Discord Channel: #filament-general

The current status of the printers is published to https://members.thelab.ms/machines. Access is first come first serve - we don't (currently) have a reservation system.

If you use filament provided by TheLab, we ask for a donation of $0.03/gram to cover the costs of the materials.

Donate on PayPal

You can find this filament in one of the obviously marked bins under the printers and in the AMS(s).

To prepare a 3D model for printing on the Bambu Lab Printers, you must use Bambu Studio. Bambu Studio is especially designed to work with Bambu Lab Printers.

Bambu Studio is installed on most of the machines around TheLab and works as advertised.

Please DO NOT SIGN OUT. If Bambu studio is logged out please @leadership in Discord.

Slicing: When you are ready to begin slicing, simply open Bambu Studio, click Prepare and drag and drop your model to import

You may want to rotate or move around your model(s) for easier printing.

There are only five settings that you should be concerned with when printing.

Print Settings: This refers to the size of layers that the printer will use to make your print. By default, the slicer comes with a number of presets ranging from .05 mm to .25 mm. The smaller the number, the higher quality of the print and the longer the print will take. This can be changed by clicking the dropdown menu located on the right-hand side of the slicer near the top.

Filament: This should correspond to the type of material you plan on printing with. You can create your own filament profiles that better match your material's temperature and print settings. For normal PLA, the generic PLA material preset should suffice.

Printer: Make sure that this matches the printer model that you are planning on printing on. Using the wrong setting here could result in print failure and damage to the printer.

Supports: Some prints require supports to print correctly. Models that have significant overhangs or extend at severe angles will require them. Generally the option Everywhere will do a good job of ensuring your print is properly supported, but this process will apply supports liberally and do so in places where it isn't necessary.

Infill: Infill percentage determines how much of the inside of your 3D model is filled with your material. Higher percentages will mean slightly longer print times and significantly more material used, so don't overdo it.

For flexible prints, we recommend 5% to 10% infill. For prints made for display or barely any use, we recommend 15% to 20% infill. For prints made for light use, we recommend 20% to 40% infill. For prints made for heavy use, we recommend 40% or above infill.

Loading/Unloading: If you have not loaded your filament yet, follow the guide below to load your printer.

Printing: Once you are ready to print, follow the following steps to send the print to the printer. In Bambu Studio, once the model has been sliced, click the “Print Plate” button. In the printer dropdown, select the correct printer name. Bed Leveling and Flow Dynamics are optional, but encouraged

Click “Send”

The Bambus are very reliable/safe printers - just stick around to make sure the first layer sticks before letting the print run unattended.

For now, we do not have the capacity for storing member-owned filament. We will likely change this in the future. For now, please take your filament home within 24hr of the completed print.

• If you break something, that's okay! Try to fix it if you're confident that you can, and post in the #filament-general channel to let everyone know the current status of the printers
• If someone else's print has finished, feel free to remove their print and place it in the bin
• Long prints are okay! Try to run them overnight, leave a note in Discord first.
• Only use gluestick on plates that require it
• Vacuum up the inside of the printer enclosure if your print left dust, etc.
• Don't hold up both printers at once unless you've gotten consensus in the #filament-general Discord channel first

Note: This is preliminary, for general introductory information only at this time. Some of what is here may not be totally correct. Please ask for help from those who know the local processes.

Preliminary TheLab Quick Start