First experiences with 3D printing with Bambu Lab X2D

DIY Tinhte has just decided to invest in a Bambu Lab X2D 3D printer, for work and also a start for Tinhte brothers to learn more deeply about this subject. Below is my experience after a period of use, starting from 0, what do I need it to do and what will I do next.

Get acquainted with the Bambu Lab ecosystem

Bambu Lab is famous for packaging and creating simple solutions, it will be extremely easy for users to get started, like me personally, having never learned about this field but still unboxing, assembling, and using quickly.

When buying a device, assembling it, and installing plastic, in my opinion there are a few things you need to learn first as follows:

With the above 3 basic things, you can already use X2D well, before diving deeper into the more in-depth, and more difficult, settings than drawing files.

Bambu Handy

Bambu Handy allows you to register a 3D printer, by scanning the QR code, the system will automatically synchronize printer information to Bambu Studio on your computer.

Bambu Handy allows quick printing of models available online, just download and print, extremely simple, these files are mostly already calibrated, suitable for the machine, automatically recognize the plastic profile and just print.

Next is Bambu Handy, which allows basic management of your 3D printer, viewing parameters, and the best thing for me personally is watching liveview, and timelapse tracking printing is quite convenient.

Some samples I downloaded and tested.

Some samples I downloaded and tested.

Bambu Studio

Bambu Studio is software on PC, computer, laptop platforms (macOS or Windows), you can do a lot of things on this application, I will go over a few important things, to give you an idea, for more details, see you in the following articles, after I have used them all. The Home tab is where you manage your offline print files, find available online print files, and login profile. Just log in with the same account as on your phone and the printer information will automatically sync to be ready to print.

Prepare is the tab for you to edit the print file, the left panel is the tools to set up the printer, print bed, plastic profile, printing parameters, in general things related to the printer and plastic. The horizontal taskbar is a tool that affects the print file, which is used a lot to prepare for rendering the print file.

Preview is the tab to render the file that the machine uses to print, in this the 3D file will be shown according to how the printer looks, how many layers, and how each layer goes. On this tab, you can also see how long it takes to print the file, how much plastic it costs, and then you can edit and balance it for optimal results.

Next is the Device tab - this is where you can view liveviews, timelapses, information about AMS (plastic roll storage), update firmware, view internal or removable memory, and control your printer remotely.

I often come here to watch liveviews, check if there are any printing errors or copy timelapse files to make videos.

Finally, there is the Calibration tab, to perform calibration exercises for the printer. Normally, when installing the machine, it is automatically done. If an error or configuration change occurs, please calibrate it.

What do I use?

There are many things to talk about using 3D printers for, but depending on each person's preferences and needs, I will initially focus on learning about 3D printing, drawing files and solving problems that I have not been able to do before.

Video of me making a CP extension with Vuong

CP extension

Vuong ordered me to draw an extension for the CP on Tinhte's kitchen, so that when the hood is turned on it will be lighter.

Vuong had already measured everything, and I based it on drawing it into a file using Shapr3D. After struggling for a while, I finally got the file.

Consider this the first project for me and Vuong. Although after printing the file and holding it in my hand, I saw a few errors, but it was basically usable. When installed, it fits well and can be used for the intended purpose. I have described the process in the clip so you can watch the video.

Clamp the power outlet under the table

In3D will help you solve difficult problems that no one sells, but the needs are often very personal, for example, you want to install an electrical outlet under the table, before that couldn't be solved, you had to tie it with a drawstring.

The versions I drew and printed had errors I definitely couldn't find an existing file, so I measured it myself, drew it myself, then had to test print it, got an error and had to fix it... 5 times, after nearly 8 hours of machine running, it was successful. First, I measured and took the dimensions of the items, the table tray, the electrical outlet and found a way to connect it.

Above are the versions of the drawings I drew, out of 4 failures only 1 was successful, worth mentioning is probably the first version, the 4th error version and the successful version.

Final and usable version. In the first version, I designed it as a hook and hung it on the wire shelf of the table. Especially, I did not use screws and only used mounts. The requirement was that it could be removed so that I could wire it beautifully later.

Hang it up perfectly. Versions 1, 2, 3 are defective and cannot be hung. They are loose and can easily fall off. You can watch the video to understand better. For the 4th version, due to fear of a loose error, I made the mount a bit big. In the end, it was able to be installed but could not be removed.

Hook it up and attach it with a clamp, I don't use screws. By the 5th version, it was as successful as expected, the power outlet is stable, there is no need to hold on when pinning the power, it can be removed with the mounts on the print and I am using it stably until now.

Conclude

My next 3D printing content will revolve around finding solutions, drawing and printing to solve the needs of everyone in the company, with the aim of improving my personal experience in drawing and 3D printing techniques. Emotionally, this is an addictive subject, it brings a feeling of excitement, especially when waiting for the print version, to see if it is okay or whether it can be used. The print switch extension must have taken nearly 40 minutes, but Vuong and I watched and waited for it to finish, it didn't contain anything. If you are someone who likes creativity, engineering, and technology, then I believe you will like this subject and bring a lot of joy every day. I have to work and think about filming videos and taking photos at the same time, so it may be difficult for the article to convey all the information. I think you should watch the video to understand better.