I really appreciate that you show the whole engineering process, with all the research and decision-making to evolve a design. It’s not just informative but also engaging.
LATE BREAKING NEWS: There is now a firmware update that appears to fix the underextrusion issues I was seeing in the first layer. With the new firmware (01.01.00.00) I am now getting good results with the automatic flow calibration and the default profile for the Bambu Lab PETG Basic filament.
As far as review videos go, he didn't spend a lot of time talking about the product really - spent way more time showing an interesting use of it instead. The results sell it!
white petg probably is using titanium dioxide as a pigment, so it is pretty opaque and will not work great as a diffusor. Non-pigmented filament (often branded as natural/natur/or simillar) would be definitly better. It isn't translucent, but should diffuse light without dimming it as much.
I was thinking maybe he could add a clear layer closer to the leds, then have the final lens in clear 3 layers thick. That way the clear closer to the leds does a little diffusion, then it's smoothed out again by the final lens. That air gap would probably require bridging tho
@@c0mputer The results are really go IMO, but I thought the result of some of his prints were good when he could see room for improvements. That is what this comment is about, improvement. The difference between 99.9% and 99.999%. 😀
What a slick idea. Standard 7 segment displays are honestly so tricky to get good visibility on without just the right diffusion layer and this makes it look so good and seems like it has the potential to allow make a very bright display without running into bleed or contrast issues.
When you hold objects that are a little reflective on the top down camera view, the glare can make it kinda hard to see detail. I think getting a circular polarizing filter for your camera would be a nice video upgrade that won't break the bank. Great video as always. I just noticed this with the printed parts casting a lot of glare in some shots, not a huge deal.
I came for the 7 segment displays, I stayed for the translucent windows, and I am *not* disapointed. Thankyou James, for answering questions I didn't even know to ask ❤❤❤ Oh, and P.S. Your video on the carbon-fiber roller bearing balance tester thing completely inspired me; I've started drawing up 3D parts for my modelling projects. Thankyou for the inspiration ❤😊
- The dovetail isn't necessary for adhesion at all - When printing black/white be aware of the flush-volume option - For fine details you could give the 0,2mm nozzle a try - When printing complex first layers with PETG I highly recommend to reduce the speed for the first layer down to 10mm/s
Great video! I just picked up the A1 mini as my 1st 3D printer. I also went ahead and picked up a hardened steel hot end and some PETG-CF (along with some PLA).
Another awesome video! This is something I had been looking for - and thank you for the link to order! Shame they are now on back order until after thanksgiving! Keep up the great work on these videos... I am always amazed at your level of professionalism and thoroughness.
High recommend the smooth PEI plate for something like this 🙂 Also, making the sides of the window channels white would probably improve transmission if you wanted it even brighter.
Damn good work, James. I thought this machine was a big step backwards at first but it’s clear they’ve continued to innovate and have moved the bar for the industry again. I can’t wait to see what they come up with for their upcoming larger format machine. I’m currently playing with a Neptune 4 Max and it’s decent, but a Bambu machine at that scale would be epic.
Lol… I have no interest in that printer nor the topic and still, I‘ve watched the whole review… you are fantastic to listen to… found your channel with the Bambu Lab X1 Carbon review and really liked your way of explaining. So well, I guess that‘s one of the biggest compliments I can give you.. 😁
This kind of work with 3D printers is really helpful for us tinkerers! Subscribed and looking forward to more of your testing using 3D prints with Bambu printers.
I've been away from 3D printing a while, James. Seeing these capabilities has me dumbfounded, especially for the costs! Using that faceplate in a product, one would not know it was printed and could perhaps be a one-off (unless of course they removed it and looked at the backside). Amazing!
Try setting the diffuser back farther. Decoupling it from the lens. I'd think that'd help increase contrast while decreasing the brightness when off. Thanks for the video. I'm blown away that multi-material has gotten this effortless.
I am impressed with the filament changes and not having a ton of streaking messes through the different colors. I would have expected some nozzle dragging to inadvertently pick up some PETG across the boundaries.
Great video, and a very interesting idea. This made me think of another possible variation. Instead of a black panel with white segments, print the whole first layer in white. Use black in subsequent layers to define the individual segments. I think that would make all the segments invisible when they are not illuminated.
@@Clough42 you could also try to separate the two layers (diffuser and transparent petg ) by leaving a 1mm gap between them. I know, the diffuser will be printed in the air , as bridge , but for those small sizes might work quite ok .
Great Vid! I found your it totally useful for the type of simpit panel engineering that i enjoy. i really appreaciate you showing your engineering process and gleamed so much to add in my next simpit panel. Just wished the form factor of the AMS Lite was more practical to have with me in my Kommand Center as it would be on your desk. P.s You really sold me on the purpose of the AMS
Did you try putting the diffuser layer further away from the surface? I'd expect you'd get better diffusion of the light with the diffuser closer to the LED, and less reflectance of the room light off the diffuser making the segments that aren't lit darker. Or maybe fill the whole space between the LED and the front of the panel with the clear, and with all the layer lines, you might get better diffusion without reflecting as much room light on the unlit segments.
Good review. This gives me an idea as to how this would work with what I would tend to do in precision. I’m looking at the full size model, but this is great for small parts. Actually, Bambu said they’re coming out with a bigger, more advanced model. Sigh.
Love the idea James, this helps bring more accessible display features to the layman. I'm not fond of the A1 pitch though, felt very scripted and I had to skip through the parts where you described the printer. I may be crazy, but I feel like I've heard the pitch word for word before on other content creators channels where they were provided the machine from BambuLab.
Good result! Though I don't like the white diffusion layer, since it reduces contrast and brightness so much. I'd put in a clear layer or two as a diffusor at maybe 2mm distance from the window. And just leave air between them; the printer can bridge over gaps nicely, especially at those small sizes.
To have good diffusion, you want a first layer of diffusion closer to the LED to spread the light source origin. The secon layer acts as a screen on which the light is projected. Think of it like a laser pointer illuminating a thin paper and then the spread from that is projected on a wall. The most important thing is to leave some space between the first and second layer.
Remember no matter what printer you have, you should always be doing E-Step Calibration and every material should have flow-rates calibrated. I have filaments that need 0.93 as the flow rate, and others that need 1.07. EVERY time I get a new filament I run a flow rate cube to check it. Same filament in my CR6SE might have a different flow rate of my Ender3. I have never tried multi-material with my printers, it is a manual operation on them, but I've never understood how to do it. This gave some insight. Thanks James!
This is generally unnecessary to get good results when using Bambu filament on a Bambu printer. In fact, there was a firmware update for the A1 a few minutes before this video went live that fixed my issue, and I'm getting good results with the default flow ratio setting now. (edited to fix typo)
@@Clough42Interesting. Even PRUSA's need to have filament flow rate calibrated using their own filament. That said, Having used INLAND PLA+ and PETG, the numbers are VERY consistent (just different between printers), and PRUSA Mint is similar, numbers are consistent and just vary between my two printers. Would like a Bambu, but the cost just keeps me away. I had 4 printers at one time (2 home built from 2010, an Ender3 and CRS6SE). I just have the two Creality printers now. Only reason I see to get a different printer right now is if I want exotic materials. Good stuff as always though James. Learned a LOT of Fusion from you through the years! :)
You can use Hilbert curve infill for the first layer to prevent any diagonal pattern in the front of the panel. I’ve done it before with great results. Takes a lot longer but worth it.
Diffuser thought... would a broken or cross hatched or whatever clear layer work as a diffuser. So all clear material for transmission of light, and facets with sandwiched air gaps to do the the light scattering. Even a grid of pits or pyramid shapes on the diode surface may be enough. 🤞 And you do very good work with bamboo!
Nice! Do the same, but for the vary first layer, use 0.1 of same black color so only when the led ia on it will be transparent (maybe use also thiner white for diffusion so it will be brighter to compensate of the black)
Make the bottom all white diffusor material. The light will bounce off the sides of the hole and not be absorbed as much which will make it brighter. Sorta a wave guide.
I would line the inside of the “funnels” between the LEDs and the lenses with white material to reflect the light that otherwise would be absorbed by the black plastic, but keep black plastic between the segments so there would be no leakage. And I would print the lenses with the same colour as the LEDs so they would only transmit/reflect that colour, making them darker in bright ambiant light. Source: I’ve once “fixed” an unreadable LED display by sticking red film on it… It became so much more readable that my boss paid me a steak dinner with all the trimmings…
I wonder if the Hilbert curve for the lens top surface would act as a diffuser, maybe even have single layer bridges placed in the optical shaft, they'll look horrible but give a random diffraction. Line the optical shaft in white or just make it in white, more diffusion. If the shaft is white then a more complex optical path for more bounces? Might be able to do that like a fiber optic, internal refraction of the transparent material?
Great Video, I enjoyed the process and loved the product. I guess if I want to buy one of these machines I will have to go to the local Jr. High School and find a kid that knows how to make it work. Because I have absolutely no idea how to program this type of system despite being in the technical industry for 50 years. NO I am not smarter than a fifth grader (on this).
To get more diffusion you could have just made the lenses thicker and still out of the clear material, maybe you could even play around with the top and bottom surface infills to see how that affects diffusion. Do they have smooth beds for the A1M? If so then that could look even better but that is up to personal preference.
Thanks for sharing, I'm impressed by the results you were able to achieve with the A1. Regarding the quality issues you saw with the 0.1mm diffuser layer, I ran into similar issues with PETG and fine layer heights in my X1C. Bambu Studio uses volumetric flow rate to constrain its printing speed with PETG, so when you switch to finer layer heights it tries to print PETG much faster than it should, which can result in poor print quality. Reducing the maximum flow rate for the material might help get the result you're looking for.
If you haven’t you might want to look into .3mf format. It looks like it essentially saves the 3 materials into one file instead of 3 separate .Stl files.
Yeah this is what I do for multi material. The bodies just show up in the objects. Helps to name them in Fusion before export if there are a lot of them
In my opinion, Stp is the only way to go with 3d prints. I didn’t even realize you could do this until recently. Stp avoids the triangles, faceted prints, etc. Bambu studio will do it, probably Prusa slicer which it’s based on, and others as well.
@@davidawatersHow has this been a feature for a year and I'm only finding out about it now!? With that said and as much as I like step files 3MF does have certain advantages like being able to store print settings for example.
@@oliverer3 idk, I just learned about it too. I’ve been annoyed by faceted parts for a long time. Also I hate modifying stls. Step files are easy to modify so I hope the whole industry goes that direction.
You could make the windows much thicker and they'd do their own diffusion while still looking black when unlit. If you could use a fill pattern that goes across the short width of the window it might act like cylindrical lenses to spread the light into a line. The inner surface could be concave (maybe a dome just big enough for the LED) to capture more light for internal reflection.
Yeah, I suggested that in a comment too - my other idea was to print the diffuser layer just above the LEDs, and have an airgap between that and the clear at the surface. That also might help keep the unlit segments darker.
Even though I use Onshape, I've waiting with baited breath to see the video about the design process for this. Please try to consider when you make the video that some of us don't use Fusion but the basic concepts should be similar.
This was a geat video! You have some mad Fusion360 skills that make me feel very inadequate... Love my P1P (with Hard parts upgrade) it is a gamechanger, never use my QIDI X-CF PRO anymore. (sad because it was expensive).
So cool to print out parts that can only be produced on a 3d printer, especially mixing multiple materials and colors/properties. Can a copper infused filament make a 3d printed circuit board? lol.
When you did the first batch of surface finishes, I was thinking hit the face with some fine grit sand paper to make it all more consistent and matte, and then maybe a coat of wax?
I liked the first without white PETG. The segments didn’t show until lit up. Why didn’t you try more clear layers instead of adding white layers? If you could get the layers to alternate the light would diffuse.
Why use white as the diffuser layer? That just decreases the contrast between the off and on segments, maybe a thin layer of black or dark gray would be better?
I really love hidden indicators. For that you print a single 0.1 layer (0.2 works as well, it's good for larger windows) solid / don't have the holes poke through entirely. Even that lets through a surprising amount of light. Even with a textured bed I succeeded doing that and it looks really nice as you can't see the indicators at all unless they're lit. In a recent project I even printed a clear PETG light guide and then into such a hidden feature. That didn't turn out too stunning, but good enough for a charge indicator
Actually back a few years ago, PETG was mostly translusend dyed. While pigmented dye is now the "standard", you can still get translucend PETG. So maybe a "translucend" black first layer would hide the segments if the light is off, but work better than using the normal black used for the other layers.
@@oleurgast730 Normal black is little enough pigmented for it to work really well. This way you don't need to swap filaments. But this is a nice idea for sure! 100% worth trying out!
The white diffuser layer reduces contrast between OFF and ON segments so I prefer no diffuser. Maybe if you can make diffused color the same as LED color, contrast will be better. Really impressed on how you can print different layers in different colors! -- Thanks for a great presentation.
I got distracted with a work thing for a while... but at 18 minutes: multi shot injection molding but the tool & die for that... For a one-off part: no! 3D printing all the way.
Would have loved to see the amount of waste weighed and compared to the actual finished part🤔. Feel a laser cutter on a black acrylic, filled with transparent epoxy/silicone, could have done a better job, at a fraction of the time and material used. Just some 💭❤👍
"natural" pla might be a better choice than clear+white petg - It's a milky translucent not-as-clear as clear petg but definitely not as bright as the white. Other materials have similar properties but then enclosure might be warranted.
Wow, nice work. I have been circling around the Bambu Labs A1 Mini 3D printer for a while now. It looks like a great first printer. Many reviews say it's nice and quiet, and they have it on the desktop beside them. But what about particle emissions? Are there no harmful VOCs released when printing?
Really great video. Love all the details and seeing your thought processes. Would love to see more detailed slicer settings you use. Still getting used to BambuStudio myself with my A1.
might have worked better to just use the hilbert curve top surface on the clear PETG to diffuse the light from the LEDs better without blocking as much light as with the opaque white PETG
Another option to get the light more evenly diffused over the lens would be to make some transverse stripes on their inside surface so they catch light from different directions. With that, they could be completely made out of transparent material, minimizing the light loss. It's similar approachto how diffusers e.g. on car blinker lights are made out of single piece of transparent plastic.
@@NicksStuff with a 0.4mm nozzle you can pretty safely lay down lines 0.3mm thick, and you can do multiple layers of that, staggered slightly to achieve a finer overall pitch. and, since this isn't like a camera lens or something, just a "try to randomize the light rays" type application, it's ok if you push the limits and the individual lines don't turn out that great, because over multiple layers that randomness will average out to even illumination. i find with this type of thing, the hardest part is often just figuring out how to model something to manipulate the slicer into placing the individual lines exactly how i want. (hopefully someday we'll have better tooling for more granular control over the gcode)
Hi James, I'm curious how long/turny of a light tube you could print with the clear filament embedded in black/opaque. Would the light follow the tube kind of like fiber optic line or will it just very quickly diffuse and die off? Imagine your enclosure design called for the indicator light to be 3" away from where you could practically place the LED.
I was wondering about that, lining the tube with white or embedding the super thin white layer in clear to cure the black drag if you didn't source the non-pigment filament xano mentioned.
for some reason the algorithm knows it best! I stumbled upon your video for no particular reason, and now I find myself buying a Bambu P1S after clicking on your link for the mini... I hope you get a commission for that too! waiting on that Fusion 360 tutorial!! keep the faith.
Use clear PETG, but with more layers - maybe also with a wider surface on the inside (more extreme dovetail) - to get rid of those hotspots, but also with less of that white/black contrast when not illuminated.
Great video. Did you try two layers of clear, separated by a small air gap? I used a similar principle years ago using some flurescent lights to create a flat color light box. The result was very flat.
Suggestion: So you aren't looking at white plastic when it's turned off and also give you more contrast, make it 5x brighter and put a dark transparent plexiglass lens in front.
First time channel viewer here… Very informative, no-nonsense video that doesn’t shy away from the more advanced projects (in my eyes, anyway, as somebody looking to go into 3D printing). I’m amazed at the quality of such a relatively cheap printer and this has re-awakened (re-awoken?) my interest in them!
I'm into 3d printing because I like to tinker with things. But you know, sometimes you just want to print something and not worry about it. The price on this guy is low enough that I can justify having it around for those occasions.
Hi James , how would you rate the rigidity and repeatability of the printer, and if you just want to print with pla and petg material only, would you still prefer mini over x1 carbon?
This is cool, if you're thinking of using this for the ELS, I think there might be a way to use a to also print in place TPU buttons so that the whole panel would be continuous and dust proof. Cura had a new feature called "material interlocking", though you can probably do a better job cading it in yourself as you did with the diffusers. Let me know if you want a fusion 360 example of what I'm thinking.
How do you like your lathe being up high? I’m just curious. I use a lathe nearly everyday (tool and die guy) and have never seen a lathe up so high before. 🤔
