I've had my Bambu Labs X1C for a few weeks, and there was a bit of a learning curve to it, plus there were a few things that were just... not obvious about it. So I compiled a list of things that I feel like new X1C owners should know.
What's with this square pattern and lines in the corner of the Bambu Labs X1C build plate?
If you've just sliced something for the first time with the Bambu Studio app, you may have noticed something on the plate that you didn't put there. It looks kind of like some weird pattern of squares and some lines:
This is the "flow calibration" feature in action. The X1C will print this pattern in the front left of the build plate and then scan it to (I believe?) determine the best flow rate for your filament.
You can disable this when sending the print job to your printer. When you hit the "print plate" button, there will be a checkbox for "Flow Calibration." If you uncheck this, it won't be printed. Note that even if you uncheck it, it will still be shown on the slicer plate.
Is it safe to disable flow calibration? Well, if you're printing multiple jobs with the same filament, it's probably fine not to do it every time. I would advise doing it if you're changing the filament type or brand, though.
My X1C makes this loud "clank" or "ping" sound when it's getting ready to print. Is this normal?
Does it also make this noise when changing filaments? (ie, using the AMS?)
Take a look at the X1C when it makes this noise. Is the carriage in the back left of the build area? Chances are good that what is going on is that the printer is purging filament. It's by far the loudest sound my Bambu Labs X1C makes, and it can be a little scary - the first few times it happened, I wondered "is the printer OK?"
When the printer purges filament, it pushes a lever, which then closes a flap and forms a little "trap" for the filament to collect in. I think this makes the filament "bunch up" and more likely that the filament "blob" will fall down the chute rather than sticking to the nozzle or creating a sort of "strand" that drags onto the bed.
The whole process of creating the "trap" can get a bit noisy. From my investigations, it seems to be mostly coming from the lever itself. It's a complex little assembly that gets rather loud if it's hit at high speed. Since the Bambu Labs X1C is almost always moving at high speed, it has a tendency to strike this lever like a bell whenever it is purging.
There are a couple of things you can try if this noise from your X1C is annoying.
You can put some sort of padding on the surfaces that touch. In this case, it's the lever, the flap, and the inner wall of the purge chute. This will absorb some of the force when the carriage connects with the lever. I used some thin weatherstripping on mine, figuring that since it's intended for outdoor environments, it'll probably do fine inside the X1C's chamber :)
You can also try adjusting the tension of the screw that holds the lever in place. I didn't notice a lot of delta in the loudness of the noise from this, but it did make a small difference. Just don't tighten the screw to the point where the lever won't move, or loosen it so far that the lever falls out!
The X1C is REALLY shaking. Is that OK? How can I keep it from shaking so much!
The X1C moves very fast. And it changes directions often. As a side effect of this speed and directional changes, it imparts a lot of kinetic energy into its surroundings. In my case, it shakes the entire table(?!) and is especially bad when it is doing a lot of small moves.
The best way to avoid all this shaking is to decouple the Bambu Labs X1C from the table. In my case, I went down to the local hardware store and bought a couple of ceramic tiles. I then formed a "tile sandwich" with some packing foam on the bottom, then a tile, then some memory foam, then another tile, with the X1C on top.
This reduces the shaking somewhat, although it's still shaking my table a bit. On the plus side, this also reduces the noise from the vibrations as well!
Can I use 3rd party filament with my Bambu Labs X1C AMS?
So this is a tricky one. Technically, the answer is yes, you can use practically any filament with the X1C's AMS. In practice, it's a bit more complex.
Bambu Labs' filament spools contain an RFID chip that the AMS can read, which makes the process of configuring the AMS a tiny bit easier. This isn't the hugest advantage, but hey, I figured I should mention it. Additionally, the Bambu Studio slicer has presets for Bambu Labs filaments that make them produce pretty consistent results whether they're in the AMS or on the spool holder. Again, not the hugest advantage, but not having to tweak any settings is another small advantage they give their in-house filament.
The bigger issues are around the construction of the AMS itself. The AMS has a limit to the size of a spool that will fit in it. Many 3rd party filament vendors make spools that are either just a little too large in terms of spool diameter or spool width. In the case of diameter, you can probably still use the spool in the AMS if you leave the lid open. But this kills one of the advantages of the AMS, which is the ability to leave your filament in it between print sessions. If the spool is too wide, you're just out of luck.
The Bambu Labs AMS also has difficulty dealing with cardboard spools. They don't spin freely on the AMS' rollers. Workarounds for this exist (ie, plastic covers for the spool edge, cutting the spool apart and transferring the filament to another spool, or using electrical tape), but it's another gotcha to keep in mind.
There are also workarounds/mods to the system that can help. For instance, the Hydra mod allows for a wider range of spools to work with the AMS. It won't make it compatible with everything, but it's a decent improvement.
You can also respool your filament. This filament respooler is popular, but quite complex! After respooling, make sure you warm up the filament so that it relaxes into the new spool's shape.
What other questions do you have?
Got any other questions or issues with your Bambu Labs X1C? Maybe I can help! Post a comment!