I have four Bambu Labs X1-Carbon printers, and all four printers have an area on the print bed that does not print correctly. Sometimes it is minor, and other times the print fails. This happens on multiple models, not every model, but most. The work around to the issue has been to reposition the model to avoid that area. Any thoughts appreciated.
Yes, at first glance this looks like a bed that needs a clean.
Give it a good hard wash with dish soap and warm water. Rinse and dry it thoroughly.
Run a single layer test afterwards. Your own if you have one or try mine.
If you get a full flat sheet without breaks, you bed should be clean and ready to try again.
Thanks @MalcTheOracle I’ve tried that tho. Note that this is happening on all four printers.
Do all four printers exhibit the same issue when printing a flat sheet?
Problem solving is all about ruling things out as you likely know.
If you have four identical printers with four identical print beds, you should have more than enough to rule this out. However, if they are all creating the identical issue it should be one of these things:
- A problem with your model design, currently I have no thoughts on this as the damage looks like an adhesion issue rather than a design fault.
- Damage to the build-plate, but, identical damage on all four seems highly unlikely.
- A problem with the printer, but again, all four doing the same thing seems highly unlikely.
If you print the flat sheet test I provided, it will let you create photos of the results. If they have no damage or issues, it is less likely the build plate issue. If they do have quality issues, is the problem in the same area as the you found on your model?
The flat bed test and photos of the results gives us more information to work from.
[Update]
Turn the plates over and try the other side.
That does look like an adhesion issue though. On the four printers, each build plate shows the same anomaly in the same place?
Just to be clear, you aren’t using the same build plate in four different printers?
To have the same failure in four printers with four build plates points to some systematic manufacturing issue like contamination during manufacturing the plates or a number of other odd scenarios.
@MalcTheOracle Will do, I’ll give the flat bed test a shot. )Might be a bit as were are filling orders right now.)
@MZip yes, same place on each printer, and not using the same build plate. Each printer has its own. Odd indeed
As others have noted, that looks exactly like an adhesion issue. Since it’s happening on the same model on 4 different printers, then it’s more than likely the model or print profile you might be using. You might try rotating the model to see if the failure moves with the rotation or stays put. The model might be slightly angled away from the bed, causing poor adhesion on one end, so you may also want to use “Lay on Face” to verify it’s sitting correctly on the build plate.
Is this a model you can share or link to? I wouldn’t mind trying it on my X1C to see if there’s an issue with the model.
As the phrase “we are fulfilling orders right now” along with multiple identical prints, I suspect it is a clients model.
When you hold the plate, are your fingers touching the area that has bad adhesion? Cleaning the plate won’t help if you grab the plate afterwards in that area and re-apply your skin oils. The reason it is affecting all printers could be because you always hold the plate the same way and get your oils on that area.
I use gloves now to handle the plate which makes my life much easier because I don’t have to be careful where I touch the plate.
These are models are for customers but they are multiple versions and same thing happens on each. @SimEyeSee The build plate is only picked up from the edges but thanks for the suggestion will have the team start wearing gloves.
Since it’s 4 printers and 4 different build plates but roughly the same part of the print having issues in all of them, I wonder about the build plate temperature and air currents.
Has this model ever printed properly?
It looks like textured PEI - what build plate temperature are you running with? Are you using any glues with that?
Are you running with the door open with textured PEI prints? If so, any external fans blowing in there that might cool the build plate?
When I anticipate adhesion issues with PEI, I up the build plate temperature from 55C to 57 or 58C - very minor but that’s all I’ve needed to keep things sticking properly. I haven’t used any glues with my PEI plates.
One last thing I can think of is build plates are listed as consumables. It could be whatever surface properties that help adhesion change or are lost over time. I’m still on my first textured PEI plates and they are still working well for me but I’m not in a production environment which it sounds like you are. Maybe you need new ones?
And very last point is I saw somewhere (probably on the PEI build plate page) that you want to let the plate cool before separating parts or the PEI can be damaged. In a production environment I can see pulling parts before the build plate cools much. A hard to pull part pulled hot might have preceded this issue maybe?
Grasping at straws here. I don’t know what kind of lifetime we should get out of these plates but maybe yours have reached their limits?
I think I have narrowed it down to the files, my last test I spun the model on the build plate in Bambu Studio and it did happen in the same place on the model, not on the build plate, so the slicing has an issue? odd that this would happen on multiple file but if you look at this image its clear is is not extruding correctly at this point in the model but if I let it complete, its finishes the 6 hour job with no other issues. Just on the first layer at this spot, no matter the position on the build plate.
Try adding a cube primitive of a single layer height that matches the size to be a potential patch for that area, think plaster on a wound.
Make sure the patch object is the bottom most layer on the objects panel within the assembly (you need to merge it into an assembly).
Oh wow, very interesting. I’ll give it a shot!
Wow! Now thats thinking outside the cube(box)
Turns out it was an adhesion issue. Running the same print job 24/7 on all four printers caused the adhesion to be removed sooner is some areas. So now, no matter how the overall print job did, I routinely apply adhesive every day. Problem gone. Thank you for all your recommendations!
Glad you have a resolution.