PLA surface not smooth on print bed

Trying to figure out why suddenly my print surface looks like the attached.
Printing Bambu PLA basic. The filament is new and dry. Tried a couple different filaments.
Printed with the default PLA setting, but also tried increasing the nozzle temperature and the print bed temperature for the initial layer as shown, as well as reducing the initial layer infill speed, to no avail.


You might have a partial clog in your hotend. Try doing a few cold pulls.

2 Likes

Thanks! Tried that, and also tried cleaning the nozzle with the pin. I printed one test with the same settings as I uploaded above (hotter nozzle and textured plate, slower first layer infill), and one with all settings back to default.
It looks slightly better, but not completely good. Also it looks like there are bubbles in the filament?



(the pics are the first layer, ie what was on the textured PEI plate)

This is the top layer, which is pretty good. - Although I have both top and surface layers set to Rectilinear, and this looks a lot more like Monotonic.

How did you dry your filament? I’m assuming you’re printing on the textured plate?

Yes, this would be my first angle of attack. These zits are not generally indicative of a slicer or printer problem but definitely one of too much moisture in the filament.

The rectangle also shows an area of under-extrusion.

2 Likes

I opened a brand new pack and it has a huge new dessicant pack next to it, but I am putting it in the dryer at 55 degrees for 6 hrs and will try again.

Would that underextrusion you pointed out also be a cause of the filament maybe not being as dry as I thought it was?

Will report back tonight.

Under-extrusion can be caused by moisture. However, before you dry your filament, weigh it first and then after. This is the only way to be certain whether or not filament moisture is a contributing cause.

Make a note of the difference in weight. Remember 1g=1cc=1ml for water.

1 Like

It is the same weight after 6 hrs of drying, and prints the same.
I also looked closely at some other prints, and the “bubbles” seem to be the texture from the plate. However, my other prints had nice and even lines.

Try another vendor filament.
If it does the same, try adjusting the plate height.

Is this a Bambu textured plate with a visible QR code? Bambu Studio inserts gcode that reads the plate and lowers it slightly for more squish for a textured plate. If it doesn’t read it as a textured plate it will treat it as a standard plate. This would explain only the occasional bump and the visible extrusion lines which are not common on a normal textured plate part.

Yes, it is the original one that came with the printer.

Have you tried doing a factory reset yet? Often that will solve odd issues.

Two more trials this morning.

  1. only change I made to change bottom pattern to concentric. Turned out horrible.

  2. In Filament settings: Initial layer PEI plate temp increased to 65 from 55; turned cooling off for first 3 layers; Under Quality, changed first layer height to 0.1.
    This turned out acceptable.

1 Like

So at the end of the day, the simplest answer was the truest. You were under extruding because the temp was set too low for that filament. The question, remains, why? 55 degrees should be more than enough for PLA. So I suspect that the higher setting is concealing another problem that will likely only get worse.

You mentioned you’re using the original build plate that came with your X1. One important question, which version of the plate? Was it the gold textured plate? I ask because that texture is really off and is not what was shipping last year.

I bought the printer in November. It is the gold textured plate.
Also, it is the PS1

Not sure it’s related, but printed another small piece in PetG. Bottom surface looks good. But, this was supposed to be an even cylinder, and instead, the bottom seems to have flared out. See the gaps in the caliper.

Hi. First post here. Just a few questions and maybe a solution. Do you print your test parts in same place on the plate? Try other areas and see if you get different results with the same settings. Maybe check this procedure - bed tramming from the bambu wiki

Just to follow up (and thanks everyone who tried to help).
I have been talking to Bambu support for the last 2+ weeks. It takes 2 days between each of their responses, and each time it is something else to tweak (maybe the accelerator is bad? maybe I need to manually level the bed; i need to change the hotend; I need to change the flow rate). I did all this, and now the print is worse than ever before.
I am learning, but I am far from being experienced enough to be able to do these manual calibrations and identify the root cause of my problems.
I am running out of time and patience, and would prefer to pay someone to come fix my printer. Problem is that I can’t seem to find such a service. Any recommendations on how to find a company or individual who could help?

I feel your pain brother but the sad fact is, even despite Bambu’s claims, this hobby is still in the science project phase as far as ease of use goes. If everything goes right, it works really, really right. But as you have experienced, if anything goes wrong that involves troubleshooting, BL support is damned near useless and you are on your own. The folks here can help but remember that this is a community not Bambu employees. If the technical guidance provided above is beyond your appetite for troubleshooting then the next best thing is to find a retailer willing to accept pay to help you. But unless you live near one of the the 27 Micro Center cities in the US, I’m afraid there are few options.

Well, here are some examples of failed printing.

For the purpose, with the knowledge I have, I think we need to talk about some details. I’m going to try to go step by step in question response mode. Here’s what it is:

Do you print with PLA?
If so, remember to remove the glass plate on top and leave the door open.
Experience with the machine and which I am particularly dissatisfied.

Do you keep the original filament settings?
If there has been a failure, test with only one profile matching the filament installed in the machine.

Did you set the correct nozzle (in the machine) correctly?
Come back with the right value.

Did you set the right machine, the right tray in the Bambu software?
Return to the correct setting.

If all this is correct, it seems interesting to get the logs and talk about it at Bambu’s service.

In my case, I had several problems, I’m still looking for the problem. First a temperature probe drift + certainly a head ventilation problem. Then a too hot construction chamber problem. I’m working on it!

That should probably give some clues.