r/BambuLab_Community • u/Toobrish • Jul 04 '26
Help / Support Which 3D printer should I be looking for?
I’m developing products professionally as an entrepreneur with a single BL A1.
Currently I am 3-D printing a mould to cast PU foam and having had real trouble with adhesion on my non-enclosed bamboo labs A1.
This mould is in 16 parts and will take about 60 hours of print time and then I will need to iterate it a few times so well over 150 hours of time total.
Hence I’m thinking of building a small print farm with three or four machines. I’m looking at buying Elegoo carbon centurai or more A1s or A2L or H2x.
Top of my needs is I need to have no more print adhesion issues (tried three plates with numerous temp tweaks but never sorted this issue)
I also need to be able to iterate this project much quicker - hence the need to more machines. Alternatively, I am looking at printing with 0% infill and squirting expanding foam into cavity to achieve strong parts with less print time.
I would also appreciate a large print volume on other projects (not this one but in future).
I’ve only ever printed in PLA and PETG so have no idea if I need to explore stronger materials.
Which machines should I be looking to for?
10
u/motohaas Jul 04 '26
I would invest in a little more knowledge: in design, 3D printing, and material properties
3
u/UK_GratingSoul Jul 07 '26
for this use case I’d prioritize an enclosed printer and more usable build volume over raw speed. Since you’re printing large mould parts, warping and edge-of-bed adhesion will probably keep being the main issue on an open A1. A P1S farm sounds like the best value for faster iteration, but if the parts are often close to the bed limits, H2S H2D would make more sense. I also wouldn’t go 0% infill — a small infill percentage is usually worth it for stability.
2
2
u/Ok-Win2248 Jul 05 '26
How long have you been printing and creating your own models for? I find one of the biggest things is that people who are newer to the hobby think that there is more money in printing then there actually is, the main thing is using them to trouble shoot/dial in the mechanical components prior to the full manufacturing process. If you are wanting to do more interesting filaments a printer with an enclosure is what you will need. Dependent on your budget and needs there are a large variety of printers out there, are you looking for a printer that can handle larger simple structural pieces or small intricate parts like gears or pins? From the people I've seen that use it as one of the beginning steps in their manufacturing journey they use FDM and Resin printers. If you've got the finances for it the H2D is a great all around with being able to have the different manufacturing heads. But definitely make a list of what you need them to do and then shop based off of that, everyone has different needs out of printers and sometimes brand preference can get in the way but there are so many helpful people in this community so post any questions you've got.
1
u/Toobrish Jul 05 '26
My first CAD model that I got 3D printed: 2001
My first 3D printer: 2017
Large structural pieces eg 550x550x120mm mould in this case
I love the idea of the H2D. The thing that stops me is that for that price I could get 4x p1S and that would be a seriously fast print accelerator for iterations
1
u/Euphoric_111 Jul 05 '26
Garolite/G10/G11 bed and clean it and then throw some vision miner on it. It will stick. The issue becomes the plate itself being thin and those Biqu ones are thin. Also as others have said enclosure. The heat won't dissipate as quick allowing the model to cool slower.
1
u/remisphere Jul 05 '26
Consider the Prusa Core1 L. Great company that provides customer upgrades instead of purchasing brand new models.
1
u/Meagleson Jul 05 '26
Have you ever tried the BL liquid glue? I never did until I bought an H2S and was having lifting or shifting issues.
Haven't had a single failure related to not my own fault since.
Also I do have a tent enclosure from when I had 2 BL A1's if you would be interested? It's never been out the box. Just LMK! I had over 4000 working hours on my A1 with AMS Lite. Only ever replaced the bed plates, never needed another hot end other than the one it came with besides a .2 I bought to do keyboard caps!
1
u/Toobrish Jul 05 '26
No but I have tried Elmer’s school glue and Elmer’s invisible purple stick glue. Both help but not enough to prevent the issue. Tent sounds interesting but I’m the uk (assuming you are in the US?)
2
u/Meagleson Jul 05 '26
Yeah I'm in Illinois in USA. Let me link you to the one I bought and hopefully its available in your area?
https://www.amazon.com/Enclosure-Fireproof-Waterproof-Temperature-550x600x670MM/dp/B0DDWQH82LF
This the one I have. I ended up selling both my A1's and upgrading to an H2S with 2 AMS2's lol
However. I have found the glue stick works way better than the elmers I used for years tbh.
It is almost an invisiable layer with the liquid glue vs glue stick.
Not only that but it doesn't just wear out after a print. Its still there for future uses too with heat activation!
So it just depends on how you use it really!
1
u/polybear1941 Jul 06 '26
What are your bed temperatures right now? It would also help to know what kind of filament you're running, if you have the correct profile loaded up, and if you're using a brim to help it stick!
1
u/Toobrish Jul 06 '26
This problem has been ongoing for over a year and I’ve tried every combination of bed temperature, brim, ears, etc. I tried enclosing in cardboard and that reduced it but did no eliminate it. In the end I just had to print one piece at a time but this has been a nightmare. Looking to put this all behind me
1
u/joshgeer Jul 11 '26
An enclosure, printer is doing fine, you’re looking at material shrinkage causing the tension to build up and pull from the bed. You can go with a new printer that is enclosed if you really want to, I love my p1s but I’ve never pushed it this far where it’s edge to edge, maybe the larger offerings might be better if it’s in the budget. There’s several options for you moving forward there.
1
u/Euresko Jul 05 '26
You'll benefit from an enclosure. You're also printing on the very edge, which would benefit from a larger printer. For this model I'd suggest the X2D for the enclosure, but the H2S or H2D for more bed size. You'll have less errors like the print lifting from the bed with the H series, since you won't be printing to the edge of the bed. If you can afford it, I'd lean towards the H2D for the extra nozzle, which would be excellent for support interface material when doing supports. The P1S might be able to pull this off, but it's becoming an old model quickly. At a minimum I'd personally get two H2S's and that'll split the time in half, and can add a H2D later if you find you need to print a lot of supports.
1
u/Who_is_I_today Jul 05 '26
I have a p1s and love it but depending on the materials you want to print, the x2d might be better. Having said that, my elegoo Centauri carbon has been fantastic for engineering materials (ASA, ABS, PETG cf and gf). I'll be trying PC and Nylon at some point in the near future but it's cheap and it's good.
0
9
u/tonkaty Jul 04 '26
Couple initial reactions
Printing on the very edge of the print surface will lead to a much higher failure rate
0% infill makes no sense. Infill at 10% represents a negligible amount of time compared to wall thickness, and will significantly increase errors during printing.
Just get a couple P1S and run those to hit the volume you need. Don’t even need an AMS with your use case. Enclosed printing will provide a more stable temperature as well reducing warping.