The Bambulab X1 / P1P are PLA ONLY printers! Please proof it wrong!

[T_guttata]

Hi

I have been trying to print PETG for 2 months now, without success! PLA on the other hand works very well.
My attempts are documented in another thread which has become way too long: Bad quality when printing PETG - #197 by T_guttata

Just one example:

(If you want to try yourself: Dropbox - test_sample_15x15x30.stl - Simplify your life)

Before I completely loose trust in the printer, can you please proof to me with pictures of your prints (ideally with generic PETG profile) that the X1 is NOT a PLA only printer? Your help is highly appreciated!

[rovster]

I print all kind of filament just fine → PLA, PETG, ABS, PC, PC-CF.

PETG and PC-CF needed some adjustments and print well.

If PLA works, PETG does so too!

[chmarr]

THe following gear was printed in PA-CF, but I did one in PETG and it works just as well.

[chmarr]

And here’s Husko, printed in transparent PETG (more effort needed to make it truly transparent).

Post a link to the model you’re trying to print, and I’ll print it out. I’ve got some yellow PETG turning up today; I’ll print using that, since that’ll photograph better.

[T_guttata]

I have added the file, but you can literally take any parts which contain some holes !

[SR-G]

These are my printables “Makes” and 85% are PETG (and the remaining 15% are ABS)
https://www.printables.com/social/208679-sr-g/makes

PETG :

ABS (yes that plate is not recommended anymore) :

Everything i’ve printed with ABS has been with “Sunlu ABS” (from amazon, for ex. : https://www.amazon.fr/gp/product/B0828V6DKG/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1)
Everything about PETG has been “ARIANEPLAST” PETG (Filament 3D PETG - Polyethylene Terephthalate 3D filament - Ariane plast).

[Jrock]

Ok, soooooo…
Looking at your prints in the picture (and yes I’ve been following your original thread as well) I can clearly see where the problem is

The lack of consistent and quality layer adhesion is exactly where the holes are and I understand your print orientation as you want the holes to be crisp and of correct dimensions so the sides are printed horizontally (same application for clear text on a print)

My suggestion even though I know you’ve tried almost everything and must be frustrated for sure is the following

Slow down your small perimeter speeds to 30% , drop your printing temp by 5 - 10 ° and slow down the outer wall speeds to 130-150 mms

PETG as you know can be at times tricky to print but judging by the artifacts being exactly where the holes are on every piece it looks to be a combination of too fast and too hot in my opinion especially since they look like relatively small parts

It might also help to drop your accelerations as well so the print head doesn’t try to take off so quickly during the process of printing the holes

[chmarr]

@T_guttata Downloaded the part. Will print as soon as that yellow PETG comes in.

And your post confused me a bit until I realised you were talking about holes.

[T_guttata]

@ chmarr

Sorry for the typo. Lets see!

@ Jrock

I will try if I get the printer to work again. Today has been a very bad day, it was murphys day. The extruder completely clogged when I tried ASA. I have to completely take out the extruder. Luckily I have a spare one because bambulab wanted me to exchange it even I knew it will not gonna change anything.

I’m very very irritated right now. If for PETG you have to take down acceleration and velocity by factors of 5 or even more, I can sell the printer! Then I can also stick with my ancient ultimaker!

To be honest, after 2 months of trying different settings my patience is over! I will wait until someone shows me a decent print of any part which contains some features such as holes.

And to be honest: if 5-10°C makes the difference between an ok part and complete ■■■■, then there is a big mistake in the technology! You will need some error margin, otherwise you will never get consistent results.

@ SR-G

Thanks for showing your parts. I could not really find any parts with features in vertical walls such as holes. Therefore, its difficult to judge.

[rovster]

@T_guttata

I’m very very irritated right now. If for PETG you have to take down acceleration and velocity by factors of 5 or even more, I can sell the printer! Then I can also stick with my ancient ultimaker!

You are exaggerating. Not all filaments (especially PETG and PC) take high accels and speeds what the Bambu is capable of.

If you want stick to that, honestly, you should sell it.

[Matt]

@T_guttata

I’m very very irritated right now. If for PETG you have to take down acceleration and velocity by factors of 5 or even more, I can sell the printer! Then I can also stick with my ancient ultimaker!

PETG is one of the more difficult filaments to print. I’ve slowed my PETG and PETG-CF down a lot (and made a bunch of other tweaks) and had great results. Still much faster than my old printer.

@T_guttata

And to be honest: if 5-10°C makes the difference between an ok part and complete ■■■■, then there is a big mistake in the technology! You will need some error margin, otherwise you will never get consistent results.

10C is a pretty big swing in temp.

And the “margin of error” will have more to do with your filament than the printer.

@T_guttata

(ideally with generic PETG profile)

This is the issue, not the printer. You have to tune PETG if you want excellent results. You get good quality with PLA because it’s a much more forgiving filament to print with.

[Chris1974]

I print PETG on standard generic BBL settings just fine. 0.2mm on engineering plate. Some glue stick and there you go!

[Matt]

Some recent PETG-CF parts:

@T_guttata

I could not really find any parts with features in vertical walls such as holes. Therefore, its difficult to judge.

Some detail shots of my tiny holes

Some detail shots of my bigger holes, done on a proprietary part with no supports

[Matt]

@Jrock

PETG as you know can be at times tricky to print but judging by the artifacts being exactly where the holes are on every piece it looks to be a combination of too fast and too hot in my opinion especially since they look like relatively small parts

Bingo. Lots more room for error on a big part. Not so much on a small detailed part that’s getting a new layer printed on top of it before it’s had time to cool.

[Jrock]

You’ll get it, trust me

Don’t be intimated by slowing down small featutes and even your max fan speed layer time

Yes it will slow but you can still run very fast speeds everywhere else relative to PETG print speeds on other machines especially bed slingers

A really good rule of thumb for me when it comes to printing at high speeds with quality is how the Gcode is sliced for the internal Benchy

Yes thats PLA but you can simply use the factory default PETG settings and slow down the parameters that I’ve pointed out previously when you want precision on smaller parts

It will still print very fast, just needs to chill out a bit on small features like a 1/4" (sorry I mean 7mm, forgot I was in 3d printing land lol)
Just know you have good support and good people in here that are willing to try and help because not everybody is an engineer or doing this for profit

I’m a commercial transport refrigeration mechanic by trade and a 3rd year heavy duty mechanic that didn’t want to split another set of tracks or re&re another swing bearing ever again after doing it for 7 years, this printing gig is just a fun hobby for me but my beginings were very frustrating and the things I was struggling with seemed rudimentary to others

I’m more talking about learning Marlin and Visual Studio Code or even Meshmixer which I am proficientin now but it consumed me to learn and was extremely frustrating as an outsider (I’m more of a secret )

If you are interested in something the drive to do it is there, but when you come across intermittent problems or a single issue with 20 different possibilities it can make you want to walk away if you either can’t sort it out on your own or nobody seems to have the right answer

When I train a new mechanic they all get the same speel, you can ask 10 different mechanics the exact same question and get 10 completely different but correct answers to the problem

We can all learn something from somebody, sometimes it’s the wrong way and other times it’s the golden answer, the bottom line is either way you’ve learned something

In closing fook Murphy , that guy is always trying to pick on me with his laws and unexpected shenanigans but these days I win

[NeverDie]

@Matt

Bingo. Lots more room for error on a big part. Not so much on a small detailed part that’s getting a new layer printed on top of it before it’s had time to cool.

I suppose “small” is relative, but I previoiusly tried printing a portion of one of @T_guttata 's parts in Sunlu PETG (from amazon) using just the canned generic profile, and it didn’t seem particularly small to me. Also, doing the infill gives extra time to cool. Of note, I also didn’t get the artifacting that he did either. Therefore, IMHO, there seems to be something screwy about his particular machine.

That said, it’s very weird that he gets perfect prints in PLA but bizarre artifacts in PETG. If I had to guess what’s wrong, it’s that the temperature sensor in his hotend is either defective or not well connected, since he got better results when he raised the temperature in his print profile. It may not be the whole story though. The worst case would be that it’s a combination of different things, all of which are individually only slightly off.

[chmarr]

Here’s the result I got, using brand new eSun PETG. (Please don’t mind the sticky-nose Cali-Dragon)

Printed using “Generic PETG” and “0.20 Standard” settings.

PETG can absorb a fair bit of water. Is your PETG roll old? Been keeping it dry?

[imholloway]

I was one of the initial contributors to the PETG quality thread. Since then (and thanks to some thread advice) I got the SoftFever fork and ran all the configurations. Here is my PETG, I like it. Comments appreciated as I’m sure further refinement is possible. It’s the WildRose complex Sample Cube and not that I did not iron the top or bottom surfaces. Details of the filament profile on the white label - I do this for each brand of filament. This is GELO PETG by a company in Toronto, Ontario.
PETG works but it requires work to configure the filament and process variables.
PLA does come out a bit nicer.

I’m not sure why the photos are showing purple hints in the first 3 photos, it’s all pure black for me.

[NeverDie]

@imholloway

Since then (and thanks to some thread advice) I got the SoftFever fork and ran all the configurations.

Wow, I can see that it made quite an improvement over what you had printed earlier! Thanks for reporting back.

[Matt]

@NeverDie

I suppose “small” is relative, but I previoiusly tried printing a portion of one of @T_guttata 's parts in Sunlu PETG (from amazon) using just the canned generic profile, and it didn’t seem particularly small to me.

For sure. I haven’t printed any of his parts yet, so I don’t have a reference to know how “big” or “small” that they are. I was mostly just agreeing with @Jrock’s assessment that they looked like too fast and and too hot for such relatively small parts. I know I can go a lot faster on my larger parts, since it will be longer before I start the next layer.

@NeverDie

Of note, I also didn’t get the artifacting that he did either. Therefore, IMHO, there seems to be something screwy about his particular machine.

Agree that something is up, either with his machine or with his filament. I know for a while he stated he wasn’t drying it and didn’t make any calibration adjustments, which I still think is the crux of the issue, especially since PETG is so unforgiving.

@NeverDie

That said, it’s very weird that he gets perfect prints in PLA but bizarre artifacts in PETG.

I think it’s pretty telling. I’d be interested in seeing some additional calibration tests for the PETG in question. A temp tower like this one would be a pretty helpful start.