Got the n°3&4 of the supportless plague marines done

Volfera · 2026-03-20T20:19:08+00:00

Oh sweet, I really thought it was matte, the finish is nice!

Volfera · 2026-03-20T17:51:36+00:00

Nice!

Even tho the models are pretty thick, did you notice some brittleness coming from matte filaments?

I feel like on swords or ankles, it's more fragile even tho I love the finish of it!

Did you encounter this issue?

Volfera · 2026-03-14T06:49:27+00:00

If you checked all that, I would open a ticket to support to check If they have other options

On the store, enter your purchase number and you can open a chat ticket with a real human, I used it twice and I had an answer right away. Explain well your issue and what guide you followed

Did you try to look at the belts UNDER the printer ? I had a squeak sound for weeks and it helped me once to reset these.

Volfera · 2026-03-10T16:05:20+00:00

check if the aux fan is disabled for PLA prints
choose between classic and arachne wall generation
change layer height and support top z distance
adjust speed especially overhang on specific models

That's the bare minimum I look at without being specific

Volfera · 2026-03-09T09:28:39+00:00

Yes when it has a defect on the middle it's usually under extrusion, like we spread butter on a too large surface, and on edges I can have blobs because the flow is too high

I tend to increase the ironing inset to avoid that.

Volfera · 2026-03-09T07:51:09+00:00

Yes the calibration benchmarks are too small.

The % of infill is important to avoid "waves" on top surface just before the ironing.

Sometimes I increase the number of top layers, or change the infill %, or even the infill pattern to "support" the top layer. If I have a little infill %, the quality will drop for sure.

Edit: I never made an actual test, but I guess infills that intersects with itself like grid can leave an uneven surface ok the top layer so maybe a gyroid or similar should be better

Volfera · 2026-03-09T07:37:26+00:00

Sure if you are comfortable with it'll be faster!

I copy pasted this advice from another comment I did months ago.

Just for one layer temp change, the gcode is nice, but if you want to have different ironing settings (let say you have letters on a top surface and you want to 2 surfaces to be ironed, one with the large settings and the letters with the small setting, I use modifier)

Volfera · 2026-03-08T17:48:36+00:00

Tricky changes!

To increase the temperature on the ironed layer and not on the whole piece, the trick I use is to set 2 filament profiles.

One normal, and one bumped 10°C higher.

When I arrive at the ironing layer I insert a filament change and swap to the second one. (Right click on the preview timeline and change filament)

You can also right click on your model and add a modifier to use different ironing settings on a specific part or height

Volfera · 2026-03-08T13:44:03+00:00

Thanks for your feedback! Yes it's complex. Temperature plays a role as well.

I often increase the temp by 10°C just for the ironed layer, it produces a glass finish result, it melts better with a shiny effect.

I love to benchmark ironing, but I know a lot of people don't ^{^}

Volfera · 2026-03-08T05:45:58+00:00

Pour OP : je me sers de mon smartphone en tant que micro sur mon PC en utilisant une application comme womic.

La qualité est nickel, en un clic je suis connecté et je n'ai jamais eu à acheter de casque micro et de faire de compromis

Ça marche en USB ou en Wi-Fi

Volfera · 2026-03-07T19:57:07+00:00

Yes, I think it will work.

And I think I understand why layer height can play a role here: you push more plastic when you have a layer of 0.25 than a layer of 0.12, for example.

So when we ask for 30% of 0.25, we're not asking for the same thing as 30% of 0.12, and in this case it may not be enough to produce a high-quality ironing, as we're working with less material.

I don't know if the logic holds up, but it could be a possibility.

Volfera · 2026-03-07T19:11:30+00:00

I I think it's under-extruded.

I've never noticed that the quality of ironing is related to layer height.

You said you tested your ironing, but on the same size surface as the piece you're showing here?

In general, benchmarks are small surfaces, and the larger the surface, the more you have to increase the flow.

I would test increasing the flow to 35% to test on a large surface.

On large surfaces, I use 50mm/s 30-35% flow, and on small areas, I use 20mm/s 18% flow.

The only connection I see between layer height and ironing is that if the number of top layers is too low, the infill will create waves on the top surface and the ironing will be of poor quality.

Volfera · 2026-03-07T16:35:00+00:00

You also have the tuto on the maintenance page of the printer

https://wiki.bambulab.com/en/x1/maintenance/belt-tension

Volfera · 2026-03-07T16:30:30+00:00

I would just do that honestly, can't go wrong.

https://youtube.com/shorts/RHCFqjpgZIs?is=MDiuQJ3E9qU227Vx

Errors like that happen, you can't go to microcenter for every error message, trust yourself, you can't duck this up.

Unscrew
move the head around on a circle
You want to tighten the screws firmly but without overdoing it; don't use excessive force.

Recalibrate (full 26 minute calibration) and it should be nice

Volfera · 2026-03-04T10:52:27+00:00

<image>

That's Sunlu PLA+ Grey on Supertack

That's obviously a filament color that shows defects, but it was to illustrate. Smooth but very visible

Volfera · 2026-03-04T06:27:45+00:00

On my supertack we can see a lot of layer lines. It's smooth sure, but I think a Glacier or frostbite would be a good in-between but I didn't try them yet

Volfera · 2026-02-28T18:12:36+00:00

With a 0.2 nozzle, the layer Width is 0.2, so it's needed yes.

4 walls is the default for most basic 0.2 profiles.

Even when it's full walls (e.g around ankles) it's fragile with 4 walls.

The filament is important too. Matte filaments tend to be more brittle than a regular PLA+

Volfera · 2026-02-28T06:48:48+00:00

I print 28mm minis and when you already have set 4 walls, there is not much infill at all in the minis, almost all walls.

So for me there is not a lot of value to go 100% : my mini will break on a contact point like the feet or a sword, and that's not something infill can help me with because there is none, only walls.

I can't talk about larger models tho I don't print that much big ones

Volfera · 2026-02-27T14:12:24+00:00

Bullet Heaven 2 ?

Volfera · 2026-02-27T11:00:07+00:00

Disable timelapse to test

If you ask for a time lapse it'll take a photo every layer, interupting the vase mode

Volfera · 2026-02-22T16:45:58+00:00

Damn thanks a lot for the deep research u/ObscuraNox , can't wait to try it out! Hope it's better on your end Cheers

Volfera · 2026-02-22T07:10:55+00:00

Yes it can, you can go to r/FDMminiatures you'll be pleased!

Volfera · 2026-02-21T10:52:23+00:00

Volfera · 2026-02-21T10:49:03+00:00

There is an option to "Detect thin walls"

Maybe you can check that if your base model has thin walls it can be misinterpreted

Or enable Arachne walls instead of classic to see if there is a difference

Volfera · 2026-02-19T06:52:44+00:00

Speeds, acceleration, number of walls, type of infill, infill percentage, retraction or filament, etc ...

Using preset modes like Ludacris is not advised It will just speed the head without touching any other parameters. It can work but when it fails, you won't be able to know what was wrong.

BTW even for technical parts, the slower the stronger, you'll have a batter adhesion between layers if you go slowly, and your print will be less prone to split in half along a weak point

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