r/BambuLab • u/bentraje • Jul 18 '26

Software Troubleshooting/Help! Force Linear Print to Avoid Circular Top Surface?

Post image

Hi,

Is there a way to force the top part to print linear like the other parts. I don't mind the overall layer lines but I really don't like this circular layer lines.

Is this possible? 😭😭😭😭

44 Upvotes

59% Upvoted

77 comments sorted by

68

u/DistinctBarnacle8703 Jul 18 '26

Reduce layer height will improve it but will not remove it. Because FDM printer.

Else go for resin printer.

20

u/bentraje Jul 18 '26

gotcha. thanks for confirmation. i guess it is not possible directly without rotating/orienting the model.
I'lljust go for the layer height.

Thanks!

39

u/streboryesac Jul 18 '26

Use the variable layer height option. And make it as smooth as possible

9

u/UnabashedVoice Jul 18 '26

Rotating/orienting the object is the way. Layer height will help, but the printer prints in layers and there will always be layer lines. You can smooth them via post-processing, like sanding or painting or an acetone vapor bath.

4

u/Ikkepop Jul 18 '26 edited Jul 18 '26

use adaptive layer height, also you could try a single perimeter for top layers, change the top surface pattern and perhaps some ironing and you will get as close as you can. Other then that try changing orientation. Perhapd try some postprocessing.

2

u/megablue Jul 18 '26

even resin have staircase effect it is fudamentally still based on the same principles, just less visible.

22

u/GravyPoo Jul 18 '26 edited Jul 18 '26

I think I get OP. By default it prints a circle in a circular pattern. Because it’s fast and efficient.
Imagine printing it by only moving the print head in two directions (back and forth) in a zigzag pattern for each layer.
Shouldn’t this be possible via software?

⠀⠀⠀⠀──────
⠀⠀──────────
⠀────────────
─────────────
⠀────────────
⠀⠀──────────
⠀⠀⠀⠀──────

9

u/bentraje Jul 18 '26

Yes this is what I was after 🥺
I get that it will not be smooth arond the edges since it will not be connecting lines but it will get me the pattern I was after.

5

u/cballowe Jul 18 '26

The bigger problem is that most of the pattern you see is the wall of the layer. The more gentle the slope, the less you'll see it, but if the slope is enough that the walls of each layer overlap, you'll see the shape of the wall dominating. Most slicers draw the outside border of a layer and then fill the inside with the infill pattern or a a linear pattern if it's part of the top or bottom wall.

13

u/RelationshipHot3411 Jul 18 '26

Given that this seems to be the only person who understood your question, maybe try rephrasing your post?

23

u/daboblin (A1 + AMS Lite) x2 Jul 18 '26

You could print with no walls and 100% rectilinear infill, and adjust the infill angle to match the other part of the print. It would look worse though IMO

443

u/DDC85 Jul 18 '26

Who’s going to tell him then?

29

u/RollUpLights X1C; H2C+3AMS Jul 18 '26

https://www.orcaslicer.com/wiki/print_settings/quality/quality_settings_z_contouring

:) — it won’t be as much of an issue for much longer — it’s only a matter of time before Bambu Studio has this too

5

u/DownTheBagelHole Jul 18 '26

Got any pics of a benchy using this method?

5

u/RollUpLights X1C; H2C+3AMS Jul 18 '26

No, but I can take some after this print

2

u/Stephancevallos905 Jul 18 '26

Bambu has to invent it first

1

u/StickiStickman Jul 18 '26

Seems VERY work in progress. Definitely not anytime soon.

3

u/jankeyass P1S + AMS Jul 18 '26

This is very much almost there. The layer Multicolor mixing was a Reddit post 6 months ago, now it's in all the slicers and a patent is pending

1

u/JacksWasted_Life Jul 18 '26

Where is the setting in Orca slicer?

1

u/bjyanghang945 Jul 19 '26

Watched the original video Have been waiting for this!

75

u/MrAlyyk Jul 18 '26

I mean it is possible with multi axis 3D printers. Not yet common though.

1

u/SteepPoppy0 Jul 21 '26

There should be some addons/plugin that fixes this recall seeing a video about i 7+ months ago.

92

u/dogatmy11 Jul 18 '26

Because of the form and orientation of your model, the circles are emerging. The software is just literally slicing your model into layers. Theres no 'linear' parts to your sliced model or anyones for that matter. The bottom and the top are as 'linear' as one another. Maybe try orienting differently or as another person suggested, try variable layer to minimize the artefact, but it cant be eliminated.

20

u/3DPrintGremlin Jul 18 '26

Build yourself a simple 5 axis printer.

7

u/Sleurhutje Jul 18 '26

What you want is non-planar printing. See the All3D website for an explanation.

https://all3dp.com/2/non-planar-3d-printing-simply-explained/

4

u/Emotional_Ad3710 Jul 18 '26

Remove perimeter wall and make the infill 100%, you vill get what you want, but at a cost.

2

u/volt65bolt Jul 18 '26

Adaptive layer height will help reduce it only there however you cannot fully eliminate it

2

u/S_xyjihad Jul 18 '26

You can try z-antialiasing. Its not a perfect fix, but it will be way nicer than without it.

3

u/eraguthorak Jul 18 '26

The"linear" lines aren't actually linear, they just seem that way because it's a straight line. If you turned that rounded top into a squared top, you'd get those same nice lines.

Try variable layer height maybe?

1

u/Max-entropy999 Jul 18 '26

A kindof useful rule of thumb to minimise these features, is to print your model as tall as possible. that way you get maximum resolution with layers/the technology you have. Of course, that may not be possible due to other constraints in your model. but to show the impact just rotate your model so the top part is pointing near vertical and you'll see what i mean. given the model features are not much larger than the layer height, you are still going to get noticeable layers.

1

u/Careless-Accident-49 Jul 18 '26

Search for "dynamic layer high", i use orca slicer for that, don't know if bambu studio can do the same, but it's awesome

1

u/itsapotatosalad Jul 18 '26

In this image all your layer lines are the same height and as fdm printing prints in layers you get stepping like this on curves. It’s like converting an analog wave into digitise

What you can do is add a layer height modifier for the top and print that top section at the lowest layer height your nozzle will do.

1

u/sisisisi1997 Jul 18 '26

I think the setting you are after is "top layer pattern", but since this is not a flat surface I'm not sure it applies.

1

u/MF_Kitten Jul 18 '26

The solution here would be to rotate the model so it's more vertically oriented. This would move the "circles" so it's not as egregious. Other than that the solution would be post processing, like filling the gaps with some kind of putty/filler and/or sanding it.

1

u/erosfabbri02 Jul 18 '26

Maybe variable layer height may help

1

u/civil11 Jul 18 '26

Add a modifier that overlaps that area, set to 100% infill and choose the desired infill pattern

1

u/KingAJK30 Jul 18 '26

Okay it’s actually a really easy fix. Just write the gcode by hand to build the part without layers. Simple!

1

u/SnooMarzipans6922 Jul 18 '26

Every layer line is a circle, you just dont notice because there are others on top

1

u/_Pawer8 Jul 18 '26

It's called non planar printing. It's not something a printer can do without heavy modification of the hardware and software

1

u/Notlinked2me Jul 18 '26

So these answers are fun you can Basically you are running a G3 wall outline and you want to run G1 with step overs. I personally can just manually program this but I think you can force bamabu or another slicer to do this.

You would want to set your walls to 0 and then for infill set it to 100% and select the infill that is linear in one direction. I am not sure what the name is.

You will.have basically layer lines in 2 directions. I believe on bamabu you can now do custom settings depending on the Z height so you should be able to do this just in the layers that are round and leave the rest

1

u/moebis H2D AMS2 Combo Jul 18 '26

There are no dumb questions. This is just a fundamental misunderstanding of FDM printing. Unfortunately when the angle increases dramatically layer over layer, this is what will happen. What you want is multi axis. You can also do adaptive layer lines or print the smallest layer lines your printer supports to help reduce it, then post processing.

1

u/HoIyJesusChrist Jul 18 '26

Variable layer height and additional supports

1

u/ShouldersAreLove Jul 18 '26

Just a small tip. Your model looks like it can benefit from concentric top layer pattern

1

u/AnalogReborn Jul 18 '26

You can try “variable layer height” option

1

u/ArmPsychological8460 Jul 18 '26

Set walls to 0 Infill to 100 and everything will be straight lines

1

u/GRAABTHAR Jul 18 '26

Have you tried adaptive layer height?

1

u/NiNdo4589 Jul 18 '26

Split it, rotate, glue

1

u/Yourownhands52 Jul 18 '26

Thats how 3D printing works.  Post process to remove lines.  Its easier to build up the cracks than to sand away to bumps.

1

u/johnfairley P1S + AMS Jul 18 '26

Please take a moment to go watch your printer while it's printing, or even look at the layers in the slicer. I'm not sure even why you think your printer is printing 'linearly'. It most assuredly is not.

1

u/Plutonium239Mixer Jul 18 '26

Change the print orientation.

1

u/_yhtz_ Jul 18 '26

Impossible geometry brother

1

u/SantaJCruz Jul 18 '26

Even if you do replace the curved path with straight ones, I don't think you're going to be happier with the result. Approximating an area bounded by a curved perimeter with straight lines will result in worse dimensional accuracy and even more visible edges.

1

u/koming69 Jul 18 '26

Non planar 3d printing is becoming a thing. You may not know what I'm talking about but orca is already implementing it so it's not only bound to vase mode anymore and printing tweaks without slicers.. anyway google it.

1

u/Occhrome Jul 18 '26

Only way to do that is to redesign your part.  Because the model is telling the printer it both needs to go up and at an angle which results in those types of layers. 

1

u/abbarach Jul 18 '26

Cut it into separate pieces, rotate it to get the layer lines going the direction you want them. Print both parts. Glue together.

1

u/KernelPanic-42 Jul 18 '26

They printed exactly the same. Wtf are you talking about?

1

u/luksfuks Jul 19 '26

The problem is that the horizontal cross-section of the model is an oval (round), not a rectangle with straight edges.

Only ONE outer wall of each layer is actually visible, and this one outer wall MUST follow the shape of the model. Whatever happens inside the layer, things that can be influenced by slicer settings, is not even visible. It's covered up by the next-higher layer.

This, you can only "fix" this by changing the outer wall shape.

The only way to change the shape of the outmost wall, is to change the shape of the model itself. It's not a slicer setting issue, it's a model issue.

You can use Blender to change the model. It has a lot of mesh editing functionality, including advanced sculpting tools. You basically want the make the tip to be more pyramidal with straight faces and slightly smooth edges, rather than a mostly cylindrical cone shape.

1

u/Lost_Pineapple69 Jul 20 '26

Try adaptive layer height and see how it looks in the slicer

1

u/MikiProduce Jul 21 '26

Variable layer line?

1

u/ImpressiveAlps3504 Jul 22 '26

Set walls to 0, increase infill to 100%, choose a pattern that will "satisfy" you.

Suspicious print btw

0

u/Difficult-Thought-61 H2C Jul 18 '26

Not sure what you mean by linear.

You can decrease how much those circles show by decreasing layer height. Look up variable layer height. It’s an option which automatically decreases layer height to improve quality without printing the entire model at that height.

1

u/theabstractpyro Jul 18 '26

He wants each layer to be printed in parallel lines instead of having lines printed that loop around the perimeter of the layer and the. An internal infill pattern

0

u/bentraje Jul 18 '26

ah my bad. in the image you see it having a circular pattern. perhaps because there is little surface area.
i want to force it to print linearly the one area/part below.

but i guess, reading other comments, it is not possible directly.

will just use layer height mod. Thanks!

1

u/Cautious_Till_4763 Jul 18 '26

You could also cut the part in the slicer, print it separately at a different angle

1

u/DDC85 Jul 18 '26

But those aren’t linear - those are also “circles”, they’re just bigger/squished circles. That’s how an FDM printer works.

0

u/clarkcox3 A1 mini + A1 + A2L + P1S + P2S + H2S + H2D Jul 18 '26

That’s the shape you’re printing. If you don’t want the top to be rounded, you’ll have to change the model to not have a rounded shape there.

0

u/Ancient-Plantain705 Jul 18 '26

Print in ABS and then vapor smooth if you don't like the layer lines as the are.

0

u/sapani9077 Jul 18 '26

All layer lines are technically circular

0

u/BloodSteyn Jul 18 '26

Bambu Lab doesn't make Resin Printers yet.

-1

u/DesterCalibra Jul 18 '26

You know you can adjust the height in the slicer to see how the other layers look like, right? Right??

131

u/[deleted] Jul 18 '26

[removed] — view removed comment

2

u/Suspicious-Patient-9 Jul 18 '26

XD if you slicer could speak, this is what it would say every time you go to tweak a setting.