Bambu 3D Printer

General Information

The Bambu Labs 3D Printer can be found inside the Clean Room.

The purpose of this page is to give a more in-depth look at the Bambu 3D Printer.

If you have any issues with Clean Room equipment, the slack channels associated with this space include: #general, ##general, #shop-3d-printing, and #shop-laser.

Filament

Berea Makerspace has two Bambu 3D printers. One printer is equipped with an Automatic Material System (AMS). The AMS is a multi-filament automation system that supports printing with four different colors in a single print.

Material - PLA, PETG, ABS, Nylon, TPU, etc

• CF, GF, and other abrasive filaments CANNOT BE USED IN THE AMS. It will wear out the feeder components internally
  
• TPU and other flexible filaments CANNOT BE USED IN THE AMS. It will jam
• PLEASE do not use old, moist filament in our printers. PLA especially. It will break off in multiple locations - both ends of the PTFE tube, inside the extruder, between the extruder and hotend. If I find a filament roll doing this, it will be retired

Brand - Most PLA and PETG available these days is of adequate quality. Sunlu, Polymaker and Overture are commonly used at the space

• • IIID Max is a great option if you're buying a lot. Free shipping and the lowest per kg prices right now
  • PushPlasticis my preferred vendor for large rolls. The filament spool holder I have available for the cr-10 max supports their rolls. Be wary, as the hole size for various vendors for 5kg+ spools can vary drastically.

Using the printer

Loading / Unloading filament (side spool)

https://wiki.bambulab.com/en/x1/manual/loading-filament

• The filament tab is the easiest way to load filament, but the instructions above still work.
  • You can configure your filament type, and then select load or unload to begin the process
  • The printer will preheat to the required temperature (usually 250 for most filament), and prompt the user to insert the filament into the PTFE tube
  • Once you've pushed it into the extruder, it will grab and feed the filament into the hotend
  • You will be prompted to check if the filament fed properly (you should see old filament coming out of the nozzle). Hit ok, and it will further purge the nozzle of any remaining previous filament

Loading and Unloading filament (AMS)

https://wiki.bambulab.com/en/x1/manual/ams-setup-and-filament-loading

Troubleshooting Issues

https://wiki.bambulab.com/en/ams/troubleshooting/ams-loading-unloading-failure

Installing a print surface

• We have multiple build plates available
  • Cool Plate - A polycarbonate sticker. PLA only (despite what the plate says). Sticks really, really well. MUST have a layer of gluestick on it, or it can damage the surface from over-adhesion
  • Engineering Plate - original surface we had for non-PLA. Works with petg, abs, nylon, tpu, etc. Must have some glue stick on it to work well at all.
  • Smooth PEI (high temp plate) - great all-around surface, works well with or without gluestick. Smooth surface on bottom.
  • Textured PEI - works with many filaments without glue, not as reliable for really big, really tall or really long print times.
• If it looks particularly gummed up with glue stick, its probably a great time for you to clean it!
  • Warm water, some hand soap and a sponge is everything needed to wipe the glue stick off
  • Let it completely dry, put a fresh, minimal layer of glue stick on (if required) and continue
• When installing, make sure it lays between the two indexing tabs on either side of the bed
  • If its sticking up, you've installed it wrong!
• Make sure you configure Bambu Studio to the correct build plate before sending the file over

(Advanced) Printing in multiple colors with the AMS

Manual for the AMS

https://wiki.bambulab.com/en/ams/manual