I did go ahead and use part of this tpu 95a hf roll out of the box, resulting in more seam defects and web-like stringing. Making mag covers for old film cameras incase you wonder what these are.
-For reference the retraction is set to 1.8 as part of my own adjustments to the BL default profile seeing as it was zero before and basically gave anything I made a wig.
Left- TPU HF direct from BL no drying, just opened and put it in the printer
Right- TPU HF that was dried for ~12 hours
notice the stringing difference
Fresh roll only opened and used to make the defect print, roll prints from a separate dry box not the shoddy holder on the back.
weight BEFORE and AFTER 6 hours in a 75C forced air dryer
In conclusion any and all TPU from BL should be dried before use especially seeing as this is only my second roll opened from them and it is just as wet as the last one. will post weight after 6 more hours of drying. and make sure you set some kind of retraction since the default TPU-HF profile for BL filaments lacks a retraction.
It seems to be a common issues with all Bambu filaments I tried so far.
Noticed the issue the first time when unpacking a loading 4 new rolls.
My hygrometer always goes up after roll changes but this time it went from 1 right up to 3 and was sitting steady for 4 days until going down.
Needless to say the prints were bad.
Ever since I do this:
Leave the new filament in the bag and once close to getting used it goes in a bucket with silica gel.
This way I have the rolls ready to use without the need for a filament dryer.
And in all fairness: It is not just Bambu providing us with moist filament on occasion or a regular base.
In many cases it seems to come from the manufacturing as evident when putting the little desiccant bags in the bag on a scale.
They are already full by the time the roll reaches the customer.
Since the bag is sealed and still with a slight vacuum the moisture content was already too high when the roll ended in the bag
Just my 5 cents to the story.
That is true but I get down to around 20% like that, which is enough for the filaments I use as the rest dries out quickly inside the AMS.
If I ever have a real need for very hygroscopic filaments I might consider a heated dryer/feeder box though.
This is a common misconception: Even if the air around the filament is at 0%, that doesn’t mean that the filament is dry. Every filament is more or less hygroscopic and will release only part of the moisture at room temperature. No matter how long you let it sit in dry air.
So a dryer always makes sense. It is less critical for PLA, but already for PETG it makes quite a difference. Maybe it isn’t apparent but e.g. layer adhesion takes quite a hit if the filament is only so so dry.
But I can buy TPU hf from literally anyone else and not have this problem, atleast nowhere near this bad. It’s really annoying.
4 grams of water is a ton for fresh filament.
A company adding some fine print to cover their butt doesn’t make up for the fact they have to cover their butt because of quality concerns and/or are too lazy to add a drying step in their manufacturing process for the sake of their customers. It’s an insult to me after paying a premium for Bambu branded filaments
I dried BLB TPU 95A HF for 6 hours before using it. I turned the print settings down to minimum and each piece took roughly 2 to 3 hours to print and I got a pretty good print. Maybe because my models consist of small parts, I did not encounter any problems.
Again just because they say it doesn’t make it right or acceptable from a quality standpoint when paying the BL premium. I am a business, I have standards as a different kind of consumer and you should to. I can go get the same filament from QIDI and guess what it’s dry from the factory for a little less than the same price. Adding in a line in the description to cover their butt is lazy and I expect more. 4 grams of water. It would be different if it was 1 or 2. This means the factory isn’t humidity controlled which takes only a 10-20k machine to fix and that the filament sits naked after manufacture for 6-12 hours if it’s a tropical environment. They may as well not even vac seal it. It’s lazy, insulting, and I deserve to be treated better.
And if they are repackaging filament from another company which is most likely the case it means they are upcharging me for an inferior product and collecting more of the difference than other companies. That’s bad dude
Don’t shoot the messenger. I only presented the facts. If you’re not satisfied with the product, don’t use it. It’s common practice to dry all new filament. I don’t know why you’re complaining about BL filament needing anything less. I wouldn’t consider it a premium filament. I’ve paid over $70 for 750gms of a specialty filament. It needed drying too.
Then you got ripped off. Not trying to one up but I’ve payed over 100$ for 750g of Iglide-190 and it’s release material to make a film gate. It was perfectly dry. At those prices it better be dry
I am complaining because Bambu labs is a company that sells a a premium printer and markets its filament for its printers but doesn’t adhere to quality standards. Maybe I am also angry that my hot-plate is defective as well and I am currently trying to get them to replace it on a brand new printer.
I think you misconstrued the concept of premium. BL printers are neither premium nor business class. They’re the leader in personal 3D printers because of innovation. If you want business level performance, then buy business level printers. I think some start in the $7k range. It sounds like you’re willing to spend money.
You’re crying on the shoulder of someone who is retired and has hobbies. That puts me on the who cares list. I have to get up early and cut the south hay field.
And thus the corporate class will own you till the day you go back to the dirt. Because you are satisfied with the mediocre. Adam savage has two of these printers, Cal Arts up the road from me has a few as well sitting next to 250k$ machines that print medal, the cinema 4d booth at NAB had one as well. It’s not just a personal printer. Not only that but a lot of farms are made with BL printers
Those 7,000$ printers aren’t 7000$ btw. They more more like 15k or 20k after installing the infrastructure like 220 power, air compressors for certain models and more. As well as even forced support contracts from some manufacturers because they can.
Funny story: I bought some BL TPU 95 HF, and every print has come out terrible (stringy and blobby). Yes, pulling directly from my filament dryer, and it must have been drying for literally days prior.
I had an old spool which had been lying around open since 2015. Yes, that’s no typo, and it even had a rust stain on the sppol and filament from something which rusted and dripped. No idea what brand it is, but in those days, I was into RC drones, so I’m 90% sure it came from HobbyKing. Well, this filament printed near PERFECTLY without pre-drying, but still pulling from the dryer.
last bit of the very dry roll I am using of BL TPU HF 95a is not to far off from looking like that white roll you are using. Clearly BL is repacking the most garbage of tpu. I got the point where I am running the dryer as its printing and somehow it made it worse. yes the tube is long enough to fully cool.
I only presented the facts. If you’re not satisfied with the product, don’t use it. It’s common practice to dry all new filament. I don’t know why you’re complaining about BL filament needing anything less. I wouldn’t consider it a premium filament. I’ve paid over $70 for 750gms of a specialty filament. It needed drying too.
