13.
Nothing else changed and I did this trump print, and it came out damn near perfect.
I am going to try some more prints and hopefully this is the final bit of the PETG issues. It seems like the nozzle didn’t build up near as much this time either.
I have also noticed, after the same period of time. 9 months of continuous use, printing varieties of materials including TPU, CF, PLA and PetG. That the nozzle gets baked… Even after thorough cleanings, I can’t get it to be consistent. The result is, clogs and build up. As you may be seeing here.
Replace the nozzle, I did, and it solved all my woes. I even started a regrowing hair after pulling it out.
I think, after printing varieties of materials, had some things end up getting baked, corroding the interior of the nozzle. Additionally, cleanings either don’t remove all or Warp the extruder end.
That is the only thing I haven’t changed, and I have been wondering this because the print I just tried with PLA had some burn blobs indicating clogs.
I just got a brand new A1 mini yesterday and it is printing flawless. I went to load a roll of Zyltech filament we purchase from a local hobby town store. I found impregnated ■■■■ in the roll while I was loading it and think I just found my problem with the X1c…
There was about 3 spots in the roll of this ■■■■ see the picture below.
Well, It did ship with a spare Hotend… Go ahead toss it in. Also, there are several non-oem Hot ends that you can replace the nozzle directly, without changing the hot end. Do some research on those. It’s nice to be able to change from .4 to .2 without doing surgery.
Your experience may vary.
But yes, if this picture is the pull, then yes, I’d say your nozzle is baked. Not that It can’t be cleaned though. But after 9 months, slap it on the ass And toss it in the bin.
