I’m very new to the X1C - only got it last week - having upgraded from my 8 year old Zortrax M200.
I was expecting faster print time and better quality prints given the 8 years that have gone by.
Faster print time I certainly got (which is awesome) and the quality was comparable, sometimes better, sometimes worse in non-supported areas. The material changer is cool and it’s good that it wipes its own nozzle.
Areas that need support structures, however, are much much worse. Which is very disappointing. Using the settings out of the box for 0.08mm layers gave me support structures that would not break off the part. In the Zortrax it always ‘just worked’ with no tweaking needed and great finish under the support.
I spent the weekend trying lots of things. Adjusting the gap between the support layer and the first layer (which helped - even adding just 0.02mm was better) and trying solid support interface layers, and in the end having 0.02mm extra gap and a concentric solid interface layer gave the best results.
But still long way off the Zortrax. Here is a photo of the two side by side. Zortrax on right, X1C on left. Zortrax was with standard settings for 0.09mm layer height and X1C was the 0.08mm and after a weekend of tweaking to improve on the initially unusable settings.
Congrats on the new printer.
Your 8-year-old Zortrax print looks quite good.
Usually, they break apart easily.
Did you try the snug type? It should limit the support in the borders, which is helpful when between 4 walls. You can also force it by painting the support region and selecting manual support mode.
In my experience, using support material is the best method to improve the look of supported regions.
If you are using PLA, the specific support material, or PETG.
I guess Bambu Studio is assuming a bridge from the print look. Can you confirm?
If that is the case, you can try to tweak the bridge instead of the support, for example, with flow or line thickness:
Thanks - that’s useful advice, I’ll try playing around with the bridge settings.
I did try with the PLA support material but on standard settings it didn’t really make a difference. Also it’s amazing how long it takes with all the material changes (it was making the chamfer supported I think too).
You’re welcome.
You have access to further settings using Orca Slicer.
In most cases, Bambu Studio meets my needs, but for further tuning, Orca is my choice.
There is contradictory feedback regarding the support material’s success. I lack experience with it, as I don’t print that much PLA, and when necessary, I use PETG since it always works for me. Give it a try.
Here’s a topic with a similar issue to yours:
Standard settings are usually quite good; if you are into aesthetic prints, I advise using “high-quality” profiles whenever possible, at the expense of high speed. Besides that, further improvements come from dry and calibrated (at least PA and flow) filament.
And yes, the material change takes some time. I already got used to it, so I don’t notice that often.
Your print volume is relatively small and, therefore, more noticeable.
In larger ones, few filament swaps are barely noticeable.
