Surface quality issues P1P

Bambu Lab P1 Series
1

I’ve used various Creality printers over the years and have printed a ton, started using my P1P about 9 months ago and have printed a lot, it’s definitely my go to printer for nearly every project.

My question is with surface finish. A product that I print regularly has a large flat top area that requires a smooth surface finish. In order to achieve that, I’m using a standard silk pla profile with a 7.5 volumetric speed, .98 flow, 60º bed, and 220 nozzle. I have a couple of cheap filament brands that work perfectly with this setting with an excellent finish. However, when I switch to other brands I have terrible results—Overture, Sunlu, Duramic, Polymaker, etc.

I’ve tried adjusting the flow, speeds, flow, etc. and it may improve in one way, but get worse in another. For instance, if I reduce the flow ratio (after doing a calibration), the finish is smoother but it starts to get weak and gappy. I’m just wondering if there is something I’m missing. I’m not really modifying the temp, that’s the only thing I’ve kept constant (other than the bed temp on some filaments I bump from 55 to 60 or 65 to retain good adhesion). Any advice to tune this in would be much appreciated. Even the Bambu Basic PLA filament has the same issue with the stock settings—great speed, ahesion, walls, adhesion, but less than ideal surface finish. Oh, and as far as ironing goes, I’m not interested in using it for various reasons. Thanks!

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2

I know you said you tried adjusting the flow, but did you try running the built-in manual flow-rate calibration? From the looks of your print photograph, it would seem to be be 100% on point with delivering what you are wanting to achieve.

3

Yes, I’ve run the manual calibration probably 30+ times across multiple filaments. I think I’ve finally found the culprit though. The thing is, it wouldn’t remain consistent on the top layer. It looks like after close inspection, there was some adhesion issues and the item was coming released a bit on the corners, causing the tip to drag ever so slightly on the surface. I have one of the black Bambu PEI sheets, and I’ve read that there are some issues others have had with adhesion. I clean it throughly with Iso between most prints, but it does seem that it’s having some adhesion issues with certain filaments.

I ordered a PEI shee off of Amazon which is the gold color I’m used to from my Creality printers. It definitely seems to work better with far less inconsistency. My question is at this point, is there any improvements to the gold PEI sheet that Bambu now sells over the original black version (or over the 3d party sheets on Amazon)?

4

I had the same question as you, and so I ordered one yesterday.