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3D Printing

Device​

I'm happy with my Bambulab A1. Compared to other entry level 3D printers like Ender 3, it's more reliable and requires less maintenance work to get good prints. Here are the things that I like about it:

  • Auto Bed Leveling
  • Fast Printing Speed
  • Multi Material Printing with AMS

Slicer​

I use BambuStudio that's a fork of PrusaSlicer. It's a good slicer and I'm happy with it. I've heard good things about OrcaSlicer too but I haven't tried it yet.

Filament​

So far, I've only printed with basic PLA and PETG used the following brands and I've been happy with all of them:

  • Bambulab: PLA, PETG
  • Sunlu: PLA
  • eSun: PLA

Food Safety​

3D printed objects aren't food safe due to two main reasons:

  • Layer lines leave gaps where bacteria can grow
  • Filament and the printing process isn't food safe and can contain harmful chemicals and heavy metals

You can mitigate this by coating the object with food safe epoxy resin.

Cool Projects​

Device Maintenance​

There's a good maintenance guide on the Bambulab website. For oiling, I found household oil.

Troubleshooting​

Support Removal​

To improve the support removal experience, I use another filament type for support. I use the following settings:

  • Support Material: Original material
  • Support Interface Material: The other filament type
  • Top Z Distance: 0.0mm

If these settings wasn't helpful, you can check out here for more related settings.

Bambulab Gold/Siver/Bronze PLA Filament​

Similar to this discussion, I had issues printing with the Bambulab silver PLA. I made a mistake of buying this instead of gray PLA for Rocinante and noticed that the print quality isn't good with the silver filament.

The solution is to use silk filament profile for this color.

LAN Only Mode and Printer on a Separate Network​

Printer discovery only works when the printer and the computer are on the same network. BambuStudio (or OrcaSlicer) can't find the printer if they're on a separate networks even if these networks are connected to each other.

To solve this, I use this python code snippet to send the printer IP to the slicer.

Useful Resources​