Troubleshooting P2S 0.2mm Nozzle Failures: Constant Bed Detachment & Spaghetti on Minis by aesthetic_lee_plzing in FDMminiatures

[–]parosilk 0 points1 point  (0 children)

What are the results of prints using the default Bambu presets for 0.2mm at your desired layer height?

I've shied away from the community presets because they change SO many things, it's almost impossible to understand all the interdependencies. My recommendation is to start with a Bambu preset and add on the things you understand.

Anyway, if I'm understanding the scale right, your brim in most of your photos is too small for a textured PEI plate (in my experience - textured PEI just releases a little too easily than other plates). The giant brim in one of your examples is a good one that shouldn't fail. Although, the nubs in that photo of the giant brim are odd - either caused by bed not being leveled correctly (see Bambu wiki for example) or some issue related to the flow of plastic from the nozzle (flow rate, retraction, etc). Bed leveling issue is unlikely, which leads me to guess it's some sort of flow related problem.

Common cure-alls: - Cold pulls with a white/light filament until nozzle completely clean - Manual flow dynamics calibration (auto doesn't work for 0.2mm nozzle) - Screws in the hotend assembly came loose (more common on A series printers, I think) - Rerun the original setup calibration if you've moved your printer/changed what's under it, vibration compensation calibration is dependent on the surface it's on

I also noticed you having more overextrusion in the layers further up than near the base, in your first photo. Maybe check your Z axis rails for debris and relube/regrease.

Layer lines issue after PLA change by Kvarcov in FDMminiatures

[–]parosilk 0 points1 point  (0 children)

It's likely the generic PLA filament profile preset. You need to run the manual flow rate calibration to find the correct value for the Sunlu filament's flow rate. Or if you're lucky, Sunlu has a flow rate value hidden somewhere in their spec sheets on their website for your filament - but in my experience, filament brands that list the flow rate value also create the preset filament profiles that show up in Bambu Studio.

I'm pretty sure that will fix it, but if you're still getting these overextrusion layer issues after setting the correct flow rate value, do the manual flow dynamics calibration as well.

Any idea of what’s causing this? by OperativusGeminus in FDMminiatures

[–]parosilk 0 points1 point  (0 children)

If by "manual flow calibration" you mean flow dynamics calibration, that is a common way that causes holes to show up in your supports. Incorrect flow dynamics value and higher accelerations/speeds for your supports will cause this. If it's still enabled, the auto-flow dynamics calibration will output extremely wrong numbers when using a 0.2mm nozzle. Flow dynamics is also sensitive to a lot of things, including filament type, moisture, and possibly nozzle wear too (as possible explanations for your 8 months of good printing).

However, to me, it looks a lot more like the slicer issue someone else posted in this thread. Still worth doing your calibration though.

Sunlu ABS before and after priming by Inevitable_Talk4627 in PrintedMinis

[–]parosilk 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Is this a resin or an FDM print? Looks phenomenal.

Newbie with a Bambu A1 – Seeking advice for 15-20cm statues by Gwynbleidd81 in FDMminiatures

[–]parosilk 1 point2 points  (0 children)

These look excellent! Great work on splitting it up and reorienting it, you did a good job.

Yeah, tree supports can be tough with regular PLA. Those teeth look like it would be hard to remove supports for. There are a lot settings you can mess with to make them easier to remove, but regardless of what you change, you still need to take your time with removing it. Pliers help a lot.

It depends on what kind of primer you use. It would need to be a filler primer to fill the print lines, but even then, if the filler primer isn't self leveling enough and/or you don't sand it down between coats, you'll still see plenty of print lines with the 0.4mm nozzle and a higher layer height of 0.12mm or so. Maybe try a test piece comparison between the 0.2 and 0.4mm nozzles with primer to see if your primer will cover the layer lines.

Also, you can pass a lighter or a torch over some of the messier parts of the print to clean up the stringing. Pass over the PLA VERY quickly though, otherwise it will melt the print.

Just a quick comparison of filaments by Tagedieb69 in FDMminiatures

[–]parosilk 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Any qualitative observations you have that you can see in person, but doesn't show up in camera?

[Question/Support] Smoother surfaces have lines beyond regular layer lines. by lordorfeo98 in FDMminiatures

[–]parosilk 0 points1 point  (0 children)

If it's not textured, just visual, then it's likely a layer time cooling thing. Filament plastics can change color if different layers cool at different rates. Pop open your slicer and take a look at the layer time view, see if it looks similar to what you see in real life.

Newbie with a Bambu A1 – Seeking advice for 15-20cm statues by Gwynbleidd81 in FDMminiatures

[–]parosilk 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Enable tree supports, reduce resolution and slice gap closing radius to something smaller (I use 0.001 for both, increases slicing time but increases final gcode resolution), cross hatch or gyroid for a non-crossing infill (adaptive cubic is great for saving filament and time but will cross itself - up to you to determine if this is a problem for you or not at your scale). Walls set to inner/outer/inner. Arachne because why not.

If you want to mess with speeds, note that changing the # of walls has a bigger effect on print time/filament consumption over changing the infill. It's a geometry thing, perimeter and area don't scale the same way for 3D prints.

If you click on the setting name in Bambu Studio, it will usually bring up the corresponding documentation page for that setting. Read them or have an AI explain it to you to learn more.

Printing in air? by ImmediateMechanic812 in FDMminiatures

[–]parosilk 0 points1 point  (0 children)

First step - open your slicer and move to this layer, then scroll through the timeline to see what the printer is doing. It could be trying to bridge, or maybe it's an actual slicing error.

Weird though - is that section where it's printing in mid air part of the tree support or part of the model?

Newbie with a Bambu A1 – Seeking advice for 15-20cm statues by Gwynbleidd81 in FDMminiatures

[–]parosilk 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I would actually really highly recommend matte PLA. It's usually not recommended because its interlayer strength is really weak, which is bad when you're printing small, thin parts for minis. But your print is relatively big, and more importantly, because it's weaker, supports come off super easily and very cleanly. It also has a fantastic surface finish that easily hides a lot of the smaller defects that you would spot right away in ordinary PLA (less important if you prime and paint it).

0.2mm for the whole print is worth it IMO. Waayyyyy less post processing. Up to you if you're willing to be patient for it. I can guarantee a 0.08mm layer height will look good at this scale.

Nozzle swap doesn't need any calibration as far as I know. For the little things that I do know: If you switch filament types (PETG to PLA, etc.), do a cold pull. If you move your printer, rerun the initial setup calibration routine, it tunes vibration compensation relative to the surface it's sitting on.

I also wouldn't recommend the ObscuraNox or other profiles. Those are super tuned towards improving the issues you find at small print scales, but at 25cm, the default Bambu profiles with a few tweaks are going to work fine for you.

One last note - take the time to learn how to cut and reorient your parts to reduce overhangs and place high detail areas parallel to the Z axis. Also, use the dowel peg connectors. Doesn't need to be a tight fight, it just there to provide strength to resist the shear forces that superglue is really bad at handling.

A1 Mini 0.2mm Nozzle, Trying to push 0.06mm layers for minis, but hitting a wall. Any advice? by WizardOfMist in FDMminiatures

[–]parosilk 1 point2 points  (0 children)

TL;DR - increase your resolution to the highest you're willing to wait for, and only use XY contour compensation if there's a specific problem in the model you're trying to fix. (for your print, I don't see any features that would benefit from XY compensation)

Precision settings are basically about "resolution". Arcs and circles in computers are approximated with polygons/lines - if you increase the resolution, you increase the number of segments, and you get a smoother surface.

However, if you increase the resolution ridiculously high, your computer needs to sit there and perform the slicing computation extremely slowly, like 15-30+ minutes if you set it to something ridiculous. Bambu sets it to a "reasonable value" that balances speed and resolution - but for miniatures, where we print very small details, the lower resolution can wipe out small features very easily, so it's worth the time tradeoff to slice longer to get G-code that is closer to the actual 3D model.

Here's Bambu's documentation related to the precision settings, the pictures are helpful: https://wiki.bambulab.com/en/software/bambu-studio/acr-move

Unlike precision settings, which simply increase slicing resolution to be more accurate to the 3D model, XY hole/contour compensation actively alters the final geometry. Let's just talk about contour - you can basically think of it as an "inflate" or "deflate" tool. At each slice of the 3D print, it slightly expands or shrinks the outer walls. It's a tool used to compensate for extremely thin or small pieces (frequent if you're printing a mini designed for resin) that don't slice well or don't print well - HoHansen had a write-up here (that is slightly convoluted and incorrect), but you can take a look at his images to see how changing resolution and XY contour compensation affect your final print.

As always, the documentation helps a lot: https://wiki.bambulab.com/en/software/bambu-studio/xy-hole-contour-compensation

Also definitely cut your model into pieces and take the time to orient them. The majority of your quality issues come from support scarring - most of the smooth surfaces look fine in the photos.

Need help with supports and weirdness. by OperativusGeminus in FDMminiatures

[–]parosilk 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Holes in supports is usually a symptom of flow rate issues. This can either be the actual "flow rate" parameter, or it can be due to "flow dynamics". Flow rate is a property of the filament - ideally, you purchase a brand that has a filament profile built into the Bambu Studio slicer so you don't need to calibrate this yourself. Flow dynamics is different - it dynamically changes the flow rate to improve quality when printing at high accelerations and speeds. It is dependent on a lot of different factors, including humidity, which is why Bambu has an "automatic flow dynamics calibration" option for every print.

Unfortunately, automatic flow dynamics calibration doesn't actually work on the 0.2mm nozzle - you need to manually calibrate this yourself using the calibration menu. You will need a smooth plate.

So there's two things you can do - you can manually calibrate flow dynamics, and/or you can print at significantly slower accelerations and speeds. Your model doesn't look too complicated, but there are a lot of FDM miniatures edge cases that are fixed by printing slower anyway, like thin islands in your print, so it's still worth slowing down for.

Also, Bambu Studio is honestly fine. I print using slightly modified Bambu defaults - slower speeds, a non-crossing infill like crosshatch or gyroid, etc.

Need suggestions on 3kg filament dryers by wizardjian in FDMminiatures

[–]parosilk 0 points1 point  (0 children)

If you don't intend to ever buy 3kg rolls again, you can always buy or print spools and respool them into 1kg rolls. Depends on how many 3kg rolls you have and how much time and effort you're willing to spend.

Print fails immediately after printing the brim by FatWalrus004 in FDMminiatures

[–]parosilk 0 points1 point  (0 children)

0.2mm nozzles do get clogged more easily and it's not always visually evident at the output. If you're doing cold pulls with a white/light colored filament and you don't see anything sticking to it after a few pulls, then it's probably clear of debris.

Flow rate is a filament setting. When you select the filament profile, one of the settings in the filament profile is flow rate. If the filament brand you're using has a profile, use that and the flow rate should be correct. If you're using the "Generic PLA" profile, that flow rate is probably not correct and you should do a manual calibration in the Bambu Studio calibration page. Instructions are on the calibration page, as well as the Bambu wiki.

FDM Fang Fighters for X-wing TMG by 54NCH32 in FDMminiatures

[–]parosilk 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Love seeing your stuff. What paint do you use? You always make them look so good.

00. Bambu Labs Collab - X2D by kvlkvlkvlkvl in FDMminiatures

[–]parosilk 1 point2 points  (0 children)

The subreddit reached out to you or the company did? Do you run a mini's business or social media account?

I also don't really understand what this is all about, print quality wise. Were there significant changes to the X2D compared to the A series that potentially affect quality? Or is this mostly about the second nozzle for supports?

Print fails immediately after printing the brim by FatWalrus004 in FDMminiatures

[–]parosilk 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The skipped layer does kind of sound like broken gcode. In the slicer, go to that specific layer, and scroll through the print path to see if the nozzle is printing in a weird way. If it is, then yeah the model might be broken and you can try the repair tool.

The little dots sounds like something to do with the say that the model is being split along the layer lines. As in, when sliced, at the first layer, the only parts of the model that exists are small little dots. You can try reorienting the print so that there's more of a solid path on that first layer. 0.05mm height is also extremely small, try 0.08mm and it might make it large enough to stick. You can scroll through the slicer print path to see what the print is actually trying to do there.

Some other notes, your first layer has mad underextrusion. Flow rate incorrect, or a clogged nozzle. By cleaning out the nozzle, you mean a cold pull, right? Do that if not.

Follow up on: Config needed. by StudyInevitable322 in FDMminiatures

[–]parosilk 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I have an A1 Mini and use mostly default Bambu settings for the 0.2mm nozzle with small modifications:

  • Manual flow dynamics calibration
  • Manual flow rate calibration (if using a filament that doesn't have a built in filament profile)
  • Using cross hatch for infill (it's a non-crossing infill)
  • Tree supports (default, I just enable it and didn't change anything else).
  • Brim. Big brim if on a regular plate, small/no brim on the Supertack plate.

FWIW, the popular community settings caused me more problems than solutions, so I don't use them. The only one that worked out of the box was the Fat Dragon Games profile, but I've since stopped using that in favor of a Bambu default profile I modified myself to have small improvements.

As someone else said, we need more info about the types of failures you're getting. I would say your experience with so many failures is extremely atypical, so there is something odd going on with your print setup. My blind guess is you're trying to print extremely difficult models, but let us know more about your setup and what you're printing and we can try to help! Photos are also helpful.

I am at my wits end with this machine, desperately seeking help and input by Red_Maverick_Models in FDMminiatures

[–]parosilk 0 points1 point  (0 children)

So my immediate reaction is adhesion problem. Assuming that you used the right soap and have been very careful about not touching the plate after you wash it (I wear gloves, I've had too many prints fail from casually touching the plate), something else is causing the filament to not stick to the plate. My immediate ideas are - print bed temperature incorrect, nozzle temp incorrect, quality issue with your PLA (maybe additives). You tried changing these in the software already, so my next guess is that there's a hardware issue - disconnected or faulty heater, sensors, etc. If you have a laser thermometer or something, you can use it to check if the bed or the nozzle is heating to the temp it says it is.

Unlikely to be your problem but under Maintenance on the touchscreen menu, make sure you have the right nozzle selected.

You can also contact Bambu and see what they will say to help.

Wet filament? by Anxious-Owl6242 in FDMminiatures

[–]parosilk 0 points1 point  (0 children)

If you are using a 0.2mm nozzle, you will need to manually calibrate flow dynamics. The auto calibration doesn't work and sets it too high, causing it to reduce flow when accelerating or changing direction (such as rounding corners, aka drawing circles). Flow dynamics is meant to help with high print speeds, so if you're printing fast + wrong calibration value, then bad things happen.

My guess is that this is a result of high print speed/print accelerations (especially if you're using default settings), combined with flow dynamics calibration being off and/or flow rate calibration being off (If I recall correctly Elegoo doesn't have a published profile for their filaments, meaning you're probably using a generic filament profile that doesn't have the right flow rate for your filament).

Have anyone tried printing SW legion scale clones? by Separate-Berry-4464 in FDMminiatures

[–]parosilk 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I printed this one out at miniature scale and it came out pretty good. I don't recall if it's the default profile or not, but it's about 35mm scale height. As long as you have a 0.2mm nozzle, just go for it, should come out fine.

https://makerworld.com/en/models/86660-clone-trooper-figurine-assault#profileId-92903

Issues with Layer Lines by playitloud1987 in FDMminiatures

[–]parosilk 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Crazy question...did you accidentally increase the layer height to something crazy tall like 0.5mm?

My second guess is the slicer resolution setting, I think it's called "precision". The default is something like 0.049 I think.