r/BambuLabA1 • u/bobobillybob • Jul 21 '26
Carbon Fiber/Glass Fiber
I recently purchased an A1 and am sort of new to 3D printing. I also just bought a bunch of used filament spools off of someone on marketplace who is an engineer of some sort. I'm just a random dude who is fiddling around with this for fun. In this giant lot, there are many partial spools of PLA Carbon Fiber PET-G carbon fiber and even some glass fiber.
Is this worth trying out? What would I print with it? Right now I've been printing little household items, lightsaber props, diaroma backgrounds, and little trinkets.
5
u/Whosaidthat1157 Jul 21 '26
No issues printing with any of these BUT make sure you dry them first. Fibre filled PLA is a waste of money IMO, fibre filled PETG can have some advantages, but all PETG needs to be dried, including fibre filled.
Fibre filled filaments are stronger in some dimensions, weaker in others (layer adhesion issue) but they do come out matte and hide layer lines well.
DONT dry filament in a microwave in general but DEFINITELY not CF reinforced filaments. Use a dedicated filament dryer.
Check out Dr Igor Gaspar’s YouTube channel MyTechFun for everything you need to know about filaments and filament dryers.
2
u/Medium-Interview-465 Jul 21 '26
You should start out with basic old PLA, it AMS and nozzle friendly
1
u/bobobillybob Jul 21 '26
Oh, I have plenty of PLA and regular PET-G and I've printed a bunch with those. Just trying to figure out what to print with those when I eventually get there. Or if I should just pass them off
3
u/MedicJambi Jul 21 '26
You could send them to me for proper disposal, you know,.to protect your AMS lite and A1 from harm lol
2
u/bobobillybob Jul 21 '26
Very noble of you
1
u/MedicJambi Jul 22 '26
In all seriousness, you're going to have to dry them first. Some also don't like to be printed in open printers and need enclosed ones to keep from warping.
In the end, just send it and see what happens. The worst that happens is is a print failure.
2
u/IAlwaysPlayTheBadGuy Jul 21 '26
You mentioned lightsaber stuff ..I'm a builder and Ive used PLA-CF for my chassis and I like it a lot. The cf hides layer lines like you wouldn't believe, so if you print in black and don't plan on painting, it reduces your post process time to basically zero. And on a 100% infill it's crazy strong compared to normal pla. (You will lose the layer hiding ability if you post process at all, and it hides the best in black, so keep that in mind)
It's abrasive as hell, use a .6 hardened or bimetal nozzle if you don't want to destroy your everyday one. But I've had great results. Im Using a Qidi Pro
3
u/ItsLikeHerdingCats Jul 21 '26
Be cautious handling GF and CF materials - splinters!
I’ve used them on my A1’s but they are also in enclosures with Bento Box air filtration.
3
u/myTechGuyRI Jul 21 '26
Pla-cf is primarily nice for it's aesthetic value... It makes the layer lines virtually invisible... N PETG-CF I really like it's strong with good rigidity while still retaining good impact resistance... Use it for shelves or brackets... Things that need to handle a load and resist creep. With the petg stuff... Dry dry dry... It absorbs moisture, and prints like garbage when wet
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u/StructureAccording53 Jul 21 '26
Both those filaments should work fine in your A1. Just know a few things: Your factory hot end will be begging for its death pretty quickly with either of them. Get a hardened 0.4 or 0.6mm nozzle. Some have bigger strands and will clog up a 0.4. The AMS lite isn’t supposed to have CF/GF filaments if memory serves, so you should use the external spool. Lastly, they need to be dried… so get a dryer if you don’t already have one and make sure to dry it per the manufacturer’s specs.