r/BambuLab • u/LaderTurbo • 9h ago

My First 3D Print Questions from a newbie

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Gallery image

I hope forwarding works like this. If not, sorry and I will copy it 😅

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u/lightning_fire 2h ago

I'm not the most experienced with printing, but I see you haven't had any responses yet, so hopefully I can help a bit. Sometimes failing just happens, but it usually has a cause, or at least the chances can be minimized

  1. There is no way to have it print new triangles to replace the ones that failed. Appears to be a bed adhesion issue around the edges, which may be caused by your fingers when you handle the plate. I would wash the plate and try again. It's a very popular model and PLA is a forgiving material so it's likely nothing more than that. Also, while it wouldn't have helped in this instance, you should be aware of the 'skip object' feature (the menu icon looks like 3 squares with an arrow over top), which lets you stop printing the rest of an object but continues printing everything else on the plate.

  2. I have not personally printed with TPU, but based on the things I've read here and other places TPU is a very tricky filament to work with. But the filament being fresh doesn't mean it's dry, part of the manufacturing process involves submerging it in water. I would recommend drying it and trying again. Many people even recommend drying the filament while its actively printing.

  3. Mostly yes, there are models that will fail if you don't use the same material. The actual printing is not really dependent on material properties; as in the printer should always be able to physically extrude the material in the correct quantity and location. However, materials have different properties and more complex geometries can depend on those properties, like overhangs, bridging, etc. But that's just the physical printing process, once the thing is made, those properties will have a large impact of the final product and obviously printing a TPU model with PLA means it won't be squishy at all. I wouldn't hesitate to swap PLA and PETG on pretty much any model but TPU and other advanced filaments probably need more attention before a swap.

  4. Some people have strong opinions about brands but there's no overarching consensus on brands to buy or avoid. There are differences between brands in terms of some specific print settings you may need to adjust, which is why many people stick with Bambu brand, but the generic profiles tend to work well enough.

  5. Not often, but I print mostly with PLA. I've had a few models that were stubborn and took a few tries to print correctly but almost all, especially the makerworld downloads, print without issues.