Let it be known though, even though I am having this issue. The Bambu Support Team has always listened and offered suggestions, plus my Bambu X1C has printed everything on a life-size Iron Man statue (minus the Left Leg) with zero failures, errors, etc. and I am running everything on stock settings, zero tinkering, etc. it’s just flawless.
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Welcome to the forum.
I would really like to see more of your project if you’re willing to start a thread featuring it!
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You got it! I’ll be writing up a longer article in the future with settings, tips, etc.; however, here’s a thread!
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I’m truly sorry you had that experience but please share with the community what Bambu does when they respond to you. As I posted in another thread, if this was an Amazon purchased product and you were a Prime member, you simply would have sent it back on their dime and gotten a refund.
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Will do! All rolls have been directly purchased from Bambu’s storefront. With the first bad batch of 10, they requested serial #'s and then sent me a return label, which I then had to ship them back (no cost, just time), and then they sent me a new bad batch with the same issues. I can’t stress enough how friendly, and transparent with the process Bambu Support was.
I did tell them that for this time I can deal with it, as I don’t really want to delay this print much more; however, I did recommend they check out their filament vendors since it’s clear they changed, and it also happened right around the time they changed their pricing model.
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This is very important and I hope Bambu pays attention. This needs to stop or be announced with the opportunity to buy present stock before a color or manufacturer change.
Colors are fundamental to Bambu printers with AMS and some print projects are bigger than a single roll. When they slip color changes like this in it can orphan all the work already done. It also for all practical purposes breaks auto continuation during printing when a roll runs out and it’s supposed to carry on without visible issues in the print.
I’ve gotten different colors/finishes of Basic Black and the white I just bought could well be different from the white I already have.
Bambu Labs - if the colors/filaments aren’t the same, they need a new color number/designator. If that means you run out of stock colors, give us a heads up so those who need to, like @lildobber13, can buy what they need to finish off projects.
Every other batch type manufacturer does this with clients/customers. There are end of life notices and opportunities to buy necessary stock before things go EOL.
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100% agree, I even bought the color swatch at the exact same time of the last 10 rolls and the color for PLA Basic - Jade White has a noticeable texture and color difference from the swatch to the filament that I actually received.
What’s really unfortunate though is that it’s not just the color that is the problem, the quality of the print seems to show more layer lines, uneven printing, much stringier, and overall, just seems to hate the standard print settings of the Bambu printer. Which is frustrating because the whole reason I wanted to continue with the Bambu filament is because I didn’t have to tinker with settings, if I wanted to do that, I would have gone back to the Creality printers and other 3rd party slicers. The benefit for me with this printer setup and filaments is that I could be a complete rookie and have my first project right from the start be a life-size statue, which is a testament to their printers and filaments.
Plus, now my Iron Man has an off-colored leg, so he looks like C-3PO (if I didn’t like Star Wars so much I’d be more upset).
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Another update regarding the filament issue. Here are some comparison pictures between refills of PLA Basic - Jade White purchased on 4/17/2024 vs. those purchased on 5/4/2024.
This is good batch of PLA from 4/17, you’ll notice a piece of filament sticking in the hole.
This is a comparison of color and texture. It’s hard to see; however, the filament on the right is the new batch. It’s brighter, and it has a matte texture (but I have the matte filament and it’s a different texture than that as well).
This is the new batch, you’ll notice there is no filament sticking through the hole, instead it’ll just be taped on the roll and not spun through at all. It’s also not taped by the hole; it’s just taped on the roll (as have been the last 6 rolls now). You’ll also notice the condition of the roll. The old roll in the pictures has been used a few times already and it’s still in better condition than the new one that was taken right out of the plastic, not put on a plastic ring yet.
A little bit of a better view for the color/texture differences. The top one is the one my entire project is made out of; the bottom one is the new stuff. Also, it sands differently, shows more marks, etc. overall it’s a poorer quality.
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Just wanted to add that I’ve come across a few rolls that were tapped too. They were PLA-CF rolls. I only encountered it the once, but it did make for a bad time. It jammed up the AMS proper, and I had to partially take my AMS apart to get it all unjammed.
Haven’t encountered this on my refills yet, but it makes me nervous/anxious.
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This will bite Bambu and I’d guess it should be very important to them.
One big selling point to these things is the RFID system and pre-sorted settings for a particular filament. If they are swapping one filament manufacturer or even process for another that needs different settings, using the same color/type RFID now confuses the printer and likely causes spoiled or at least lesser quality prints.
They really need to use different designators for different filaments so users can at least edit the print settings effectively. Obviously once you get this filament’s settings sorted, you can edit the settings for that filament to compensate somewhat, but if they change back or to yet another manufacturer you’re surprised again with a crummy print.
If the filament is different it really needs its own unique identifier. This is a potential minefield for users and Bambu since it actually hurts those using the RFID feature that at least was such a good selling point.
That behavior also encourages users to find other filament manufacturers that are more consistent in their coloring/manufacturing and don’t just swap filaments out on users and cause problems.
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Thanks for adding those salient details. This is excellent data to guide all of us in making future filament purchases. I have yet to try out Prusa’s filament, but they emphasize that each of their spools has a QR code tied to their factory SCADA system, allowing customers to see all the production parameters and quality measurements that went into producing that spool you hold in your hand. On one hand, I used to think that might be overthinking the process, but then we see examples like this from Bambu, where there is a clear lack of quality control.
Hmmmm Maybe the Prusa folks are onto something.
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That’s a very stark point that shouldn’t be overlooked. I mean if they are touting the ease of use and quality control that is supposed to come with RFID identification of filament spools, what does that say about their business integrity if they are offering products that are no better than the Chinese counterfeiters found on AliExpress, eBay and Amazon?
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It is unfortunate. I have had six plus months of printing with zero issues with Bambu filament and it was a high-quality filament (probably the best filament I have ever used). The RFID worked phenomenally, it didn’t jam, it was overall a great and simple printing process. I mean 30+ rolls with zero printing issues, is a testament towards the printer and the filament.
Whatever changes they made to production of the filament is clearly a step back and is incredibly disappointing. I find it hard to believe that it is a coincidence that they dropped the price of their filament across their site, around the time that we all started experiencing quality control issues. I am all for saving money on filament, especially for these large projects; however, I am probably not alone here that we’d gladly pay their old pricing and keep the original quality of their filament.
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I used some points during the sale to up some new refill rolls of colors I’ve been using and will watch for these changes but have already seen this with Basic Black. If the colors and filament are different and give me any problems, I’ll not be buying any more Bambu filament. Not an angry threat or taking my ball and going home. It’s just getting consistent results is very important and valuable to me and if that’s what it takes to get them, so be it.
The Hatchbox reels fit the AMS fine and this little guy lets me use the Bambu RFID tags with them: Hatchbox Filament Spool RFID Tag Mount by dbnewell - MakerWorld
I may also try some other filaments people have mentioned here. I just want good consistent results and colors. I’ll go wherever I can get that.
Edited instead of new post - The shiny Bambu Basic Black just bit me but it was my first extruder issue and really easy to clear - just lifted it out with fine tweezers. It’s now running on another spool of Basic Black that came in a two pack and has the kind of satin finish to it. Printing fine. So anyway, not sure the answer here but Bambu ought to look into all this.
I just wanted to order a series of filament, refill and with spool. However, now I doubt whether I should go for another brand. Follow this topic with interest.
I’m currently sitting at six out of six rolls (with four more remaining) being poorly spun/taped, with a difference of color, quality, and performance compared to prior Bambu PLA batches.
Yesterday evening I received another error code saying “Failed to pull out the filament from the extruder” since the filament came un-taped and couldn’t be rolled back in by the AMS.
I have decided to not use the AMS with this batch since it’s putting strain on the motors, and it’s a manual filament swapping process anyways.
For anyone that is purchasing PLA refills (cannot comment on the Filament with spool), here are the serial numbers from the batches that are causing issues:
- Box SN: VE032J2221
- Filament SN (found in the settings on the printer): FE0BF97300000100
I have a need for about six more PLA rolls, and I’ll likely purchase three refills and three with a spool and see if there is a quality difference.
I recently bought the 2 packs of white (1) and black (2) refills and at least the black was old/good kind of satin finish style.
Just checked the 2 pack of white and they are the shiny new junk rolls. Yay.
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Recently I received new filaments. So far I had two white Basic PLA rolls where the end was taped tot the carton core. This causes the printer to stop with an error and the AMS automatic refill obviously does not work.
Is this a mistake or a new (unpleasant) feature?
This issue seems to rearing its ugly head more often. I would submit a ticket to support so the issue is documented and hopefully remedied.
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Small update regarding this, after Bambu asked for the SN’s, they refunded my purchase and allowed me to keep the filament. This would be the second bad batch they’d have me ship back. Once again, Bambu support was great and timely.
I actually ran out of the new batch for a recent print and fortunately had one roll from my last purchase (the good batch purchased in April 2024). Since these rolls were the “same” PLA Basic Jade White, I wanted to see the difference in quality. As you can see in the picture below, they are vastly different. The print quality, the color, texture, stringing, etc. they are all different. The piece with the number imprinted is the old batch that has been replaced.
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