That silicone sock is used to 1. Keep plastic from getting all over the hotend and 2. Act as an insulation blanket to help stabilize temp and reduce hotend variation.
It’s not critical and IIRR you got a second one with the spare nozzle.
It’s funny you said the built in parts print OK as I almost asked you.
Are you changing settings in Bambu Studio? If so, you might print a simple box with the default settings and the Bambu Orange PLA. I’d also suggest you try replacing the nozzle with the spare. It’s easy and will give you an idea of how it’s all put together.
It came with a spare nozzle but it doesn’t have a sock on it! Unless I’ve misplaced it, I will have a look in the box. I was tempted to swap the nozzle actually, just to eliminate another variable, thanks for the link! It also seems my printer landed right in the flow rate issue that was reversed with a hot fix, so maybe that was part of my issue too?
Well then I have a treat for you. SoftFever’s fork of Bambu Studio works virtually exactly the same as Bambu’s. If you can use one you know the other, they’re basically the same app. Studio is open source software and they welcome outside development.
Where his differs is that he’s added a number of easy to run, documented, tests to the Calibration menu, like configurable Temp Towers with all the common filaments to choose with a single click.
You may not be aware of this but Bambu incorporated some of his changes into their Studio, you don’t get much more respect than that.
What makes his different is that he’s quicker to release updates and incorporate features and do bug fixes long before Bambu’s slower process can get them out.
You do not have to remove Bambu Studio to install, you just unzip his files and create a shortcut to the bambu-studio.exe file. They coexist fine. I was concerned at first then found myself forgetting I even had Bambu Studio loaded! Everything syncs to your Bambu account and printer(s) flawlessly.
Strongly suggest you give it a try if nothing else than to access the Calibration tools which might very well fix your current troubles.
You can bet Bambu will put those in their next release, but by then he’ll have moved ahead again.
You may stick to the values used during calibration for such a small increment.
But nevertheless, the flow ratio defines how much filament has to be pushed through the extruder to get the ‘perfect’ width. It is then calculated by the slicer/machine (not 100% sure here) how much material has to be pushed to get the defined line width in the preset.
If it were not possible that way, solutions like Arachne etc wouldn’t work.
I worked with the suggested X/Y compensation, but did not get the results I was hoping for.
The outer most contour is enlarged/reduced in size, but any structure on the inside just stays the same.
Only thing that helps is set x/y scale before each print. z does not need correction for me.
For ABS i set it to 101% for x and y and get a perfect size.
Given the high range of shrinkage, it is possible that your particular ABS shrinks more than what Bambu Lab tested with. If you figure out what you need (and looks like you have), you might be able to create a custom material that adjusts for shrinkage in the slicer - I’m unsure if the slicer has that kind of flexibility.
Each time a layer is printed, the Z gets “fixed” inherently. Lets say after printing layer 100 the model shrinks a tiny amount, on layer 101, the print head is lifted the exact amount needed and prints such that it’s back in the correct dimension again. This is because each layer is printed where it should be, and not on top of where the partial print is.
Interesting enough, the filament I have the worst dimensional accuracy with is the Bambu PAHT-CF. I’ve run the flow ratio test as per post #3 several times and only one dimension is acceptable (20.01 x 20.15 x 14.8). Are there any other options for resolving dimensional inaccuracies? Factors I’m thinking about: speed, moisture, temp?
Many filaments just shrink when they cool down. Only thing to do is to print a part with known dimensions, measure it accurately, and do a scale operation. Parts should mostly shrink in the X and Y dimensions, for the reason I gave above, and shrink in equal percentages. (you’ll get Z shrinkage, too, but only if it shrinks after the part is fully printed… so this is uncommon)
All the speed moisture and temp adjustments will only affect extrusion locally. I.e., at the edges, but not shrinkage across the entire part.
One of my first X1C prints was a drill based filament spooler and I was dismayed to find that although the print looked great the large screw thread would NOT screw together.
It’s such a tough material I’ll have a hard time saving it.
My fault for being excited about the printer and not calibrating the filament, I was relying on default values being right for their own filament. Foolish boy, I should know better.
