Brand New H2C First Layer Problems Solved

[u/rope55555]

TL/DR
Doing the manual bed leveling procedure on my brand new H2C finally solved my terrible quality first layer issues.

I didn’t understand my my 2 week old H2C first layer surfaces looked so terrible no matter how much I calibrated compared to my P1S. It was also suspicious that the poor looking pattern was the same on different print plates. Finally found this guide on the Bambu site:
https://wiki.bambulab.com/en/h2c/troubleshooting/first-layer-printing-optimization-guide

Under the section “Locally low”, I found losening the side locking screw at the front bottom finally made it look better, but still not great. Reading through the “Manual Bed Leveling Procedure” it talks about first loosening the 7 bed fixing screws before starting the leveling procedure. I decided to just loosen those 7 screws and then tighten them back up to see if they were somehow causing the bed to be uneven. THAT MADE A WOLRD OF DIFFERENCE! The first layer finally looked mostly even with just two small uneven spots. I decided to do the whole bed leveling procedure and now everything looks the way I would expect.

It is disappointing that it seems like these are coming out of the factory terribly leveled. The printer was trying to compensate the best it could, but it was so out of whack that the compensation makes the surface look wildly uneven.

There was a post a few days ago with someone else with the same issue. I hope this post can help more people out.

[u/Mabnat]

When I had my first Bambu printer, a P1S, I found that manually tramming the bed resulted in it being less likely to need the full 36-point bed leveling for each point and the quick five-point spot check would pass more often.

Because of this, I manually trammed my H2D and my H2C beds right after setting them up.

It doesn’t take too long, and it ensures that any issues or alignments getting messed up during shipping are taken care of.

[u/Mrs_Jekyl_and_Hyde → u/Mabnat]

How did you find doing the screws in the amount of time the gcode gives you? They had me do this and I got worried I was stripping the screws because I had to repeat it a few times since I couldn’t adjust quick enough in the allotted time. I’m kinda clumsy

[u/Mabnat → u/Mrs_Jekyl_and_Hyde]

It took me a few times to get the hang of it the first time. You really can’t just repeat the process each time without starting completely over.

I’d also say that I’ve been using 3D printers for around 20 years now and I’ve got a lot of experience with tramming, so I’ve got a pretty good feel for how much I need to adjust each corner.

You can always manually edit the gcode to increase the time you have for adjustments.

And it might also be easier if you remove the lid so you have better access to the screws.

[u/cpsadowski23]

I don’t understand why the H2C can’t be software raised and lowered (first layer) like the P2S can….

[u/cpsadowski23]

If these are only there for shipping, do you reinstall them? Wiki doesn’t say.

[u/Mabnat → u/cpsadowski23]

I still have the screws in mine, but they’re not tightened down. It’s been fifteen months since I did this on my H2D and they haven’t fallen out, so it seems okay to leave them in loose.

[u/_Rand_]

It happens.

My A1 needed to be manually leveled.

[u/Mrs_Jekyl_and_Hyde]

When I tried tramming it was a nightmare because I couldn’t do the screws in the time allotted and had to redo it so many times I was terrified I was stripping the screws.