Has anyone been successfully and happily using the Bambu PAHT-CF (or any similar filament) on their X1? I know we already discussed that the PETG-CF is so much easier to work with. I’m going to give the PA another try. I am quite sure that before when I tried the PA-CF that came with the printer that I didn’t dry it enough. I’m drying it now at 85C for 12 hours and I expect it will make a big difference.
The PAHT-CF is definitely more expensive than the PETG-CF but it’s actually very reasonably priced against most other similar PA12 CFs.
I keep the PAHT-CF and the Support for PA materials in the dryer at 70C for days before using it. Usually, it just stays in there until I need to print with it. So it can be drying for a week sometimes.
The PAHT takes on water more slowly than the older PA-CF, since it’s Nylon 12.
I like it, it prints well enough, and works for the enclosures I make with it.
@TheBoardGarage, thanks for sharing. Some nice results there.
I’ve been studying a lot of PA results from the X1 vs other printers and I think that while the X1 can do it, the results are not as good as other printers with actively heated chambers. There is a rumour/hope that BL will have active chamber heating in some future printer. The PA results from the Qidi printers, for example, look really nice.
My assumption is that the PAHT-CF replaced the PA-CF specifically because of how it prints. Nylon 12 I’ve read is generally easier, and the CF fill is coincidentally a convenient thing to stiffen the print up.
Others may do it better, but the enclosure stays at 48-50C during these prints (11-14 hours), and the Bambu is the only one that can print with both the PAHT-CF and a support material, which these things need. There are large flat overhangs, and the support material comes off very nicely in most cases.
If there’s another printer with a large enough bed, that can easily handle material changes, and have heating, I’d buy that.
They definitely exist. The problem is finding something around the price of the X1. There are tons of options like Raise3D, CreatBot, BCN3D, etc. but these are all at least 2 to 3 times the price of the X1 and that’s just the lower end of the segment.
These are typically printers that are used in shops where they routinely do a lot of complex models that require support and need functional engineering prints which often means some kind of CF filament (or better). For some of those users, even breakaway support filaments are not good enough because of how geometrically complex their models are, and they are frequently using dissolvable support like PVA (which is usually a much lower nozzle temp than PA). The best of these printers all use independent extruders, as opposed to some form of dual-hotend or dual (single head) extruder, to allow for different nozzle temps and avoid any cross-contamination between the filaments.
The Bambu AMS setup is a pretty cool solution to the multi-material but as soon as the model starts to get complex, the AMS approach wastes huge amounts of material and the print times go through the roof because of how many filament changes have to be done.
In the consumer/prosumer market of IDEX and dual extruder options that can handle PA CF, probably the best option right now is the Qidi I-Fast. Clough42 on YouTube has said, at least in the past, that it’s his primary printer because of what it can do. It has an actively heated chamber and from what I’ve seen, like a lot of the Qidi printers, the PA CF results are very good and better than the X1. Unfortunately it’s a little old and doesn’t have automatic bed leveling, air filter, etc. like we’re used to with the X1. I was really hoping Qidi would release a new version of the I-Fast that is like the new printers they just released with Klipper, etc. but they told me they don’t have anything like that in the near future.
Another option in the segment is the Flashforge Creator 3 Pro (IDEX) but it’s also a bit older. There are a few other IDEX options around like Snapmaker, Craftbot, etc. which aren’t too expensive but most seem to have a lot of quality problems compared to what we’re used to with Bambu. Creality are also releasing a Sermoon D3 Pro which has dual hotends and it may be interesting.
One thing that’s clear is that Bambu Lab really did disrupt the market in terms of the overall quality of what they delivered. Of course it hasn’t been smooth sailing for every customer but overall it really seems like they raised the bar for quality of product and service.
If you look at a lot of other companies and printers out there, there’s a lot of lemons, a lot of really bad (or non-existent) support, etc. I feel really bad for people who have gone through hell with some of their printer purchases. Even just watching the recent Creality K1 release process has been interesting watching the overall sentiment of purchasers of those printers vs Bambu printers and many of these companies are specifically now trying to play catch up to Bambu. I can’t wait to see what the company does with their next generation of printers.
I wasn’t affected by this. It’s definitely a bad thing but ultimately you take a risk with any device if you leave it operating unattended. For the same reason I don’t charge my board batteries while I’m sleeping, I don’t have print jobs going, or the printer even on, at night.
I like letting mine run at night if I have a long print to do, but still makes me a little nervous. Sometimes I’ll drop it to 50%/silent mode if I have some possibly sketchy looking tree supports but it’s typically been ok. I just ran a 24hr Deadpool mask and it came out great.
None of these machines wake up on command from remote sever instructions to heat up and drip hot plastic in a patterns from my print cue.
Bambu servers sent print commands to privately owned machines to melt plastic, on beds that might have had completed prints, drying filaments, were mechanically downed (mine was full of tempered glass shards, but thankfully unplugged).
I just thought more heads would be on fire about this. I still want whatever XL offering they release end of 4th quarter, but I’m using lan only on a sandboxed network with an old surface pro.
Yeah I realize that, and I agree the screwup is bad on Bambu Lab’s side, but in terms of determining whether you are going to leave something on, a 3D printer has the potential to do a lot more damage than a TV.
Back to the PA and X1 topic… I tried the last of my PA-CF and the results weren’t so great. I got some warping although it may have been because I pulled the part off the plate too quickly and perhaps should have left it to cool on there. However, the surface finish really is not so great although it’s typical of what I see on most of the examples of the Bambu PAHT-CF.
I was watching this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cQb-hbr1KYY and the print results using various Polymaker PAs on an printer with no enclosure look quite nice which totally destroys the idea that you must have a heated chamber, yet alone a chamber heater, to be successful with PA. However he was only printing small parts but still. I’m definitely going to try some of the Polymaker PAs. Note also that with those filaments the recommendation is to print with the part fan off. Price of the Polymaker PAs is also very competitive against the Bambu PAHT-CF.
The larger the part the more opportunity for shrinkage and warp
Small parts in a non-enclosed space may be okay, especially if the room is warm or if there is no airflow. However, if there’s a draft or its cold you’re probably going to have a terrible time
