the Top Layers of our prints are not very clean.
for some reason the second last layer has a weird nozzle path like shown in the two screenshots. I think that influences the top Layer. Any recommendations how to achieve a cleaner top layer?
Printing with the X1C.
Finished Print:
Nozzle path:
jumps to:
Thank you for any help!
There’s a lot of information missing from your post. As an example:
It’s hard to tell from your photo, it’s blurry, but from what I can see, one possible contributing factor that appears to be evident is some evidence of under-extrusion. A clearer more focused image would confirm this but a first layer test with an accompanying clear image would also help.
Here’s the kind of resolution that we’re looking for. Hint: You’ll get better results by holding the camera back further and digitally zooming in than you will be holding the camera close. Click on this image for full resolution but you can see what I mean just form the scaled version.
Thank you for answering!
informations you asked for:
I tried to do a better photo of the top surface.
I also know that not the top surface is the problem, but the 4 other topshell layers underneath. these lines that you see on the printed model match with the nozzle jumps that I show in the screenshot.
OK. Thanks for the clearer photo. However, when I mention layer height what we look for is this setting under Global Process. In this example, the layer height is 0.28.
The photo is clear enough to provide a theory. It sounds like you’re new to the Bambu ecosystem so let me take a moment to just suggest some basic troubleshooting steps and then I’ll address what may be happening to your print.
When trying to diagnose anything, it’s a good practice to try to recreate a test sample of the feature that is giving you trouble. In this case, it’s the flat surface so draw a cube primitive at let’s say 100x100x5mm which will print quickly and save a lot of filament. I’ll use this later in this tutorial.
Drying filament is always a good first step. PLA is not usually prone to moisture but one should assume. If you’re having issues, that should be part of the diagnostic steps and the X1 has a drying mode, simply look in the Bambu Wiki. Wood PLA is often prone to moisture.
The Bambu X1 autocalibration can be hit or miss. One of the diagnostic steps is to print a first layer test to see how the filament performs after the calibration. Before you pull the sheet off the build plate, inspect it for smoothness.
In this example I created a simple cube primitive to test the filament behavior and scaled it to 30x30x10mm which should be more than enough top surface to reproduce the error shown but only takes a few minutes to print.
If I were to hazard a guess, it looks like either your top surface layer or sparse infill may be set to some type of grid or linear infill. This would be consistent with the pattern that you have shown.
Using the slider, move it so that it reveals your underlying infill pattern and see if this matches your surface.
Explore the infill pattern choices and experiment with another pattern and see if it affects your surface.
(Right-Click on image and open in new tab to zoom)
The repetitive pattern in your sample suggests a couple of possible causes. Here’s a short but not complete list of suspects in no particular order.
