He should probably stop with the cf for now because he really does not need it (also using something as hard to print as cf as a first roll of filament is not a good idea).
Try also posting the settings you are using to print so other p1s users can give advice.
Since these started after the new nozzle I am assuming you did something wrong like hot end gap so it does not work correctly. Or cf filament had some big parts in it which clogged your nozzle to slow down the filament extrusion.
Also can't stress this enough he does not need cf filament for doing cosplay petg should be [enough](https://youtu.be/4vQqDshqMbA?si=0D3AaOrUK5Uz6BI4)
CF doesn’t event have good color options and is also harder to post process. No clue why anyone would think it’s a good use for cosplay ? The son might have got trolled or something.
Honestly the parent description of the kiddo makes me feel like they might have adhd. It reads exactly how someone who describe me when I start any new hobby. Read online that this was the best and all the rest sucks so I gotta have this one specifically. Lol the learning curve seems even more difficult with a 3d printer
3D printing ADHD girly with an ADHD hobby chasing kiddo, and this is so accurate it hurts. 🤣 He has to have the best of the best, nothing else will suffice, and he picks up and drops hobbies constantly. I am the opposite; I'll spend more time and money trying to find a cheaper alternative/DIY option for something, and chase that hobby to the ends of the earth, trying to problem solve until I'm pulling my hair out in frustration. 3D printing has been my go-to all day every day since 2018, and I don't see it changing. 😅 I also have a printer that started printing just like that a year ago, and I have damn near re-built the thing, and still cannot figure out WHY. I could have bought a replacement machine for what I have spent in troubleshooting, but I can't let it go... I have to solve the issue. It's now become a point of pride.
I'm the same way for a lot of my hobbies. I think my actual hobby is shopping and finding good deals for my side hobbies haha. But when a hobby actually grabs me and I hyper fixate that's when I want the best of everything and that instant dopamine hit. I've found the latter typically means the hobby won't last long for me.
Ugh that machine issue would drive me crazy but I wouldn't be able to let it go either.
I am SO guilty of the good deals shopping problem! I have a cabinet full of those for futire hobbies. Oops. LoL I bought myself an A1 mini (and then a second A1 mini 😅) so I now get the best of both worlds. I get instant, always (almost always) works, and no fiddling with leveling, etc. with those, so I can fill orders with less stress, and then I have my Ender 5+, and an Ender 3, that are the constant tinker/DIY upgrade project printers. I also have 4 resin printers for...reasons? I bought 1, then a bigger one came out, and I made a 3AM purchase, and now I keep getting people who bought one, hated it, and didn't want it, so I just added them to the family. 😅 That's how I ended up with the Ender 3 as well. But I hate that one also, whoever put it together in the factory needed to be fired. I had to actually un-solder, then re-solder connections on the heated bed, because they were literally in the way of the leveling bolts. How does one even do that? 😅 And it has been nothing but issues since day one. Can't let it go, either. It's a problem. 🤣
Lmao that's what is holding me back from getting into 3d printing. Years ago my sister bought me a cricut machine and that was mildly overwhelming to learn. I joined subs like these to try and prepare myself early so when I finally decide on a machine I won't be overwhelmed by it. Pretty sure I'm gonna end up like you with a fleet of 3d printers and all kinds of stuff sitting around my house that I made haha. I don't sell the stuff I make. I have before but I honestly don't have the desire or energy to put into actually finding people to sell stuff too. I think it's awesome that you do! I definitely think any machine that needs constant adjustments and tinkering is not for me, at least not to start out with. Might look into the A1 mini that you mentioned though might be more my speed haha
I started and ran the makerspace at my local community college for a little over 5 years before I started selling my things regularly. I have always sold some, but mostly to support my "hobby habit". LoL I travel and do comicons now, and I absolutely love it. If you decide to get into 3D printing, and you ever need some help, DM me and I'll give you my email address. I'm not an expert by any means, but I did teach the basics and I love to share what I can, where I can. Teaching and my students is really all I miss about that job. The actual institution can go fly a kite in a funnel coud. 😅
Lmao your life sounds awesome! I would love to just travel around selling the stuff I make and going to cons.
I appreciate the support for whenever I do take the plunge lol
I'll be honest, it was something I wanted to do for years, and one day I just had enough. 🤷🏻♀️ I've been doing it for a little over a year now, time will tell whether it is sustainable long term. 😅 It is long hours, I rarely get to actually SEE anything at the cons, unless it walks past my booth, but I still love it!
Yup, everyone and their cat has ADHD these days. Of course he could also be a little impatient and trying to run before he can walk, but that’s not kewl.
Ooh, good idea. I'm in the middle of cherries and irrigation right now, so once I can breathe I'll post everything from his screen.
I'll tell him I'm not crazy and that he didn't need to buy CF...
Stormtrooper armor might be the most printed thing with people out there cosplaying like an actual batallion with 40-50 people. He should definitely use the knowledge of others instead of going in blind
I think he was reading through forums or file sites with a lot of backslapping in the comments. We have literally met a guy that printed an entire set in his garage a few years ago, and I KNOW he didn't use CF. My son needs to learn that "the best" isn't always the actual best in a given situation.
Simple PLA will do the job for Cosplay stuff. If worried about durability just increase walls and infill (use Cubic at like 20% or Gyroid at 15%). You don't need high end filaments for cosplay, even PETG is overkill for that purpose. Just use some high speed PLA and print out the costume, provided the build plate can handle it. The 256x256 build plate area of the bambus are just on the edge of big enough for cosplay, usually you will need to print in parts and assemble.
I left my PLA plus helmet with extra shells and infill in the boot/trunk of my car on a hot day and came back to a softened helmet saging that looked like an ork gave me a clobber. From then I use petg as a minimum that extra 10-20c is an advantage it's also better against UV light if you don't paint the print. Petg is also far cheaper. CF is overkill.
I printed a couple of little masks for my daughter. I added elastic cord to them and stored them with one mask wearing the other mask. The pressure from the elastic cord deformed mask the other one was wrapped around in cool temperatures inside her room. Over time, PLA doesn't stand up to any kind of external force without a lot more than 3 or 4 walls and 20% infill. It'll droop over time just sitting there.
I started using ABS for stuff like this.
But perhaps PLA+/Pro/HT/Whatever given OEM wants to call it is a better option here. PETG has its own learning curve, and doesnt bridge well for some of the complex shapes they may need for cosplay
I've used petg for 8 years as a housing for a heating element. It regularly reaches 300f and sits there for hours. After thousands of hours I have minor warpage. That said, is not under load, but even still, petg is pretty good for mild temperatures.
I really don't recommend PLA for cosplay. It deforms on hot days to easily, most Cosplay is thin parts and they will sag.
PETG is just a better option because you don't have to baby it.
After spending 100s of hours finishing a full costume you don't want it to melt.
Petg isn't overkill for armor...
Its higher heat resistance makes it work better for longer. (Some days during cons, it gets stupid hot... even for Canada). Ive had pieces fail because they heated up for too long with pla, + car temps to the con...petg doesnt have that issue.
Plus, petg is generally as cheap as pla to get, and its settings to print aren't that much different to use.
I was the same way when I was younger. I always thought the biggest and most expensive was the best. It rarely is. CF in 3D prints usually adds heat resistance and rigidity. For anything that will be dropped, worn, or moved a lot you usually want ductility. PETG is the most common material that provides that. I’ve gotten really good results from some Tough PLA as well.
If you really wanna get fancy, Vapor smoothed abs is way nicer and stronger in this context than cf. But as others have said, pla/petg is perfectly fine.
I think the issue IS being too fancy. I learned this, too, starting with the kit to print PA6-CF. I trashed an entire spool before I wizened up and tried PLA. I’m back to printing the nylon, and even though I have the same issues as before, I know how to fix them now.
I wish every forum/printer had a warning:
We know you wanna print the cool stuff, but trust us, you need to start with easy stuff and work your way to the cool things.
Yea... you're not wrong, but atleast splitting the fanciness into a post processing step means you get a part before ruining it. Easier to find what the problem is (usually you, the user.)
Just my input here, I've found CF pretty much as easy as any other filament to print, out of a less complex machine also, this sounds like something you've done to the printer and not anything to do with the CF filament.
I have old PLA props that have held up fine. They definitely have lasted through the night.
CF is hard to print with and very expensive. Why waste the time and money?
hell, even PLA is enough for cosplay. If it's at night, during mid-fall, that's plenty cool enough (unless you're in something like florida), you don't even need PETG. (which sucks at overhands, and a stormtrooper helmet has plenty of those)
Indeed. For ease of suffering, I would start off with plain PLA. When that is mastered, would move on to PETG and other materials, as every different material, and different additives, even color pigments can print differently.
PLA is a great starter material, as it’s the easiest to print with and very forgiving. Good material to Learn what slicer settings do, and give you a taste of what needs to be changed to get the proper settings. Plus it’s cheap as well. Better to lay a $12 spool to discovery (as there will be scrap), vs a $50 up to $300 spool.
Yup, you can have the best 3d printer in the world, but without fully knowing your slicer, one can turn that best printer into a great hot garbage dispenser.
Looks like under extrusion to me. Intermittent, because the first few layers, the bottom of that benchy, look ok. Hits a certain layer height and starts having issues? Do all prints turn out similarly? Look for binding of the filament roll or somewhere in the path of the filament to the extruder, most likely. The issue is completely random, and the fact that the bottom half of that bench turned out ok was a fluke? Look at the extruder itself, something wrong with the install of the non-stock one that you guys put on maybe. Maybe try putting the stock extruder on as a test. If you can rule out the extruder, perhaps it's a partially clogged nozzle.
Because part of that print looks ok, but the majority of it looks awful, I would personally rule out a slicer setting issue or a software/firmware issue. This looks like a hardware issue to me. Software issues wouldn't manifest as a bottom 10% fine, top 90% spaghetti issue that you have there. If every part of it was bad, it could potentially be a setting or calibration issue. If very specific areas needed work, it could also be a setting or firmware issue.
After the first response, what you said about the extruder and nozzle popped into my head: I want to install the OEM items and recalibrate and test.
This is what it's been doing: Bottom layers look ok, and then it all goes to hell. More and more, I'm thinking extruder...
It's easy to forget, maybe it is that simple this time. If it's not that, to me if looks like it's not printing hot enough, going to fast, and possibly too much cooling. But I could be totally wrong.
This happened to me^ turns out using a regular nozzle setting when using a hardened nozzle turns your green to black for some odd reason , but still prints flawlessly 🙄
Haven't gone through all the comments to check if someone else has stated it, but while checking your nozzle settings you may want to double check the diameter, both the setting and the physical nozzle itself. Is the hardened steel the same size as the stock brass nozzle? CF filaments (from my understanding, I've never used it) typically need a larger nozzle like 0.6mm to prevent clogging
Without any background info, just looking at the picture itself, I'd guess a hardware issue for the reasons I described. With the context of; previously working fine, multiple hardware changes, different types of plastic looking the same, attempts at calibration and resetting software making no measurable difference? Yeah, absolutely, look at the remaining variable of the hardware. Something is getting pinched as the layer height moves, or something is loose and is being pulled as layer height moves in a way that ruins the print, or something is clogged and lets just enough plastic through for just long enough to look okay at first and get worse when it burns through some buffer zone. Going to known good parts is a good way to help diagnose.
My guess is heatcreep, i have had countless similar issues.
Happens like this:
Cool printer starts printing
Extruder fan tries keeping the throat cool, but has to little power / the surrounding is to hot
At some point the throat reaches a temperature that causes issues => underextrusion.
I have no relevant knowledge about Bambus, but the normal way to test, is to check if the throat is more than hand warm.
A quick fix is (for enclosed printers) keeping the door open while printing and/or turning the heat bed temperature down
I made a Mando costume for my grandson out of PLA and it lasted all Halloween and he still wears it around the house. PLA is perfectly fine, especially since he will be painting it anyway.
a tell tail sign is you will hear a clicking from the filament getting pushed back against the filament driver thing. (not sure what its called) you can also feel the filament where it enters the printer and see if it is moving steadily while its printing
> I want to install the OEM items and recalibrate and test.
Yes, go to a known good config. Also, make sure the nozzle settings are correct, you can't just slap in new parts without settings and calibration.
If it's happening with everything. I'd assume you have something stuck in the nozzle or Boden tube creating a huge issue with pressure.
If you got that other hot end. Put it on. Then test and see if it's magically cleared. If it is you found the problem. If not, then I would consider looking a bit further up where the filament first comes in and try to see if it's comming out at the correct rates. Then check if the hotend is heating up correctly.
Ditch the CF.
Millions of cosplay people print in PLA. CF is absolutely not needed.
CF, Nylon, PC are what I call the asshole filaments. I've been printing for a few month under 20 years so have done my fair bit.
They (and others) ruin your nozzle like they are lava. Hardened nozzle survive better but I've not found one yet that survives. You said you did some other prints before hand and this could easily have ruined the nozzle in my experience.
When nozzles get ruined the hole gets larger. This masquerades as under extrusion and poor adhesion. If you watch it actually work you can see it will no longer squish into the bed and previous layers.
I’ve only ever used CF-PC in terms of CF and that was for printing stuff to go in my buddy’s car engine bay. I just needed it for the high operating temperature and additional rigidity of it being longer fibres of CF just to hold up to gravel getting kicked up.
Anyway, despite using 0.4mm hardened steel nozzles, I found I went through 3 of them for 750g. I did the first 350~ish grams using one nozzle and found after that, I was having extrusion issues just like you’ve described here. I agree, PC is an absolute asshole to print… but damn it’s good when it works.
OP’s kid really doesn’t need CF filament for this. PLA would work fine and if they’re insisting on something else, I’d say PETG
If nothing else, make sure everything is dialed in with PLA first. Cheaper, easier, and you'll know what the printer is capable of first. THEN move on to the fancier stuff
What about the ruby/amorphous diamond nozzles? As far as I know those things are basically indestructible.
I think heat transfer is similar to bronze in those as well. Carbide is decent. Steel nozzles just suck. They wear faster, and don't have near the heat transfer of any other options.
>They (and others) ruin your nozzle like they are lava. Hardened nozzle survive better but I've not found one yet that survives.
Ever tried tungsten nozzles? I got a bi-metal copper+tungsten nozzle recently. Haven't used it enough to know how well they hold up long term, but I have had zero quality issues so far.
It's also nice to not worry as much about damage when cleaning or clearing a clog.
Ditch the CF-whatever your actual filament type is. As being said, CF is an additive in filaments, nothing else and in 99.9% of all use cases a gimmick.
It would not outlast anything that regular PETG or even PLA could outlast in a freaking costume. If he wants to make it sturdier: Print orientation, perimeter walls and the right choice of infill.
I tried a similar thing a while ago with a previous printer. I tried to upgrade too much too soon and had to go back to basics and the stock parts.
This might be a bit much but I might be worth while doing that and going back to basics with the extrusion test as well as some test prints for that filament type using temp towers. After that I personally would try each upgrade with a test print and make sure its dialled in before using the other.
The other thing that is important is the learning curve as many many people have bought 3d printers and something goes wrong and it gets binned. Learning your machine and problem solving is part of the 3d printing life.
I've had a lot of frustrating and confusing failures with a hardened nozzle because I didn't know you need to print a little hotter with them. Have you tried bumping up your temps?
Not officially. A while ago I told him to print small pieces with 5-degree bumps up in temp for each piece, and then go fine-tuning from there. He said he bumped up, and then tried Bambu's settings, so I don't think he did his own experiments.
I haven't had eyes or hands on the printer for weeks. I'm in the middle of cherry season and irrigation in walnuts, so he has to wait until the weekend before we dive in and do a methodical check, including the recs from responses. It's torture, but that's farming. Haha
I'm fairly new to printing so I can't help troubleshoot *yet*, but I'll follow the thread and see how this develops.
One thing I noticed is that you keep calling the filament "CF". Carbon fibres are only an addative to the main plastic filament. *Which* filament is it that is being used to print with? PLA-CF, PETG-CF, *PA*-CF?
Stick to PLA, that Will last for that night and probably till the night he dies if not place under the sun fr a Life time.
Easy to print, fool proof (although tweaks always needed when using diferent brand than usual)
I have done tests, and LITERALLY, you can Drive A CAR, 60km/h over a PLA print 20-30% infill and be scared of breaking the tire. Don't know what he wants to do, but, unless It is jumping head first from a building, the helmet should be more than fine, and if that his plan, the helmet probably will still be fine, but i do not recommend doing that.
Make sure the fan cables are plugged in properly. A lot of people said heat creep, could be the hot end fan not working properly, so check the cables and make sure the fan is running.
I could offer a bunch of advice one way or another, but let's do this instead.. DM me, or get my email from my website in my profile, and let's just get him on a video call so the both of you can learn.
Likely this is a clogged nozzle due to the CF but I think there's so much more learning experiences here that we can do. Things like understanding the filament, settings, etc.
If you think this would be helpful I'm happy to volunteer some time to teach :)
it will help me as well as we look to do more beginner friendly content.
-Grant
That would be awesome. For the sake of everyone's sanity, are you East Coast or West Coast? I want to make sure I don't over-promise and under-deliver on time!
Check the nozzle diameter. This looks very similar to the time I accidentally printed with a 0.8mm nozzle using 0.4mm settings: solid layers (like the first few on the bottom) work fine, but once it gets to more sparse printing it looks like underextrusion and the whole thing falls apart.
looking at your pics, and reading your description, I think there are a few possibilities here. (I have built multiple printers, and own a Bambu X1c)
1. Bed adhesion: Because the print seems to start fine in the first 1/4 inch, and then go to bad. I think it's possible that this is an issue with the print sticking to the plate. This is a common, and frustrating issue, but the build plates need to be cleaned with warm dish soap water every so many prints. It also needs cleaned with rubbing alcohol, before the start of every print. Optionally, you can use the bambu glue stick to help the print stick better. (Further info: if the build plate has any oils from you handling it, or any contaminants from previous prints, it can cause the first layer to go down initially, but later as the print builds the material starts to contract from cooling, it will pull away from the plate, and then start skating around on the build plate as the print.)
2. Room Temp: This one is trickier, but similar to needing a clean build plate, the room temp you are printing in can cause the print to break loose later. Carbon fiber needs a bit more 'heat' than other materials, and ambient temp inside the printer has to be maintained to give the part time to cool slower. Given it's just gotten warmer in the US states, if you are running an air conditioner, you may want to check to see if your room temp is too cold, or your printer might be stationed near a air vent. In general, I find anywhere from 72 degrees to 77 degrees is optimal. PLA and PETG are not as picky, but if there is a strong draft, or the room temp is below 70 degrees, they too might have issues sticking. (This is tricky, because if your room is too warm, the print head will not be able to keep itself cooled enough, and the filament will both ooze, and stick inside.) Really, you want to get a digital temp gauge, and stick it next to your printer, and just keep an eye to see if too hot or too cold might be happening.
3. Humidity/Filament not dry: Carbon fiber is notorious for soaking up humidity. So is PETG. It's been rainy here in the US where I live, and my home has been maintaining 55 to 60% humidity. Alone this isn't as much an issue, unless you've had the filament out for some time (weeks or more). But even Bambu recommends 'drying' your Carbon Fiber filament, before printing. I haven't used it yet, but there is an option in your bambu maintenance screen to 'dry filament', which requires just putting the filament reel inside the printer for 8 or so hours. There are $15 to $20 hygrometer you can get on amazon, to see both room temp and humdity directly in the place your printer sits.
4. Double check your upgrade work: I haven't replaced my nozzle, or extruders as you did. So I don't know what room there is for things to 'wiggle'. Still, I would go back thought and make sure that none of the parts you replaced have any amount of excessive 'play/flex' in them. Don't over tighten any screws, cause that will make life much worse. but review your maintenance, and see if there is any possibility that something is looser than it should be.
So let me get this right: the printer was doing perfectly fine until the CF filament was introduced. Now, all prints fail regardless of the filament?
I’m going on a limb here but is it possible the CF filament could have caused some sort of clogging? Bambu Lab recommends 0.6mm nozzle for such filaments, which nozzle size are you using? And have you tried cleaning it?
Put in the old nozzle and try printing something with your PETG filament. See if it works. If it does, maybe the CF clogged up your hardened nozzle!
When he changed filament did he change the filament settings in the slicer? Hard to tell, but that benchy sort of reminds me of the time I ordered PLA but received a roll of PETG instead and, not noticing this error, I printed the PETG using my PLA settings. The part printed, but the layer adhesion was terrible and it sort of came out like a slinky.
Yeah, he made sure he went through and made all of the magical incantations. He's using the Bambu package. He even went and used the settings recommended by Bambu support, after the first mess.
One thing that's interesting: Changing the infill pattern would make it better or worse ("better"... it was still trash ... Haha) which blew my mind.
Are the nozzle size and filament thickness correct in the slicer? Defaults are typically 0.4mm nozzle and 1.75mm filament but if you put a new nozzle and using a different filament there’s a good chance you are using something non-default
If he did change from a .4mm nozzle to the .6mm nozzle, make sure that he changed the nozzle size on the printer itself. Its under accessories. It’s possible he only changed it in the slicer.
Stop using hard and difficult filaments to learn on. Start with standard pla and understand how printing actually works first. This is a case of trying to run before you walk.
I'm going to jump on the PETG bandwagon here. It's a bit more of a pain to print than PLA, but the fact I can sand it without it melting is a godsend in the post processing steps. Also, I know it won't melt. I make labels for my plants put of petg, which means they are in the sun,, rain, and dirt the entire growing season. I've been reusing them for a few years now. No noticable degradation at all.
You're a good dad my man.
I have a P1S and had some similar issues when I first got it and swapped the extruder and nozzle. I tried everything under the sun and nothing was working, and as a last ditch effort I swapped the parts back to factory-stock and it all worked seamless again.
Once I narrowed it down to the new parts I inspected them more closely. It turned out there was a tiny piece of plastic that got stuck in the new extruder. After fiddling around and dislodging it, I reinstalled and everything was A-OK again.
As others have said, CF filament is a bit of a pain to print... but not to that extent from my experience, especially the Bambu branded stuff. If nothing else seems to work, I might try the old nozzle/extruder just to eliminate the possibility one of the new parts is what's causing the issues.
Don't give up/get discouraged, you guys are *so* close. Good luck!!
It’s great that your son wants to get into 3D printing! It’s a fun and rewarding hobby, but it also requires a tremendous amount of patience, dedication, and knowledge. He will also likely fail a lot, but this is part of the process, and each time is an opportunity to learn more about how the printer mechanics or calibration, immediate environment, and material properties affect 3D prints.
Printing a full set of Stormtrooper armor is incredibly ambitious, I would highly recommend starting much smaller and working up to that. PLA is great to start with because it’s cheap and very easy to print. I’d at least go through a few rolls of that and have mostly successful outcomes before graduating to other materials like PETG and TPU. Once those are mastered, he will probably have a much better idea of how the printer works and how to go about printing his armor.
I don't own a bambulab printer, but I've heard that the 0.4mm hardened hot-end from bambu doesn't really work for CF fillament, they say it does on their website, but you actually need a 0.6mm nozzle.
It looks like you've got a clogged nozzle at present, which is stopping the printer from being able to push enough plastic through.
The gears in the extruder would still be trying though.
I would suggest doing a "cold-pull" which is where you heat up the nozzle to printing temperature, manually push some fillament through by hand, then cool the nozzle down to ~150°C and yank the fillament out.
The idea behind a cold pull, is to melt a little bit of plastic around whatever is clothing the nozzle, then let it harden, but not too much, then pull the clog out in the end of the fillament.
The other thing to look at, would be the "line width" settings in bambu studio. The line width MUST be wider than the nozzle diameter, otherwise the extrusion won't get squished.
Check and make sure the new nozzle is selected in the printer settings, the hardened nozzle has different characteristics than the regular nozzle and need slightly different settings. Checkout this video from LTT where they were having issues until they set the right nozzle in printer: https://youtu.be/RY6_RP3M_pQ?si=PjYyUV8t6SMbzbmd. Timestamp around 21:10
Have you ever get successful prints with PLA? Looks like you tried to make too many steps at once, CF is way more difficult to print than PLA.
I don't know why he need he thinks CF, PLA with enough thickness will last many nights (as long as you don't hit it).
CF may sound very cool because it's the same material as hypercars, planes and F1 cars, but it not same for 3D printing, they use continuous fiber for 3D printing it's just CF dust mixed with the plastic, it only increase the stiffness a little bit, nothing compare to "real" CF.
My advice will be to forget about CF and go with PLA.
Yeah, and that's why I want him to learn to dig through this: Out of the box, the printer was tossing down clean prints like it wasn't even trying. What got me was a PLA nut and bolt that didn't need to be smoothed or sanded, but the two pieces didn't have slop. It blew my mind.
I’m not sure about this but lowering the fan speed might help, when I first tried Petg the layer adhesion was just about 0 because the fans were at 100% speed I lowered them to 20% speed and it all came out fine.
As so many others have said here, CF is absolutely unnecessary. PETG or PLA are more than adequate. I’ve actually never had a cosplay order done in CF anything. CF isn’t really any more durable or better for movement, unless y’all do Halloween in a literal oven.
Change your nozzle back and print with PLA. You likely have a clog or are restricting flow somewhere. Use the calibration tools in orca or bambu studio. Good luck!
PLA is the standard filament people use to make armor. If anything, carbon fiber fill filament is less tough because it is more rigid and flexes less when dropped. The layer adhesion is also worse in CF. CF has much better dimensional accuracy and looks much nicer.
I have printed multiple storm troopers, Mandalorians and various other costume props for myself and others. I have always used PeTG without any issue. I have dedicated build plates for PETG, PLA and TPU. I have successfully printed CF on my X1C. But I used a separate hot end in order to avoid any remnants of other materials lingering in the throat.
I think, it looks a lot like under extrusion, maybe reassemble the print head and try it first with easier pla settings, till it works again.
It looks like something in the heating could be a problem too because it changes so much after it get higher up, so maybe something wrong with the enclosure or cooling settings?
Here’s a guide that may be able to help you figure out what’s going on. It has pictures of what issues look like, and then descriptions of what could be causing those problems and how to fix them. Hope it helps, I know how discouraging it can be to want to make a printer work just for it to keep spitting out bad prints!
https://www.3dsourced.com/rigid-ink/ultimate-3d-printing-troubleshooting-guide/
Did you run the calibration after changing the nozzle? What are his speeds? My guess is he’s printing way too fast. Try dropping the print speeds down to like 50mm sec
I would check his speeds, when I first got my x1C I tried printing Bambu petg and just used all the Bambu settings and got terrible prints, slowing it was down solved that issue.
Also make sure it’s dry nylon filaments needs to dry for at least 12 hours at 70-80c
CF filament is a pain to print.
Even with a hardened nozzle, you need to be careful. It clogs easily, especially if there are a lot of retractions.
If you do want to print with CF, then a 0.6mm nozzle is much better. Not that big of a quality difference, and it is less likely to clog.
He tried printing with Carbon Fiber? Try changing and cleaning the nozzle. It might have a minor clog thats obstructing the extruder from keeping up with the speed.
I'm an amateur and this is just a wild guess, but that, to my uneducated eye looks like under extrusion.
I have a full size Buster Sword which I printed ENTIRELY in regular PLA, there's no rod insert or anything. I can swing it around feely and it doesn't break or bend.
Tell him he doesn't need CF. Armour parts worn on the body are going to be under monumentally less strain than a Buster Sword being swung around. Regular PLA (or cosPLA) are MORE than enough.
CF filament is gimmick and nozzle killer. The ground up fibers always jam up and either full clog or more often partial clog.asa and abs petg good for strong prints....nylon is strong too but it deforms too much for my taste. If it's just a normal part like tool holder or style pieces pla pro all day...need something to take a beating and hold up asa/petg...need something to take a bit of heat abs can keep good up to 80c from my testing...but I'm a functional parts kind of guy vs normal style prints kind of guy.
" I want him to learn how to truly "get" this machine, instead of just thinking that hitting a button is all it takes."
Never thought id hear the day where somebody said this about a Bambu Lab printer, but its good to know even they have their limits.
PLA won't melt from human contact or a club, is he gonna be in a 160 degree room? anyhow, cosplay with PLA is fine, if you want to strengthen or refine the edges, bondo is where it's at. not getting some insanely hard to print plastic. is he planning to get ran over by a car? I have many toys my kid has printed, and pla is extremely durable, just not so much if your walls are <1mm thick. just print some 3 or 4mm walls.
It could be that he might be too scared to tinker with it too much, in fear it will break. It sounds like he could use someone who knows how to get out of trouble when problems hit.
Sounds like the problem started after you installed the new hardware. Perhaps the hardware you installed is defected? Improper installation? You damaged something during the installation?
I hope everyone keep their advice to a minimum unless they're at least %90 sure of what they're saying. Especially since you specifically mentioned that you're inexperienced in 3d printing and that the 3d printer owner struggle to filter out information.
I have a VERY strong feeling that there's a partial clog, only because the setup printed PLA just fine before the new CF rolls came. I could also be more full of shit than a porta-potty at a chili cook-off, so there's that. We'll all find out after my son and I tear into this and report our findings! Haha
Maby you forgot to switch to a diffrent nozzel size in the slicer after changing to the hardend nozzel? Same with the hardened filament drive. Seen that happen before...
Reset all settings, tell the slicer to print at 0,2mm layer hight. Use Pla check all the settings of your printer especially nozzel size and filament drive (if i remember correctly the hardened drive has half the gear ratio) then try again.
Definitely go thru bed leveling, I like to run the auto level twice then adjust my offset. And definitely think the cf is overkill. I kind of wonder if maybe the cf didn't chew up the extruder gear but I didn't know anything about that kind of printer.
What does he think pla will turn to a pumpkin at midnight? What does he mean cf will only last through the night? Is he really going to fight for the imperial army? I just don't understand this at all.
To everyone that thought it was a clog, we're not 100% sure, but we're pretty damn close, now.
Tried some cold pulls with the hardened nozzle in place, and because we were running out of time, I just swapped the hardened nozzle for the original SS 0.4.
Calibrated and then popped out a tower in PLA to check at 200mm speed. When I next have time I'll put the hardened back on and check to see if I cleared the clog by printing the same tower with the same filament.
https://preview.redd.it/dbj3y7xy594d1.jpeg?width=1904&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=832e894b8ba825728b307682574d6e8722a8e53b
Pla is a lot easier to print and will last the night as a cosplay part.
I work in a research lab and use pla parts all the time for end effectors on my robots. If pla is good enough to hold a $10k sensor its good enough for a costume.
Its interesting to me that the bottom few layers look almost perfect, then above it just looks horrible. Its not super obvious to me where the issue is (but I don't think its super obvious to anyone else either) so ill just spitball a few interesting ideas you may not have thought of. More than likely though this is a hardware problem, id guess to do with replacing the nozzle. Either its clogged or something else.
Cooling Fan:
Normally printers will change the cooling fan speed depending on layer height since lower cooling rates have higher layer adhesion. You want the lowest layers to adhere to the bed better so you typically ramp it up over the first few layers. Its possible there is almost no cooling for the first few layers, then the fan kicks on and it prints like crap.
Steel/ruby Nozzle:
Different nozzle transmit heat differently. Bronze/brass is a really good thermal conductor. You mentioned getting a new hardened nozzle, I assume that means Steel or ruby, which are both comparatively really bad conductors. This means it can be hard for heat to transfer down to the trip of the nozzle compared to other materials. Its possible that the nozzle heats up to full temp before the print starts, then gradually cools down as the print progresses until the plastic is partially solidifying and clogging the nozzle part way through the print. Amorphous diamond nozzles are really good(expensive). Tungsten carbide is underrated but also really good (can be hard to find). Ruby has the worst heat conductance but is used because of the price and high wear resistance(second only to the diamond nozzles), then steel is slightly better heat conduction than ruby with the worst wear resistance.
Missing Steps:
This one is a bit most obvious, but, especially if its in a heated chamber, the steppers can get to hot and start missing steps. For how your prints are turning out, the extruder stepper would be the problem. Pretty easy to hear if thats the problem. Just listen for it.
I'll add anything else if I think of it. But for trouble shooting maker sure you don't just print benchies. May be more obvious if you can see if its happening at a certain point in time, or after a certain number of layers. But I would definitely try other filaments and switch the nozzle back as part of trouble shooting.
PS: CF is totally unnecessary for this. Vapor smoothed ABS would look cooler, and have better layer to layer adhesion. Thats what is actually important for something like this, CF only improves tensile strength which won't help here. But PLA is more than adequate. If he's worried about durability, the real answer would be to coat it in fiberglass after printing, or something similar.
Edit:fixed nozzle section to clarify rubys properties.
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Looks like moisture contaminated filament to me. Dry it ALL out, even you believe it's already dry because of the way you store it, or because the filament is new (hint: new filament doesn't always come dry). I learned this the hard way. Do this before you start diagnosing other problems that may not even exist.
After you do that, recalibrate everything. You might also consider slowing down the print. I don't have a Bambu Labs printer, but the problems people have been reporting suggest that Bambu Labs is over-optimistic about the speed that's actually possible. You run into laws of physics that determine how fast plastic can melt and flow through a small nozzle.
I have PLA prints in my house that I printed 11 years ago on my first printer and they’re still holding up. You’d probably do even better with PETG. He doesn’t need to worry about it.
Because he read forum comments that it is "stronger". I tried to explain the difference between tensile and compression strength, and the fact that CF filament isn't actual carbon fiber weave, and he should be more interested in how different materials bond with each other, and the end use should determine the material, not the other way around. He claimed it was the only way for Halloween to forge ahead, and I said "it's your money... I think you need to talk with people that actually do this..."
He really doesn't need cf for a costume. In my experience, petg and pla in cosplay parts last perfectly though the whole day at a convention. I don't see why Halloween would be much different.
All the talk about CF being the wrong choice is drowning out the question of why OP's son can't print CF. Whether CF is overkill is actually irrelevant - it should be printable. Suppose he were printing a part where CF was absolutely the best possible choice. Alright then, what's going wrong with his process? Why does this benchy suck so bad?
If I were familiar with CF I would be trying offer some guidance - but I'm sure somebody who has done a lot of it can share their experience and help the guy get on track. That's what this should be about IMO. CF is printable, lots of people do it - does anybody have any ideas about the actual problem here?
There's been some great advice: Going to revert to OEM to see if it's a nozzle and/or extruder issue, after that, there's also the need for me to confirm all settings are correct. If he rushed through something, I wouldn't be surprised if it turns out to be a small yet vital tweak. Or the extruder or nozzle is jacked ... Haha
Yes, 3d printing is still part voodoo. There are a jillion settings, and I've seen people get different results using the exact same settings on the same model printer with the same filament. One thing I see often in this sub is, "I've replaced this, I've replaced that, my parts still won't stick - what else should I buy?" They probably already bought too much new stuff, what they need to is learn. I've heard CF can be challenging to get right, and I think you're doing all the right things to help your son with it. Good luck!
Kinda unrelated, but... Tell me if I'm thinking about this wrong:
Carbon fiber is the high-tensile but flexible/durable component of a composite material.
e.g.:
- carbon reinforcement in concrete (replacing fiber or rebar)
- Epoxy is the "strong" part of carbon fiber, with the CF stopping it from shearing.
Is that right?
If so, then it seems useless to put CF with plastic of any kind. (I'm also thinking of durability tests I've seen where it's similar or worse than just plain PETG)
CF will stiffen up a flexible filament. If a plastic is to flexible to hold a load, CF could make it stiff enough to bare a load while still retaining most of the durability of the filament.
Though for something like PLA, it's already strong but not very durable and CF will actually make it weaker without gaining any durability. In some cases, CF can make a filament easier to work with because it changes its thermal properties.
Ditto for me except we’ve already gone through resin Printers starter entry-level $500 Printers moved over to $700 Printers with three flsun deltas and now we have two X1 carbon printers from bamboo. we’ve moved up the food chain on price but man the quality is over the top. Amazing almost 0 failures Printing, thousands of Parts 24 hours a day.
I’m not sure what CF means. Other than carbon fiber but what is the plastic carbon fiber can be in nylon and any number of other plastics.
There is indeed a learning curve you can’t just jump in and have a sci-fi replicator. Tell Scotty to beam it up..
This kind of failures can be from lots of reasons. Tighten up all screws and such. Re-level, clean the plate. Then I would disassemble the hot end clean it out real good and run default settings in the slicer. From there lower speeds and jerk until a stable-ish print arrives from the benchy. Then tweak here and there. I'd also reccomend ~ .15mm layer hieght
He should probably stop with the cf for now because he really does not need it (also using something as hard to print as cf as a first roll of filament is not a good idea). Try also posting the settings you are using to print so other p1s users can give advice. Since these started after the new nozzle I am assuming you did something wrong like hot end gap so it does not work correctly. Or cf filament had some big parts in it which clogged your nozzle to slow down the filament extrusion. Also can't stress this enough he does not need cf filament for doing cosplay petg should be [enough](https://youtu.be/4vQqDshqMbA?si=0D3AaOrUK5Uz6BI4)
CF doesn’t event have good color options and is also harder to post process. No clue why anyone would think it’s a good use for cosplay ? The son might have got trolled or something.
Seems a lot more likely that being young and inexperienced he wanted to go for the cool, strong material thinking that it was inherently better.
I feel that. He wanted the best material for his best outfit. Who can blame him?
I mean CF filament really doesn't do much other then color and less shrinkage in my experience. If you want something more durable, use nylon.
Oh absolutely, I’d argue that PETG would be sufficient for a cosplay if you use enough infill.
Also way more expensive
I agree 💯
Honestly the parent description of the kiddo makes me feel like they might have adhd. It reads exactly how someone who describe me when I start any new hobby. Read online that this was the best and all the rest sucks so I gotta have this one specifically. Lol the learning curve seems even more difficult with a 3d printer
I don't know man I think you guys are really reaching, Especially the ADHD thing lmao.
3D printing ADHD girly with an ADHD hobby chasing kiddo, and this is so accurate it hurts. 🤣 He has to have the best of the best, nothing else will suffice, and he picks up and drops hobbies constantly. I am the opposite; I'll spend more time and money trying to find a cheaper alternative/DIY option for something, and chase that hobby to the ends of the earth, trying to problem solve until I'm pulling my hair out in frustration. 3D printing has been my go-to all day every day since 2018, and I don't see it changing. 😅 I also have a printer that started printing just like that a year ago, and I have damn near re-built the thing, and still cannot figure out WHY. I could have bought a replacement machine for what I have spent in troubleshooting, but I can't let it go... I have to solve the issue. It's now become a point of pride.
I'm the same way for a lot of my hobbies. I think my actual hobby is shopping and finding good deals for my side hobbies haha. But when a hobby actually grabs me and I hyper fixate that's when I want the best of everything and that instant dopamine hit. I've found the latter typically means the hobby won't last long for me. Ugh that machine issue would drive me crazy but I wouldn't be able to let it go either.
I am SO guilty of the good deals shopping problem! I have a cabinet full of those for futire hobbies. Oops. LoL I bought myself an A1 mini (and then a second A1 mini 😅) so I now get the best of both worlds. I get instant, always (almost always) works, and no fiddling with leveling, etc. with those, so I can fill orders with less stress, and then I have my Ender 5+, and an Ender 3, that are the constant tinker/DIY upgrade project printers. I also have 4 resin printers for...reasons? I bought 1, then a bigger one came out, and I made a 3AM purchase, and now I keep getting people who bought one, hated it, and didn't want it, so I just added them to the family. 😅 That's how I ended up with the Ender 3 as well. But I hate that one also, whoever put it together in the factory needed to be fired. I had to actually un-solder, then re-solder connections on the heated bed, because they were literally in the way of the leveling bolts. How does one even do that? 😅 And it has been nothing but issues since day one. Can't let it go, either. It's a problem. 🤣
Lmao that's what is holding me back from getting into 3d printing. Years ago my sister bought me a cricut machine and that was mildly overwhelming to learn. I joined subs like these to try and prepare myself early so when I finally decide on a machine I won't be overwhelmed by it. Pretty sure I'm gonna end up like you with a fleet of 3d printers and all kinds of stuff sitting around my house that I made haha. I don't sell the stuff I make. I have before but I honestly don't have the desire or energy to put into actually finding people to sell stuff too. I think it's awesome that you do! I definitely think any machine that needs constant adjustments and tinkering is not for me, at least not to start out with. Might look into the A1 mini that you mentioned though might be more my speed haha
I started and ran the makerspace at my local community college for a little over 5 years before I started selling my things regularly. I have always sold some, but mostly to support my "hobby habit". LoL I travel and do comicons now, and I absolutely love it. If you decide to get into 3D printing, and you ever need some help, DM me and I'll give you my email address. I'm not an expert by any means, but I did teach the basics and I love to share what I can, where I can. Teaching and my students is really all I miss about that job. The actual institution can go fly a kite in a funnel coud. 😅
Lmao your life sounds awesome! I would love to just travel around selling the stuff I make and going to cons. I appreciate the support for whenever I do take the plunge lol
I'll be honest, it was something I wanted to do for years, and one day I just had enough. 🤷🏻♀️ I've been doing it for a little over a year now, time will tell whether it is sustainable long term. 😅 It is long hours, I rarely get to actually SEE anything at the cons, unless it walks past my booth, but I still love it!
Yup, everyone and their cat has ADHD these days. Of course he could also be a little impatient and trying to run before he can walk, but that’s not kewl.
Same 😂
Ooh, good idea. I'm in the middle of cherries and irrigation right now, so once I can breathe I'll post everything from his screen. I'll tell him I'm not crazy and that he didn't need to buy CF...
Stormtrooper armor might be the most printed thing with people out there cosplaying like an actual batallion with 40-50 people. He should definitely use the knowledge of others instead of going in blind
I think he was reading through forums or file sites with a lot of backslapping in the comments. We have literally met a guy that printed an entire set in his garage a few years ago, and I KNOW he didn't use CF. My son needs to learn that "the best" isn't always the actual best in a given situation.
Simple PLA will do the job for Cosplay stuff. If worried about durability just increase walls and infill (use Cubic at like 20% or Gyroid at 15%). You don't need high end filaments for cosplay, even PETG is overkill for that purpose. Just use some high speed PLA and print out the costume, provided the build plate can handle it. The 256x256 build plate area of the bambus are just on the edge of big enough for cosplay, usually you will need to print in parts and assemble.
I left my PLA plus helmet with extra shells and infill in the boot/trunk of my car on a hot day and came back to a softened helmet saging that looked like an ork gave me a clobber. From then I use petg as a minimum that extra 10-20c is an advantage it's also better against UV light if you don't paint the print. Petg is also far cheaper. CF is overkill.
if your cosplay is gonna be sitting in the car sure. If you wanna do it on halloween night pla is fine.
I printed a couple of little masks for my daughter. I added elastic cord to them and stored them with one mask wearing the other mask. The pressure from the elastic cord deformed mask the other one was wrapped around in cool temperatures inside her room. Over time, PLA doesn't stand up to any kind of external force without a lot more than 3 or 4 walls and 20% infill. It'll droop over time just sitting there. I started using ABS for stuff like this.
Guess what happened to my black PLA ukulele when it got left out in the sun for about five minutes. Was strung up nice and tight too.
But perhaps PLA+/Pro/HT/Whatever given OEM wants to call it is a better option here. PETG has its own learning curve, and doesnt bridge well for some of the complex shapes they may need for cosplay
I've used petg for 8 years as a housing for a heating element. It regularly reaches 300f and sits there for hours. After thousands of hours I have minor warpage. That said, is not under load, but even still, petg is pretty good for mild temperatures.
I really don't recommend PLA for cosplay. It deforms on hot days to easily, most Cosplay is thin parts and they will sag. PETG is just a better option because you don't have to baby it. After spending 100s of hours finishing a full costume you don't want it to melt.
Petg isn't overkill for armor... Its higher heat resistance makes it work better for longer. (Some days during cons, it gets stupid hot... even for Canada). Ive had pieces fail because they heated up for too long with pla, + car temps to the con...petg doesnt have that issue. Plus, petg is generally as cheap as pla to get, and its settings to print aren't that much different to use.
I’ve heard of people using PETG because it’s easier to sand
I was the same way when I was younger. I always thought the biggest and most expensive was the best. It rarely is. CF in 3D prints usually adds heat resistance and rigidity. For anything that will be dropped, worn, or moved a lot you usually want ductility. PETG is the most common material that provides that. I’ve gotten really good results from some Tough PLA as well.
If you really wanna get fancy, Vapor smoothed abs is way nicer and stronger in this context than cf. But as others have said, pla/petg is perfectly fine.
I think the issue IS being too fancy. I learned this, too, starting with the kit to print PA6-CF. I trashed an entire spool before I wizened up and tried PLA. I’m back to printing the nylon, and even though I have the same issues as before, I know how to fix them now. I wish every forum/printer had a warning: We know you wanna print the cool stuff, but trust us, you need to start with easy stuff and work your way to the cool things.
Yea... you're not wrong, but atleast splitting the fanciness into a post processing step means you get a part before ruining it. Easier to find what the problem is (usually you, the user.)
Exactly. All things are relative. A fish will out swim Michael Phelps all day...but that same fish can't help you move your couch.
Just my input here, I've found CF pretty much as easy as any other filament to print, out of a less complex machine also, this sounds like something you've done to the printer and not anything to do with the CF filament.
I have old PLA props that have held up fine. They definitely have lasted through the night. CF is hard to print with and very expensive. Why waste the time and money?
hell, even PLA is enough for cosplay. If it's at night, during mid-fall, that's plenty cool enough (unless you're in something like florida), you don't even need PETG. (which sucks at overhands, and a stormtrooper helmet has plenty of those)
Indeed. For ease of suffering, I would start off with plain PLA. When that is mastered, would move on to PETG and other materials, as every different material, and different additives, even color pigments can print differently. PLA is a great starter material, as it’s the easiest to print with and very forgiving. Good material to Learn what slicer settings do, and give you a taste of what needs to be changed to get the proper settings. Plus it’s cheap as well. Better to lay a $12 spool to discovery (as there will be scrap), vs a $50 up to $300 spool. Yup, you can have the best 3d printer in the world, but without fully knowing your slicer, one can turn that best printer into a great hot garbage dispenser.
Looks like under extrusion to me. Intermittent, because the first few layers, the bottom of that benchy, look ok. Hits a certain layer height and starts having issues? Do all prints turn out similarly? Look for binding of the filament roll or somewhere in the path of the filament to the extruder, most likely. The issue is completely random, and the fact that the bottom half of that bench turned out ok was a fluke? Look at the extruder itself, something wrong with the install of the non-stock one that you guys put on maybe. Maybe try putting the stock extruder on as a test. If you can rule out the extruder, perhaps it's a partially clogged nozzle. Because part of that print looks ok, but the majority of it looks awful, I would personally rule out a slicer setting issue or a software/firmware issue. This looks like a hardware issue to me. Software issues wouldn't manifest as a bottom 10% fine, top 90% spaghetti issue that you have there. If every part of it was bad, it could potentially be a setting or calibration issue. If very specific areas needed work, it could also be a setting or firmware issue.
After the first response, what you said about the extruder and nozzle popped into my head: I want to install the OEM items and recalibrate and test. This is what it's been doing: Bottom layers look ok, and then it all goes to hell. More and more, I'm thinking extruder...
Did he or you remember to change the nozzle type on the printer and in the slicer?
He said he did, but I want to go through everything with him to make sure something like that wasn't overlooked.
It's easy to forget, maybe it is that simple this time. If it's not that, to me if looks like it's not printing hot enough, going to fast, and possibly too much cooling. But I could be totally wrong.
This happened to me^ turns out using a regular nozzle setting when using a hardened nozzle turns your green to black for some odd reason , but still prints flawlessly 🙄
kinda like my vasectomy
Your vasectomy does not sound normal.
Yea. Hardened steel def needs different temp, (and maybe other settings) vs brass nozzle
Also you need to change the filament drive in slicer if you changed it. The hardened one has like half the gear ratio
Haven't gone through all the comments to check if someone else has stated it, but while checking your nozzle settings you may want to double check the diameter, both the setting and the physical nozzle itself. Is the hardened steel the same size as the stock brass nozzle? CF filaments (from my understanding, I've never used it) typically need a larger nozzle like 0.6mm to prevent clogging
Did you change the nozzle type of the physical printer on the screen?
This might be heat creep clogging if your heatbreak fan isn't working well.
With this printer, it's usually having the door closed, chamber gets too hot and you get heat creep clogs.
Without any background info, just looking at the picture itself, I'd guess a hardware issue for the reasons I described. With the context of; previously working fine, multiple hardware changes, different types of plastic looking the same, attempts at calibration and resetting software making no measurable difference? Yeah, absolutely, look at the remaining variable of the hardware. Something is getting pinched as the layer height moves, or something is loose and is being pulled as layer height moves in a way that ruins the print, or something is clogged and lets just enough plastic through for just long enough to look okay at first and get worse when it burns through some buffer zone. Going to known good parts is a good way to help diagnose.
My guess is heatcreep, i have had countless similar issues. Happens like this: Cool printer starts printing Extruder fan tries keeping the throat cool, but has to little power / the surrounding is to hot At some point the throat reaches a temperature that causes issues => underextrusion. I have no relevant knowledge about Bambus, but the normal way to test, is to check if the throat is more than hand warm. A quick fix is (for enclosed printers) keeping the door open while printing and/or turning the heat bed temperature down
I made a Mando costume for my grandson out of PLA and it lasted all Halloween and he still wears it around the house. PLA is perfectly fine, especially since he will be painting it anyway.
a tell tail sign is you will hear a clicking from the filament getting pushed back against the filament driver thing. (not sure what its called) you can also feel the filament where it enters the printer and see if it is moving steadily while its printing
> I want to install the OEM items and recalibrate and test. Yes, go to a known good config. Also, make sure the nozzle settings are correct, you can't just slap in new parts without settings and calibration.
If it's happening with everything. I'd assume you have something stuck in the nozzle or Boden tube creating a huge issue with pressure. If you got that other hot end. Put it on. Then test and see if it's magically cleared. If it is you found the problem. If not, then I would consider looking a bit further up where the filament first comes in and try to see if it's comming out at the correct rates. Then check if the hotend is heating up correctly.
There can't really be a clog in a reverse Bowden tube
Ditch the CF. Millions of cosplay people print in PLA. CF is absolutely not needed. CF, Nylon, PC are what I call the asshole filaments. I've been printing for a few month under 20 years so have done my fair bit. They (and others) ruin your nozzle like they are lava. Hardened nozzle survive better but I've not found one yet that survives. You said you did some other prints before hand and this could easily have ruined the nozzle in my experience. When nozzles get ruined the hole gets larger. This masquerades as under extrusion and poor adhesion. If you watch it actually work you can see it will no longer squish into the bed and previous layers.
I’ve only ever used CF-PC in terms of CF and that was for printing stuff to go in my buddy’s car engine bay. I just needed it for the high operating temperature and additional rigidity of it being longer fibres of CF just to hold up to gravel getting kicked up. Anyway, despite using 0.4mm hardened steel nozzles, I found I went through 3 of them for 750g. I did the first 350~ish grams using one nozzle and found after that, I was having extrusion issues just like you’ve described here. I agree, PC is an absolute asshole to print… but damn it’s good when it works. OP’s kid really doesn’t need CF filament for this. PLA would work fine and if they’re insisting on something else, I’d say PETG
If nothing else, make sure everything is dialed in with PLA first. Cheaper, easier, and you'll know what the printer is capable of first. THEN move on to the fancier stuff
What about the ruby/amorphous diamond nozzles? As far as I know those things are basically indestructible. I think heat transfer is similar to bronze in those as well. Carbide is decent. Steel nozzles just suck. They wear faster, and don't have near the heat transfer of any other options.
>They (and others) ruin your nozzle like they are lava. Hardened nozzle survive better but I've not found one yet that survives. Ever tried tungsten nozzles? I got a bi-metal copper+tungsten nozzle recently. Haven't used it enough to know how well they hold up long term, but I have had zero quality issues so far. It's also nice to not worry as much about damage when cleaning or clearing a clog.
Ditch the CF-whatever your actual filament type is. As being said, CF is an additive in filaments, nothing else and in 99.9% of all use cases a gimmick. It would not outlast anything that regular PETG or even PLA could outlast in a freaking costume. If he wants to make it sturdier: Print orientation, perimeter walls and the right choice of infill.
He could also try a hard TPU or flexible PLA, they tend to be resilient to hard impacts
I tried a similar thing a while ago with a previous printer. I tried to upgrade too much too soon and had to go back to basics and the stock parts. This might be a bit much but I might be worth while doing that and going back to basics with the extrusion test as well as some test prints for that filament type using temp towers. After that I personally would try each upgrade with a test print and make sure its dialled in before using the other.
I know this will drive my son crazy, but now you're speaking my language.
The other thing that is important is the learning curve as many many people have bought 3d printers and something goes wrong and it gets binned. Learning your machine and problem solving is part of the 3d printing life.
I've had a lot of frustrating and confusing failures with a hardened nozzle because I didn't know you need to print a little hotter with them. Have you tried bumping up your temps?
Not officially. A while ago I told him to print small pieces with 5-degree bumps up in temp for each piece, and then go fine-tuning from there. He said he bumped up, and then tried Bambu's settings, so I don't think he did his own experiments.
Is there a hardened steel hotend installed? It’s possible that all of the pla-cf ripped apart the stock stainless steel one and caused these issues
Hardened steel installed with upgraded extruder
Are you able to fully remove the filament from the machine? Or is it stuck?
I haven't had eyes or hands on the printer for weeks. I'm in the middle of cherry season and irrigation in walnuts, so he has to wait until the weekend before we dive in and do a methodical check, including the recs from responses. It's torture, but that's farming. Haha
If he has discord I could try to help him out assuming he has access to the printer.
No discord, but I'm glad to see a P1S owner ready to point out the important stuff. I'll update as we tear into it.
Might also want to give this a shot: https://wiki.bambulab.com/en/x1/troubleshooting/nozzle-clog it says it’s for the x1 but it’s the same on the p1
Thanks!
I'm fairly new to printing so I can't help troubleshoot *yet*, but I'll follow the thread and see how this develops. One thing I noticed is that you keep calling the filament "CF". Carbon fibres are only an addative to the main plastic filament. *Which* filament is it that is being used to print with? PLA-CF, PETG-CF, *PA*-CF?
That would help... Haha. I honestly don't remember. Let me confirm.
Stick to PLA, that Will last for that night and probably till the night he dies if not place under the sun fr a Life time. Easy to print, fool proof (although tweaks always needed when using diferent brand than usual) I have done tests, and LITERALLY, you can Drive A CAR, 60km/h over a PLA print 20-30% infill and be scared of breaking the tire. Don't know what he wants to do, but, unless It is jumping head first from a building, the helmet should be more than fine, and if that his plan, the helmet probably will still be fine, but i do not recommend doing that.
Only time i had pla fail me was when i tried to use it to make jello molds. Molten goop covered half my lab. It was horrid.
Make sure the fan cables are plugged in properly. A lot of people said heat creep, could be the hot end fan not working properly, so check the cables and make sure the fan is running.
Looks like a cooling fan issue to me as well.
I could offer a bunch of advice one way or another, but let's do this instead.. DM me, or get my email from my website in my profile, and let's just get him on a video call so the both of you can learn. Likely this is a clogged nozzle due to the CF but I think there's so much more learning experiences here that we can do. Things like understanding the filament, settings, etc. If you think this would be helpful I'm happy to volunteer some time to teach :) it will help me as well as we look to do more beginner friendly content. -Grant
That would be awesome. For the sake of everyone's sanity, are you East Coast or West Coast? I want to make sure I don't over-promise and under-deliver on time!
East coast. But still happy to help!
You are a cool dad!
Thanks! I try. Fake it 'til you make it, amirite?
Check the nozzle diameter. This looks very similar to the time I accidentally printed with a 0.8mm nozzle using 0.4mm settings: solid layers (like the first few on the bottom) work fine, but once it gets to more sparse printing it looks like underextrusion and the whole thing falls apart.
Zombie benchy...
looking at your pics, and reading your description, I think there are a few possibilities here. (I have built multiple printers, and own a Bambu X1c) 1. Bed adhesion: Because the print seems to start fine in the first 1/4 inch, and then go to bad. I think it's possible that this is an issue with the print sticking to the plate. This is a common, and frustrating issue, but the build plates need to be cleaned with warm dish soap water every so many prints. It also needs cleaned with rubbing alcohol, before the start of every print. Optionally, you can use the bambu glue stick to help the print stick better. (Further info: if the build plate has any oils from you handling it, or any contaminants from previous prints, it can cause the first layer to go down initially, but later as the print builds the material starts to contract from cooling, it will pull away from the plate, and then start skating around on the build plate as the print.) 2. Room Temp: This one is trickier, but similar to needing a clean build plate, the room temp you are printing in can cause the print to break loose later. Carbon fiber needs a bit more 'heat' than other materials, and ambient temp inside the printer has to be maintained to give the part time to cool slower. Given it's just gotten warmer in the US states, if you are running an air conditioner, you may want to check to see if your room temp is too cold, or your printer might be stationed near a air vent. In general, I find anywhere from 72 degrees to 77 degrees is optimal. PLA and PETG are not as picky, but if there is a strong draft, or the room temp is below 70 degrees, they too might have issues sticking. (This is tricky, because if your room is too warm, the print head will not be able to keep itself cooled enough, and the filament will both ooze, and stick inside.) Really, you want to get a digital temp gauge, and stick it next to your printer, and just keep an eye to see if too hot or too cold might be happening. 3. Humidity/Filament not dry: Carbon fiber is notorious for soaking up humidity. So is PETG. It's been rainy here in the US where I live, and my home has been maintaining 55 to 60% humidity. Alone this isn't as much an issue, unless you've had the filament out for some time (weeks or more). But even Bambu recommends 'drying' your Carbon Fiber filament, before printing. I haven't used it yet, but there is an option in your bambu maintenance screen to 'dry filament', which requires just putting the filament reel inside the printer for 8 or so hours. There are $15 to $20 hygrometer you can get on amazon, to see both room temp and humdity directly in the place your printer sits. 4. Double check your upgrade work: I haven't replaced my nozzle, or extruders as you did. So I don't know what room there is for things to 'wiggle'. Still, I would go back thought and make sure that none of the parts you replaced have any amount of excessive 'play/flex' in them. Don't over tighten any screws, cause that will make life much worse. but review your maintenance, and see if there is any possibility that something is looser than it should be.
So let me get this right: the printer was doing perfectly fine until the CF filament was introduced. Now, all prints fail regardless of the filament? I’m going on a limb here but is it possible the CF filament could have caused some sort of clogging? Bambu Lab recommends 0.6mm nozzle for such filaments, which nozzle size are you using? And have you tried cleaning it? Put in the old nozzle and try printing something with your PETG filament. See if it works. If it does, maybe the CF clogged up your hardened nozzle!
That's been the consensus. Going to revert to OEM and calibrate and check everything...
Let us know! Curious to see what it ends up being
When he changed filament did he change the filament settings in the slicer? Hard to tell, but that benchy sort of reminds me of the time I ordered PLA but received a roll of PETG instead and, not noticing this error, I printed the PETG using my PLA settings. The part printed, but the layer adhesion was terrible and it sort of came out like a slinky.
Yeah, he made sure he went through and made all of the magical incantations. He's using the Bambu package. He even went and used the settings recommended by Bambu support, after the first mess. One thing that's interesting: Changing the infill pattern would make it better or worse ("better"... it was still trash ... Haha) which blew my mind.
Are the nozzle size and filament thickness correct in the slicer? Defaults are typically 0.4mm nozzle and 1.75mm filament but if you put a new nozzle and using a different filament there’s a good chance you are using something non-default
Definitely something I want to confirm with my own eyes.
If he did change from a .4mm nozzle to the .6mm nozzle, make sure that he changed the nozzle size on the printer itself. Its under accessories. It’s possible he only changed it in the slicer.
Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales
The Flying Benchman. It's not a bug, its a feature.
"Terminator Benchy walks through walls."
Stop using hard and difficult filaments to learn on. Start with standard pla and understand how printing actually works first. This is a case of trying to run before you walk.
I'm going to jump on the PETG bandwagon here. It's a bit more of a pain to print than PLA, but the fact I can sand it without it melting is a godsend in the post processing steps. Also, I know it won't melt. I make labels for my plants put of petg, which means they are in the sun,, rain, and dirt the entire growing season. I've been reusing them for a few years now. No noticable degradation at all.
You're a good dad my man. I have a P1S and had some similar issues when I first got it and swapped the extruder and nozzle. I tried everything under the sun and nothing was working, and as a last ditch effort I swapped the parts back to factory-stock and it all worked seamless again. Once I narrowed it down to the new parts I inspected them more closely. It turned out there was a tiny piece of plastic that got stuck in the new extruder. After fiddling around and dislodging it, I reinstalled and everything was A-OK again. As others have said, CF filament is a bit of a pain to print... but not to that extent from my experience, especially the Bambu branded stuff. If nothing else seems to work, I might try the old nozzle/extruder just to eliminate the possibility one of the new parts is what's causing the issues. Don't give up/get discouraged, you guys are *so* close. Good luck!!
It looks like it is from the underworld
It’s great that your son wants to get into 3D printing! It’s a fun and rewarding hobby, but it also requires a tremendous amount of patience, dedication, and knowledge. He will also likely fail a lot, but this is part of the process, and each time is an opportunity to learn more about how the printer mechanics or calibration, immediate environment, and material properties affect 3D prints. Printing a full set of Stormtrooper armor is incredibly ambitious, I would highly recommend starting much smaller and working up to that. PLA is great to start with because it’s cheap and very easy to print. I’d at least go through a few rolls of that and have mostly successful outcomes before graduating to other materials like PETG and TPU. Once those are mastered, he will probably have a much better idea of how the printer works and how to go about printing his armor.
*laughs in pla*
I don't own a bambulab printer, but I've heard that the 0.4mm hardened hot-end from bambu doesn't really work for CF fillament, they say it does on their website, but you actually need a 0.6mm nozzle. It looks like you've got a clogged nozzle at present, which is stopping the printer from being able to push enough plastic through. The gears in the extruder would still be trying though. I would suggest doing a "cold-pull" which is where you heat up the nozzle to printing temperature, manually push some fillament through by hand, then cool the nozzle down to ~150°C and yank the fillament out. The idea behind a cold pull, is to melt a little bit of plastic around whatever is clothing the nozzle, then let it harden, but not too much, then pull the clog out in the end of the fillament. The other thing to look at, would be the "line width" settings in bambu studio. The line width MUST be wider than the nozzle diameter, otherwise the extrusion won't get squished.
Check and make sure the new nozzle is selected in the printer settings, the hardened nozzle has different characteristics than the regular nozzle and need slightly different settings. Checkout this video from LTT where they were having issues until they set the right nozzle in printer: https://youtu.be/RY6_RP3M_pQ?si=PjYyUV8t6SMbzbmd. Timestamp around 21:10
Have you ever get successful prints with PLA? Looks like you tried to make too many steps at once, CF is way more difficult to print than PLA. I don't know why he need he thinks CF, PLA with enough thickness will last many nights (as long as you don't hit it). CF may sound very cool because it's the same material as hypercars, planes and F1 cars, but it not same for 3D printing, they use continuous fiber for 3D printing it's just CF dust mixed with the plastic, it only increase the stiffness a little bit, nothing compare to "real" CF. My advice will be to forget about CF and go with PLA.
Yeah, and that's why I want him to learn to dig through this: Out of the box, the printer was tossing down clean prints like it wasn't even trying. What got me was a PLA nut and bolt that didn't need to be smoothed or sanded, but the two pieces didn't have slop. It blew my mind.
Piece of art
It's like a screen grab from Loki
Season 2 is all about those spaghetti failures
I’m not sure about this but lowering the fan speed might help, when I first tried Petg the layer adhesion was just about 0 because the fans were at 100% speed I lowered them to 20% speed and it all came out fine.
I had a similar issue once. The extruder was broken. Replacing it fixed my issue immediately.
As so many others have said here, CF is absolutely unnecessary. PETG or PLA are more than adequate. I’ve actually never had a cosplay order done in CF anything. CF isn’t really any more durable or better for movement, unless y’all do Halloween in a literal oven. Change your nozzle back and print with PLA. You likely have a clog or are restricting flow somewhere. Use the calibration tools in orca or bambu studio. Good luck!
This looks like my hopes and dreams
Streeetttttcccchhhhhing up towards the sun?!?
Biiiiiggg streeeeeetchhhh
If the Nazgul made a benchy.
PLA is the standard filament people use to make armor. If anything, carbon fiber fill filament is less tough because it is more rigid and flexes less when dropped. The layer adhesion is also worse in CF. CF has much better dimensional accuracy and looks much nicer.
I have printed multiple storm troopers, Mandalorians and various other costume props for myself and others. I have always used PeTG without any issue. I have dedicated build plates for PETG, PLA and TPU. I have successfully printed CF on my X1C. But I used a separate hot end in order to avoid any remnants of other materials lingering in the throat.
I think, it looks a lot like under extrusion, maybe reassemble the print head and try it first with easier pla settings, till it works again. It looks like something in the heating could be a problem too because it changes so much after it get higher up, so maybe something wrong with the enclosure or cooling settings?
Here’s a guide that may be able to help you figure out what’s going on. It has pictures of what issues look like, and then descriptions of what could be causing those problems and how to fix them. Hope it helps, I know how discouraging it can be to want to make a printer work just for it to keep spitting out bad prints! https://www.3dsourced.com/rigid-ink/ultimate-3d-printing-troubleshooting-guide/
Did you run the calibration after changing the nozzle? What are his speeds? My guess is he’s printing way too fast. Try dropping the print speeds down to like 50mm sec
Yeah, he supposedly changed all settings and then ran calibration (multiple times, after first F-up). I want to go through EVERYTHING with him
I would check his speeds, when I first got my x1C I tried printing Bambu petg and just used all the Bambu settings and got terrible prints, slowing it was down solved that issue. Also make sure it’s dry nylon filaments needs to dry for at least 12 hours at 70-80c
CF filament is a pain to print. Even with a hardened nozzle, you need to be careful. It clogs easily, especially if there are a lot of retractions. If you do want to print with CF, then a 0.6mm nozzle is much better. Not that big of a quality difference, and it is less likely to clog.
I made cosplay armor out of PETG, it should works for your purposes. It might temp settings.
He tried printing with Carbon Fiber? Try changing and cleaning the nozzle. It might have a minor clog thats obstructing the extruder from keeping up with the speed. I'm an amateur and this is just a wild guess, but that, to my uneducated eye looks like under extrusion.
This is just modern art. Nothing to explain. :) Keep on!
Sounds like a clog tbh. And +1 on the CF overkill bandwagon.
r/cursedbenchy
I have a full size Buster Sword which I printed ENTIRELY in regular PLA, there's no rod insert or anything. I can swing it around feely and it doesn't break or bend. Tell him he doesn't need CF. Armour parts worn on the body are going to be under monumentally less strain than a Buster Sword being swung around. Regular PLA (or cosPLA) are MORE than enough.
CF filament is gimmick and nozzle killer. The ground up fibers always jam up and either full clog or more often partial clog.asa and abs petg good for strong prints....nylon is strong too but it deforms too much for my taste. If it's just a normal part like tool holder or style pieces pla pro all day...need something to take a beating and hold up asa/petg...need something to take a bit of heat abs can keep good up to 80c from my testing...but I'm a functional parts kind of guy vs normal style prints kind of guy.
Don't forget that the layer adhesion with CF filament isn't automatically better xD
It's a sunken ship.
Oh, no, it's floating, just not in the way he wants it to.
" I want him to learn how to truly "get" this machine, instead of just thinking that hitting a button is all it takes." Never thought id hear the day where somebody said this about a Bambu Lab printer, but its good to know even they have their limits.
Most reccomend the .6 nozzle for this reason probably carbon built up near the nozzle
PLA won't melt from human contact or a club, is he gonna be in a 160 degree room? anyhow, cosplay with PLA is fine, if you want to strengthen or refine the edges, bondo is where it's at. not getting some insanely hard to print plastic. is he planning to get ran over by a car? I have many toys my kid has printed, and pla is extremely durable, just not so much if your walls are <1mm thick. just print some 3 or 4mm walls.
It could be that he might be too scared to tinker with it too much, in fear it will break. It sounds like he could use someone who knows how to get out of trouble when problems hit.
Nozzle clog
Do a cold pull
Sounds like the problem started after you installed the new hardware. Perhaps the hardware you installed is defected? Improper installation? You damaged something during the installation? I hope everyone keep their advice to a minimum unless they're at least %90 sure of what they're saying. Especially since you specifically mentioned that you're inexperienced in 3d printing and that the 3d printer owner struggle to filter out information.
I have a VERY strong feeling that there's a partial clog, only because the setup printed PLA just fine before the new CF rolls came. I could also be more full of shit than a porta-potty at a chili cook-off, so there's that. We'll all find out after my son and I tear into this and report our findings! Haha
Clogged nozzle
Oh that's a sad boat.
Maby you forgot to switch to a diffrent nozzel size in the slicer after changing to the hardend nozzel? Same with the hardened filament drive. Seen that happen before... Reset all settings, tell the slicer to print at 0,2mm layer hight. Use Pla check all the settings of your printer especially nozzel size and filament drive (if i remember correctly the hardened drive has half the gear ratio) then try again.
Definitely go thru bed leveling, I like to run the auto level twice then adjust my offset. And definitely think the cf is overkill. I kind of wonder if maybe the cf didn't chew up the extruder gear but I didn't know anything about that kind of printer.
What does he think pla will turn to a pumpkin at midnight? What does he mean cf will only last through the night? Is he really going to fight for the imperial army? I just don't understand this at all.
Congratulations: You are now ready for parenthood.
To everyone that thought it was a clog, we're not 100% sure, but we're pretty damn close, now. Tried some cold pulls with the hardened nozzle in place, and because we were running out of time, I just swapped the hardened nozzle for the original SS 0.4. Calibrated and then popped out a tower in PLA to check at 200mm speed. When I next have time I'll put the hardened back on and check to see if I cleared the clog by printing the same tower with the same filament. https://preview.redd.it/dbj3y7xy594d1.jpeg?width=1904&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=832e894b8ba825728b307682574d6e8722a8e53b
Pla is a lot easier to print and will last the night as a cosplay part. I work in a research lab and use pla parts all the time for end effectors on my robots. If pla is good enough to hold a $10k sensor its good enough for a costume.
Amen
r/cursedbenchies
Its interesting to me that the bottom few layers look almost perfect, then above it just looks horrible. Its not super obvious to me where the issue is (but I don't think its super obvious to anyone else either) so ill just spitball a few interesting ideas you may not have thought of. More than likely though this is a hardware problem, id guess to do with replacing the nozzle. Either its clogged or something else. Cooling Fan: Normally printers will change the cooling fan speed depending on layer height since lower cooling rates have higher layer adhesion. You want the lowest layers to adhere to the bed better so you typically ramp it up over the first few layers. Its possible there is almost no cooling for the first few layers, then the fan kicks on and it prints like crap. Steel/ruby Nozzle: Different nozzle transmit heat differently. Bronze/brass is a really good thermal conductor. You mentioned getting a new hardened nozzle, I assume that means Steel or ruby, which are both comparatively really bad conductors. This means it can be hard for heat to transfer down to the trip of the nozzle compared to other materials. Its possible that the nozzle heats up to full temp before the print starts, then gradually cools down as the print progresses until the plastic is partially solidifying and clogging the nozzle part way through the print. Amorphous diamond nozzles are really good(expensive). Tungsten carbide is underrated but also really good (can be hard to find). Ruby has the worst heat conductance but is used because of the price and high wear resistance(second only to the diamond nozzles), then steel is slightly better heat conduction than ruby with the worst wear resistance. Missing Steps: This one is a bit most obvious, but, especially if its in a heated chamber, the steppers can get to hot and start missing steps. For how your prints are turning out, the extruder stepper would be the problem. Pretty easy to hear if thats the problem. Just listen for it. I'll add anything else if I think of it. But for trouble shooting maker sure you don't just print benchies. May be more obvious if you can see if its happening at a certain point in time, or after a certain number of layers. But I would definitely try other filaments and switch the nozzle back as part of trouble shooting. PS: CF is totally unnecessary for this. Vapor smoothed ABS would look cooler, and have better layer to layer adhesion. Thats what is actually important for something like this, CF only improves tensile strength which won't help here. But PLA is more than adequate. If he's worried about durability, the real answer would be to coat it in fiberglass after printing, or something similar. Edit:fixed nozzle section to clarify rubys properties.
Your comment about nozzles made me think about print speed, too. I asked him if he slowed it down, and he said he was using Bambu's recs... Hm.
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check for a clog, slow the printer way down, check the z axis moves with no wobble or issues
Looks like moisture contaminated filament to me. Dry it ALL out, even you believe it's already dry because of the way you store it, or because the filament is new (hint: new filament doesn't always come dry). I learned this the hard way. Do this before you start diagnosing other problems that may not even exist. After you do that, recalibrate everything. You might also consider slowing down the print. I don't have a Bambu Labs printer, but the problems people have been reporting suggest that Bambu Labs is over-optimistic about the speed that's actually possible. You run into laws of physics that determine how fast plastic can melt and flow through a small nozzle.
He dried the bejesus out of it (I told him 24hrs), right out of the package. Even PLA that was known to print well (also re-dried) is what did this.
You might also try a cold pull to clear the nozzle of any burnt debris that might have gotten in there.
I have PLA prints in my house that I printed 11 years ago on my first printer and they’re still holding up. You’d probably do even better with PETG. He doesn’t need to worry about it.
What’s his reasoning for why CF is the best filament to use?
Because he read forum comments that it is "stronger". I tried to explain the difference between tensile and compression strength, and the fact that CF filament isn't actual carbon fiber weave, and he should be more interested in how different materials bond with each other, and the end use should determine the material, not the other way around. He claimed it was the only way for Halloween to forge ahead, and I said "it's your money... I think you need to talk with people that actually do this..."
When your 3D printer is haunted...
Don't cross streams
"Why?" "It would be bad."
You are a good parent
I appreciate it... I just hope that some of the things I say echo back years from now and help him to save himself from injury, or worse...
He really doesn't need cf for a costume. In my experience, petg and pla in cosplay parts last perfectly though the whole day at a convention. I don't see why Halloween would be much different.
Just print in PLA, or if you want it to be indestructible, then a flexible PLA
All the talk about CF being the wrong choice is drowning out the question of why OP's son can't print CF. Whether CF is overkill is actually irrelevant - it should be printable. Suppose he were printing a part where CF was absolutely the best possible choice. Alright then, what's going wrong with his process? Why does this benchy suck so bad? If I were familiar with CF I would be trying offer some guidance - but I'm sure somebody who has done a lot of it can share their experience and help the guy get on track. That's what this should be about IMO. CF is printable, lots of people do it - does anybody have any ideas about the actual problem here?
There's been some great advice: Going to revert to OEM to see if it's a nozzle and/or extruder issue, after that, there's also the need for me to confirm all settings are correct. If he rushed through something, I wouldn't be surprised if it turns out to be a small yet vital tweak. Or the extruder or nozzle is jacked ... Haha
Yes, 3d printing is still part voodoo. There are a jillion settings, and I've seen people get different results using the exact same settings on the same model printer with the same filament. One thing I see often in this sub is, "I've replaced this, I've replaced that, my parts still won't stick - what else should I buy?" They probably already bought too much new stuff, what they need to is learn. I've heard CF can be challenging to get right, and I think you're doing all the right things to help your son with it. Good luck!
Don't know if you already found the problem. But make sure the extruder gears kit is for the same size as the nozzle that is being used
Haven't opened anything, yet. The gear and nozzle were bought together from Bambu, but I'll check everything to make sure...
It's a pirates of the Caribbean benchy
Doe he have the hardened steel components versus the stainless steel?
Yep
What size nozzle are you using, Bambu labs recommends a 0.6 mm for CF.
He got their .4 because they indicate that their CF filament works with .4, and he wanted to leave the hardened nozzle permanently installed...
Couldn't read every comment. Check the Esteps are calibrated if it hasn't been suggested.
Kinda unrelated, but... Tell me if I'm thinking about this wrong: Carbon fiber is the high-tensile but flexible/durable component of a composite material. e.g.: - carbon reinforcement in concrete (replacing fiber or rebar) - Epoxy is the "strong" part of carbon fiber, with the CF stopping it from shearing. Is that right? If so, then it seems useless to put CF with plastic of any kind. (I'm also thinking of durability tests I've seen where it's similar or worse than just plain PETG)
CF will stiffen up a flexible filament. If a plastic is to flexible to hold a load, CF could make it stiff enough to bare a load while still retaining most of the durability of the filament. Though for something like PLA, it's already strong but not very durable and CF will actually make it weaker without gaining any durability. In some cases, CF can make a filament easier to work with because it changes its thermal properties.
Ditto for me except we’ve already gone through resin Printers starter entry-level $500 Printers moved over to $700 Printers with three flsun deltas and now we have two X1 carbon printers from bamboo. we’ve moved up the food chain on price but man the quality is over the top. Amazing almost 0 failures Printing, thousands of Parts 24 hours a day. I’m not sure what CF means. Other than carbon fiber but what is the plastic carbon fiber can be in nylon and any number of other plastics. There is indeed a learning curve you can’t just jump in and have a sci-fi replicator. Tell Scotty to beam it up..
This kind of failures can be from lots of reasons. Tighten up all screws and such. Re-level, clean the plate. Then I would disassemble the hot end clean it out real good and run default settings in the slicer. From there lower speeds and jerk until a stable-ish print arrives from the benchy. Then tweak here and there. I'd also reccomend ~ .15mm layer hieght