So I have not had a truly good experience with my X1C but determined to get it dialed in and learn all the nuances so I can achieve consistent results. I think a lot of the issues I am experience stem from assumptions and trusting the software - I have listed a lot of my love-hate for it here: I'm having a love / hate relationship with my X1C, how about you?
BUT I am starting to see, as stated, that perhaps a number of my problems are from assumptions and issues with the Bambu slicer. I just noticed that even though my model is set to use A4 in the AMS which is Bambu Black Mate PLA, when I go to slice - I just saw that the filament selected is A1- even after a synch - I have 2 types of black filament so I was just going by the colors. So even though I specifically set the model to use A4 - when I slice it wants to use A1 - I need to manually choose A4. This is not intuitive.
Also - when changing settings for the filament - at times I noticed they are not saved. I will adjust a filament temperature etc and then save it only to go back to that profile and see my setting wasn’t reflected. There is definitely something not right at times with the slicer. I will slice with PLA an engineering plate due to numerous cool plate issues - I get a message that PLA is not suggested for the engineering plate - and to adjust the bed temp. I do so, but the red warning message does not go away and it won’t let me slice the plate. I close BS, reopen the project and re-set the setting and then it will let me slice. I assume going into this that the slicer was solid - being it’s a fork of Slic3r / Prusa etc - but no this thing is buggy AF.
Interesting read, like you I’ve come to the conclusion the BL slicer falls short for anyone that’s not a noob. I’ve had strange behaviour, while printing an ABS part I had all cooling fans off but out of the blue the part cooling fan came on at 80% and instantly ruined the job, it just got dragged around by the filament.
I’ve been 3D printing for over 10 years, I’ve still got Slic3r on one of my laptops, I migrated to Simplify3D years ago and have been using it since until a few weeks ago when I got the X1C.
I’ve now decided to do all my prototyping back on my i-Mate S which costs less in wasted filament.
I’m waiting for Simplify3D to get their latest V5 ironed out which I ended up being refunded.
It’s a bit unintuitive, but you are not really selecting “slots” in the slicer. You are just synchronizing the colours in AMS with those that slicer shows. You are free to add/remove colours as you wish. In fact you can have a 32 colour palette set in there and just use the colour you want without even having AMS connected or the right colours present in it.
It’s only when you are actually printing that you set which filament you use, and the default tries to match the material type and colour. This could arguably work better as it will happily substitute PLA for PLA Silk and vice-versa. Also, you still need to set the correct filament type in the slicer for the colour slot if it needs different temperature or different flow or retractions or anything else.
What is actually missing there is colour mapping in the slicer. You are not actually painting colours but filament slots (the slicer ones). If you change that slot colour, the model colour changes. It would be better if painting was actually done with colour, then that colour was mached to what is available in the slicer filament slots, and those then get mapped to the AMS during the print. But I think most people don’t care that much and those who want it more sophisticated will create their own workflow (like the 32 colour palette I mentioned) and take care when mapping it to the AMS.
I can’t comment on your filament setting changes, those always worked good for me, so I suspect you are just doing something wrong, like not actually using the customised filament profile but the default one (“Generic PLA”).
Also, why PLA and Engineering plate? It can work, sure, but why?
Thanks for your comment / experience - every time I use PLA and the cool plate - i cannot take the print off - I am printing very fine detailed and thin items at .60 height (exactly what I do on my prusa) but with multicolor. It is impossible to pull them off , even when glue is applied. Someone in another post mentioned to use the engineering plate with heated bed and it worked as I hoped - plus the slightly texture appearance works well with my bottom first layers - so far I was able to successfully print 2 jobs using the default settings - 55c bed temp, engineering plate, 220c Bambu Matte PLA. I also starting to think I may have a bad spool of overture filament that I was using, even though it work well on the Prusa. I will continue to work through this and hope to update more findings.
I could swear I’ve seen this happen when I changed a figure then immediate clicked save without first pressing enter or tab or in some other way commit the figure I just edited. But I can’t replicate that now, neither with latest stable or latest beta.
I have another thing that annoys me in the slicer. I have 1 X1-C and 1 P1S. When I’m in the slicer under device and for example change 1 color and go back to prepare. Why does it change printers. And it doesn’t matter which of them I start with, it usually chooses the other. Why?
This is interesting, I did notice filament selection was rather clunky, but once I figured out that I can save my profile, then select it by clicking on the filament in the slicer and choosing it from the drop down, that problem was solved. The first thing I did before printing anything was flip the plate and put a thin layer of glue down and resolve to using only the engineering plate and the results have been fantastic. I am coming from a gen 1 CR10 and a MP Mini V2, and I love this printer, it’s fast and clean and I have yet to get a failure, though I have only printed with PLA and PETG so far. I plan on throwing my PACF and ASA in there, but I have an ongoing PLA project to finish first and I figured it best to start on the easy stuff and work my way up.
I’ve had my P1S for a few months now, and I’ve never actutused bambu studio, so I can’t really speak for it’s reliability. That said though, I highly recommend you try Orcaslicer. It’s a fork of bambu studio that’s has a lot of extra features and quality of life improvements. I’ve been using it with my voron and other custom built printers for a while before I got my P1S and it’s awesome. It also has a bunch of tuning utilities built in that are forked over from superslicer which make tuning new filaments so much faster and easier. I have used both the windows install version and the portable zip version and both work great, thatst more personal preference. Just make sure you install the bambu account plugin frok the main page once you fjre it up. I hope this helps you uout, cheers.
I tried Orcaslicer and it crashed on me - I think I might have been on the beta - I need to give stable a try then and see how it works. so far I’ve had 3 successful prints once I figured out what was going on with the slicer. Thanks all for your comments / suggestions.
Eh, disagree. I’m still using Bambu Studio. Orca Slicer is nice, and I love the added calibration elements but I’ve had nothing but success with Bambu Studio.
I reserve the right to switch between them both but to be honest, while I have Orca installed and keep it updated, I can’t remember ever have printed from it just yet.
These things just seem like they could be misunderstandings on your part.
First you don’t choose the AMS slot until you hit the print button. The filament in the slicer and filament in the AMS are completely separate. The syncing feature for the AMS is just to get what’s currently in the AMS and put it in the slicer, the order or given numbers doesn’t matter. If you only have AMS slot 4 filled then it will just change it to filament number 1 in the slicer. Then when you hit the print button it comes up with the print options, like timelapses, bed leveling, flow calibration and whether the AMS is used but it also has a section where it shows the filaments needed for your print and it will automatically try to assign a filament already in your AMS to them, but you can also manually do it just be clicking on it, you click on the material and then it will open a picture of the AMS and let you choose which slot the filament is in.
Having the slicer filaments and AMS slots separate may seem unintuitive but there are very good reasons for it. You can have lots of filaments in the slicer and only pick one for a print, since they are assigned a slot at print time. It also means that the same gcode or 3mf file will work regardless of what is currently in your AMS. Say you have a gcode or 3mf file that you want to reprint, rather than have to match the AMS slots you can just assign the filament from the gcode file to a slot on the AMS. If you have a 3mf file for a project and have multiple materials in it, you just set the parts to the material you want and then just slice it and then when you go to print it you can assign it a slot in the AMS.
Essentially most of the benefits of having them separate are just because either you or the slicer can choose what AMS slots to use before a print.
As for your temperature or settings problem, you can’t change and then save the existing profiles, you need to make your own and then you can change the settings and save them then.
If PLA isn’t working for you on the cool plate with glue then either there is something you are doing wrong or there is something wrong with the cool plate. Again there are good reasons that BL don’t let you change the Z offset, since in theory you shouldn’t have to. If you think you need to change it to help with adhesion then there is something else wrong.
Regardless of the printer or slicer, multi material makes things a little more complicated. I have had a really good experience with Bambu Slicer coming from Prusa Slicer. Easy to use and vertical integration with the printer.
I have downloaded Orca to play with and if I was on a non-X1C printer I would use it in a heartbeat particularly for calibration. I would like to better understand the advantages of Orca for a X1C user.
Use what you want. I’ve used Prusaslicer and there are things that aren’t intuitive, and Bambu studio is different. A few things are clunky, but 99% of the issues is me importing an item off of makerspace and THEIR settings come into my slicer. In most cases, especially if the item was set up for an A1 or P1, it is WRONG for my X1CC.
I see that now lol — seriously not sure if I said it in this thread or another that I referenced / but today I had a successful printing day a lot of assumptions and certain nuances and things that aren’t as intuitive just have to be learned so far so good.
but to be honest, while I have Orca installed and keep it updated, I can’t remember ever have printed from it just yet.