Recommendations after purchasing Bambu Lab X1C

Bambu Lab X1 Series Bambu Lab X1C
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I just purchased my first 3d Printer and went with the Bambu Lab X1C Combo. Is there anything additional I should purchase up front? One thing I was a little confused about was in the listing it says it comes with:

" Bambu Textured PEI Plate or Bambu Cool Plate (Pre-installed, Random, Both compatible with Micro Lidar)"

Does that mean I’m randomly going to get one of the two? Will I want to then order whichever one I don’t get?

I also see it supports multiple different hot ends, and it comes with the .4 - should I be ordering additional sizes?

Any recommendations are welcome, thanks!

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I think it really depends on what you are looking to get out of the printer and how much expendable income you have.

I ordered a 0.2mm nozzle with the X1C combo but have yet to use it, 0.4mm gets pretty fine detail for what i’ve been doing and going to 0.2mm will get you much finer detail but much higher print times. Others with experience would have more input but I would consider it for very small miniatures but not much else. Some people like 0.6mm for mechanical parts and faster print times.

I believe it is random which plate you receive. I have never used the cool plate but I use the textured a lot and usually use a 3d effect or smooth for prints where that bottom surface is featured. They did just release a new plate today, it seems promising. All that said, again based on expendable income, I would want to make sure I had at least one textured plate, I would suggest reading this first:

Seems like a very good option to make sure you end up with a textured plate.

You should understand that in most cases you’re going to want to dry your filament before use, so you may want to investigate a filament dryer. The X1C can dry it but its not very efficient.

I also ordered a bunch of different filament types when I ordered it because I wanted to test out PLA, PLA-CF, PETG-CF, PA6-GF, PC, TPU, to experience the different mechanical and finish properties. Make sure to understand drying and printing requirements for each filament type you purchase.

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I use a smooth plate and a .2mm nozzle alot with my X1C. But- as mentioned, it depends what you are using it for.

If you just want to pump out flexy dragons at max speed, a smooth plate and .2 nozzle are not much help.

The .2 nozzles are amazing for smaller work. Gears, intricate details, parts with support that would look awful with a .4, look great with a .2 .

The smooth plate- I use 98% of the time. The bottom surface is great- and very useful for alot of prints.

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My P1S came with textured pei plate. I’m still using the original.4 nozzle but I bought spare complete hotends in .2-.6 plus and extra plate that was textured on one side, smooth on the other.

Filament, you’re going to want a selection of filament.

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The Cool plate has been unavailable for a few months, so you will most likely receive the textured plate. I would wish for the smooth/textured plate because you will want both surfaces available. Wait and see what you get before ordering another plate.

I don’t think there any items you absolutely MUST have to get started, except maybe more filament. I’d suggest waiting until you have more experience to decide what other parts you want.

I believe the X1C still comes with a spare 0.4 nozzle and extra filament cutters - neither of which I’ve needed after nearly two years. I added a complete 0.6 hot end and have not yet installed it.

Flush cut pliers are handy to remove supports. Cheap ones are fine, you are only cutting plastic.
Plastic razor blades to get prints and purge lines off the plate will not damage your plates the way the included steel blade can. They also both sharper and longer lasting than scrapers you can print yourself. (Many other uses, too.)
I think the included hex keys are made of dried out cheese because they wear out after a few uses, so you will eventually need some of hardened steel.

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Thank you everyone for the replies and advice you’ve sent so far.

@Lenyo disposable income isn’t an issue, though there’s also no reason to spend on things I might not use. Is the benefit of the .6 really just speeding up print time on larger/less detailed prints? If so I might not really care about that. I don’t know anything about drying filament before use - so I’ll have to go do some research on that… that’s exactly the kind of new user advice that I appreciate hearing about! I did order a fair amount of filament, in a variety of types after doing some research on use cases for each.

@binfordw I think based on what I’ve seen so far I’m going to go ahead and order a .2mm because there are some things I intend on doing that will be intricate. What are you primarily using the .2mm for if you’re using it a lot?

@lkraus Yeah I’ll wait and find out which plate it is and go from there. The plastic razor blades are an excellent recommendation and I’m ordering those now. Tools I’m not short on so the hex keys won’t be a problem I have several sets - though I have no idea why you need the hex keys - is it to remove the plate after printing to remove the print and clean the plate?

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I’m already buying so much of it. I brilliantly told my 15 year old daughter she could pick out “some colors”. Some turned into many.

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What types of filament are you getting?

I think you’re probably going to be pretty impressed with the .4 nozzle. I’ve not yet tried my .2 or .6. with .2 you do need to be careful what filament you put through it, PLA is fine. I believe you don’t want any carbon fiber or metallic filaments in it as it’s be more prone to clogging.

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The build plate is held by magnets, it just lifts off.

Most (all?) of the screws on the printer require 1.5mm or 2mm allen wrenches. You’ll eventually need the wrenches to change nozzles, clear clogs, adjust belt tension, etc.

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The .4 nozzle is impressive, but .2mm is amazing.

Just get the combo plate which is textured on one side and smooth on the other, no need to wait.

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My understanding is that PLA is good for most things and beginner friendly - so I’m starting with primarily that.

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Referring to this one?

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Yep, can’t go wrong there.

One other thing I’ll add - make sure you get more than one (or even more than two) spools of a filament you expect to use a lot. It’s tempting to go for a lot of variety so you have choices, but you don’t want to be in a situation where you run out of the one you need halfway through a print.

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I don’t even know yet what I’ll be regularly printing… Do you tend to order right from BL for filament? Are there other specific brands you like?

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I noticed mentions of using glue on plates to increase adhesion - is that a necessary thing as well? Should I be buying glue sticks?

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If you plan to print engineering filaments… like ASA, ASA-CF/GF, PPA, other nylons…(these don’t go in the ams)… then, a filament dryer you can print directly from like the Creality Space Pi….or many others… really makes a difference in getting clean prints.

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You can look at my profile for posts Ive made-
Scale models, gears, smaller lettering for signs, labels, etc.

Anything with features that are difficult or impossible to orient to print well using a .4mm, just seem to work flawlessly using a .2mm.

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Opinions vary here-

Personally, I bought a mega box of Elmers purple glue sticks for cheap. I add a wipe of glue for parts that might need it. I keep 95% alcohol on hand as well. I wipe the plates occasionally to remove the glue buildup as needed.

(Fun fact, the Ridiculously expensive Markforged printer we bought at work, came with a stick of Purple Elmers glue.)

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Unfortunately you won’t really know what would be best for your uses until you know your uses. Unless you already have certain kinds of projects in mind, PLA is probably a given but other filament types may or may not be of interest.

PLA seems to be the easiest to print with the most success. Other filaments can drop you right into controlling filament moisture levels with drying and storage issues, and other more specialized issues with chamber heating requirements, etc.

For my own purposes PLA was a great place to start and to start learning. Besides a quick order to buy more PLA colors, I quickly saw a second AMS was going to be very useful and opened up prints of 5 to 8 colors.

PETG HF has been a good filament for outdoor stuff with higher temperature and UV tolerance than PLA but it is a bit more advanced because of the drying requirements to get good prints.

As long as you’re diving into this, there’s a few threads you might be interested in. One is a warning of sorts with how Bambu is now securing filament to spools when winding. Unfortunately they use tape now that can sometimes get pulled into the AMS feeder mechanisms. Definitely non-ideal but you need to know about it.

https://forum.bambulab.com/t/tape-at-the-end-of-spool

You should also look into proper filament storage. These printers are high performance machines and moisture is an issue even with PLA. It may not be an issue for you if you live in a mostly dry area. But if you live in high humidity, this will get important, and is especially important with hygroscopic filament types.

https://forum.bambulab.com/t/what-do-you-find-best-suits-your-filament-storage-needs

Last, if you start seeing moisture issues or want to print PETG HF or other hygroscopic filaments you’ll get to learn about filament drying. It’s a complex topic but just know filament fresh from the shipping bag can have enough moisture to cause print issues. Fresh from the bag doesn’t guarantee dry.

There’s lots of threads here on drying and it’s a little confusing. Most don’t see much problem. In my case, I had print problems from moisture gradually start growing in so had to learn. Might want to check them out to recognize moisture issues if/when you start seeing them.

It’s definitely a fun, unique, and rewarding hobby. The color possibilities totally change 3D printing.

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Probably what I need to do is “google it” or just experiment once the printer is here but statements like “add a wipe of glue for parts that might need it” - I still don’t know what determines what parts might need it.