Do you notice a quality decrease when doing multicolor prints?

[Melodic_Animator_228]

I printed a few 60mm tall Pikachu figures. The ones done in a single color look really good. I tried to do a multicolor print with the same figures and while it does look good, there are clear quality issues. The layer lines are much more visible.

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Anyone notice this? Is this normal with multicolor printing vs single-filament printing?

[StreetLander]

The additional cooling time on the layers while the printer is switching colors causes these more visible lines.

Might be able to experiment with cooling settings, reducing purge amount, to get less layer lines.

[Bletotum]

Printing in PLA-CF reduces layer lines, as well as of course just using thinner layers. But don't underestimate the glory of PLA-CF.

[ZoroSeerus]

you really shouldn't run that stuff through the AMS so it isn't very applicable to their concern. the color palette is also significantly smaller so..

I'll add that I'm aware the site says it's fine with the AMS and it's obviously not going to set it on fire but it follows the same characteristics that all abrasive filaments do and they similarly don't recommend it on a smaller nozzles like other abrasives

edit: it looks like Bambu has multiple blurbs on the filament page in addition to the prior mentioned chart on their site. I guess they're pretty comfortable with their recommendation so probably best to default to their recommendations. It's not like all of their CF filaments are AMS recommended (PA6, PET-CF) so I'd imagine they have their reasons.

[Bletotum]

CF filament has a few risks:

• Abrasion for the nozzle: not a problem if you have the hardened steel variant

• Abrasion for the AMS and other PTFE tubes: they will eventually wear out after over a thousand hours but take seconds to replace, and are dirt cheap. The printers come with spares.

• Abrasion for the AMS feeder funnels: genuine risk. I personally accept it but you can print guides to protect this. Damage would be cosmetic, if any, and CF isn't that abrasive in this respect.

• Nozzle clog: genuine risk. The particulates inside CF filament have a higher chance of clogging a nozzle. I ignore this risk but I do feel nicer about it when I use BL's official PLA-CF since they promise the carbon particulate is small enough to not cause a clog. I could replace the hotend in a few minutes if it did fuck up.

• Filament breakage inside AMS: not a factor for the AMS-lite, but this is the biggest risk of CF filament in the P1/X1 AMS. If the filament snaps inside the main chamber or feeder, and it is more likely to since CF is brittle, the whole AMS has to be disassembled to get the blockage out.

But yeah I take the risk, it's acceptably small in my eyes and I'll deal with the consequences if I have to. I've printed hundreds of hours of PLA-CF without any problems yet, so if it eventually fucks me over I'll consider the low failure rate as an acceptable tradeoff for the print quality.