I’m trying to print a Star Wars statue and I do know resin is the way to go for this, but wanted to see what quality I could get. My nephew printed out some figure from the Skyrim game at 0.4 nozzle, .12 Fine quality and it looked really good. I figured the SW statue, at around 12" tall would have better detail seeing how it’s larger. So I used the same settings. However the print, while still serviceable, is not the same quality. I’ve only had this printer for a couple months so I’m still new and don’t yet recognize what’s going on. He thought maybe the nozzle temperature was too low or the model isn’t right for FDM.
My print (12" tall):
@MalcTheOracle is correct. Even PLA can suffer from moisture and the factory may not have sufficiently dried the filament before it went into the sealer.
Also, this phenomena can be caused by either moisture or improperly calibrated filament.
Just as you can’t trust the factory to send you a dry spool, you also can’t trust the factory default filament profiles. I’d recommend drying it first; remember to weigh it before and after to confirm that moisture was indeed present and removed.
If the weight doesn’t change, then either moisture wasn’t the culprit or it wasn’t dried long enough.
Four hours at 55°C for PLA should be enough to remove enough moisture to notice a difference in weight. After that, you can continue drying it until the weight levels off. However, if there’s no weight loss after four hours of drying, don’t waste any more time, as moisture wasn’t the issue.
Thanks! This is my nephew’s printer so I just s̶t̶e̶a̶l̶ borrow time on it. He knows a little bit, but I’m still learning. He’s getting a dryer for Christmas so I’ll put this roll into reserve until then. We just didn’t think PLA was that much of a concern unless you are in a high humidity area. I’m going to try the BL dark gray he used, which I know is good, and see if I can confirm it. I’ve built worse resin kits than this so I may see if it will still sand/fill to a nice model.
The factory where the filament is made has very little humidity control and the tiny sack of desiccant is a token gift in my opinion The several or so grams you’ll dry out of a new spool is sometimes enough to cause minor defects, some colours show it worse than others so its best starting with a bake as a standard routine. Most spools are “overweight” which balances out the loss.
Bambu Lab filament is dried before packaging, but a small amount of moisture can still make its way into the bag over time.
This is due to the natural permeability of plastic packaging, which allows moisture to gradually penetrate the bag over a longer period. As a result, it’s impossible to maintain a consistent level of humidity inside the bag throughout the filament’s shelf life as the dessicant included in each package can reach saturation over time.
To ensure the highest print quality, it’s recommended to dry the filament before use, as even slight moisture content can impact print results.
I will add to the conversation that in my experience Matte PLA is more susceptible to moisture than Basic PLA. I don’t know if it absorbs it faster or if it’s just noticeable earlier on but anyways. I always try to dry my Matte PLA before use.
Thank you for the feedback; direct responses from Bambu are very welcome here, and I’m sure many others would appreciate more engagement like this.
If Bambu is aware of this moisture issue, there’s a valuable opportunity to improve both packaging quality and brand image as a premium product. Consider, for example, how iPhones are shipped in sturdy boxes akin to fine jewelry packaging—Apple could use generic cardboard, but they choose not to because presentation matters. Similarly, given the premium pricing of Bambu spools compared to similar products, it’s reasonable to expect Mylar bags and larger desiccants to ensure effective moisture control. With the number of customer reports here, it’s clear that users expect a premium product to arrive properly dried and well-protected from moisture. Just my $0.02.
I have spools of PLA that have been open for months to years (mostly Das Filament) and have never experienced issues like this. I have had issues with some brands of PetG but also spools of PetG that have been open for years again without issue. It seems that it is possible to create filament that doesn’t need to be dried every time you need a new colour, why are there still brands selling hygroscopic filaments? Nylon etc I get, PetG maybe, but needing a filament dryer for PLA seems like overkill. I thought we were entering a “no worries” era of 3D printing…
Rant over. I must say I have seen some filament bubbling at temperature x and not bubbling at 10 degrees lower than x, while not impacting the strength. Bambu tends to print at higher temperatures (I guess because of speed), you can try lowering the printing temperature to see if that helps
Thanks for all the input! I printed another helmet, same settings, with filament I know is good. The marks in the print are identical. Could this be an issue with the model, like it’s maybe for resin and not FDM? I wouldn’t think there was a difference, it’s still a STL, but I don’t know.
The several or so grams you’ll dry out of a new spool is sometimes enough to cause minor defects, some colours show it worse than others so its best starting with a bake as a standard routine. Most spools are “overweight” which balances out the loss.