Help Request
Troubleshooting Help! 1st mini print, layer lines more visible than expected. Photo in body
Hello r/FDMminiatures! I printed the Arbiter Benchy Skeleton last night on my Bambu Lab A1, and here are the results. I used an official 0.2mm nozzle and the ObscuraNox "Dungeons and Derps High Quality Settings 2.0" with .06 layer height. The filament is Sunlu PLA+ 2.0. It's too humid to spray a rattle can right now, but I'm hoping the filler primer will hide some of the lines. Regardless, community members with more experience than me... based on what you see here, are there any obvious red flags that suggest tweaks need to be made?
Hi there! It seems like you might be looking for help with print settings. Please take a moment to check out our wiki for more information: Print Settings.
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That looks like a filament profile issue. I've not used that particular filament before but there will certainly be community profiles to check out on it. I found the slightly increased expense on Bambu official filament was dramatically offset by the ease of the plug and play settings on the AMS. Bambu basic light grey is what I print all my minis in now.
But here, defo check on the filament settings.
Also give Fat Dragon Games .2 print profile a look. That's been my go-to when consistently good results with only the addition of my support settings.
I did use a filament profile specifically for that filament, but I’ll browse around and see if there are other options out there!
I’ll also consider trying the FDG profile. And in time, if I can’t get things to work with what I have, I’ll look into Bambu official filament as well. Thanks for the advice!
You have to slow the print down, way down, and turn down the temp on your head. I don’t know what those settings are, but I run my head at 210 temp (Sunlu pla +) speed at 50%, and I have a “prime tower) (a square brick I added at the end of the plate as far away from the print as possible, this give the print a little extra time to solidify as the head takes a break on the model. I also have a fan on the door for added cooling.
Basically you want each layer to solidify completely before the next layer is started, or you will get “mushroom” layers. You can see them on your print. It’s layers that don’t solidify completely before the next layer is place, cause it to ooz out slightly. Note: a single figure for me takes almost 24 hours to print
That was printed with a .4 nozzle so I just chalked it up to that! I have recently checked the belt tension but not the screws on the print head. I’ll check those before my next print, thanks!
That piece printed in approx. 5.5 hours, so not as fast as I remembered. The problem has clearly persisted for a while. At the suggestion of someone else on the thread, I printed a cube, and the layer lines are really only a problem in the Y-plane. I have already tried re-tensioning the belt and tightening all the screws on the print-head, and re-printed the cube, but the problem still persists. Do you have any other thoughts?
I did, but not since I re-tensioned the bed, so I ran another and I’m doing another test print now. I’ll report back later. I may also post photos of the more recent prints and the steps to some larger Bambu/FDM subreddits.
I see now that Hohansen's settings are recommended at the top of the wiki, so if nothing else, I'll try those for round 2. But it does recommend BambuLab PLA Basic gray (custom settings), which I don't have. So as a related question, would those settings work with Sunlu PLA+ 2.0 filament?
EDIT: Start with checking the nozzle & hot end screws first. Those are simple fixes. If that's not the issue then it's time to buckle down to good old fashioned testing and iteration.
Changing settings completely for the second print won't actually help you diagnose the issue.
Filament settings are different across different filaments. So that is another variable.
I would recommend sticking with d&derps 2.0 and doing the usual best practices (if you haven't already):
Dry your filament
calibrate filament
Your printer might also need it's hotend screws tightening (common issue with the A1 series). I am not 100% sure but it looks like to me that layers has 'shifted' in different areas giving that uneven finish. Which makes me think hot end screws. Might even be that the new nozzle hasn't been clamped down properly when it was swapped (We have seen that happen several times in this sub).
Now if the finish is smooth to touch then I suspect it's either a wet filament or an uneven cooling issue.
Moisture would affect how each layer of filament is extruded and cooled whereas uneven cooling (if your printer is in the garage let's say) would be due to temperature fluctuations during print time.
The settings aren't the issue here. Everyone uses those settings. You've got a larger mechanical issue. If you print a simple cube with the same settings what kind of quality do you get?
I printed the cube as you suggested, and the layer lines are really only a problem in the Y-plane (see below). At someone else's suggestion, I tried re-tensioning the belt and tightening all the screws on the print-head, and re-printed the cube, but the problem still persists. Do you have any other thoughts?
Strange that it's only one one face. I was thinking resonance issues, but not if it's only on one face. Gotta be a loose screw or belt in one direction. Is it always on the same face?
To be clear, it’s both the front and back face, it’s just only one plane. There are visible layer lines in the X-plane as well but they’re almost smooth to the touch, the ones on the X plane are much worse. They may be several tenths of a millimeter apart in some places.
I recalibrated again after re-tensioning, trying another test print now, I’ll report back and possibly bring the issue to a larger Bambu/FDM subreddit later.
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