What I noticed from printing many multi color models is that the prime tower is mostly needed when printing models with text, such as a box lid that has some writing on it. If there's no prime tower, it many cases the writing will be under extruded and messed up.
Thanks! As a new P1S owner, I'm trying to get my head around all the complexities of 3D printing. This helped a lot for multi-color printing, and the pros and cons of Prime Towers. Clear, concise and to the point. Great work 😀
I was wondering about cutting the prime tower by half. So I search for it here and you were the first result. Thanks for sharing! It will save my time from experimenting myself.
your welcome man! glad that its helpful. I‘ve also been experimenting with other settings after I posted this video and currently i use 5/10 and still get great results.
@@Lukis3D Duuude! I appreciated the tests, I do own a Bambu + ams but try always to minimize color changes on the same layer or close, I swear I still refuse to print full multicolor with one toolhead, it makes an insane amount of waste! Like the mini Jordan poops 3 times the volume of the build and it's 3 colors, madness! Thanks for printing for us all those pokemons 😅
@@Lukis3D *ending the video - I liked a lot the robot, Im very into the Dummy13 thing and the bot u printed is very nice to be a print in place. Hueforges and flat prints on bed is where u got to the point! Ok, one point I have is that a 7m difference it's not always just a 1% on 8hrs. My life is short 7 mins is 7 mins! Apart that, the added time is negligible and the difference is crucial I see, when you have color changes on the bed or on the visible upper surfaces. There, it makes the difference because the color change and nozzle residual pressure is managed at best and the prime tower is needed so large only when it has layers with multiple color switches. That thing the residual pressure sends me mad. Now I know what t f is making the nozzle drip. Negligible with PLA but sensitive on PETG. Really, thanks! I'm working on some printable playin cards just right now, other than enjoy a lot hueforge. Using that pesky tower sometimes will improve some things!
You can use prime tower like purge tower. Lower your purge and the color left on the nozzle will be purged into the prime tower. So you will get stability on prints with prime tower without the waste of it.
If you pair this with flushing into object and the color change waste reduction gcode, you can then reduce the purge tower's size to the minimum volume the slicer will allow (probably 1 cubic mm) and then prime initial tiny bit of volume with the purge tower and the rest into random toys and tools rather than waste. By the time the hotend gets to your actual print, it's ready to go.
Yep - you can. This comment is old, so you probably figured it out already, but when you have more than one object on the plate and the plate has multiple colors, just right click one of the models on the plate and select "Flush Options" and then "Flush Into Object".
Thank you. Just got my first ams lite. The waste was concerning, but worse was i didn't understand what it was even doing. I like others thought it was a purge tower. Thanks for the clarity!
Thank you so much for this video. You confirmed my suspicions that a prime tower was mostly needed but it didn't have to be the default size. This was all great information and a great comparison.
your welcome! yes and nobody talked alot about this so thats why i made the test so i could share my results to those who’re looking for the same info.
Neat video! Something I've experimented with is mitigating underextrusion by doing inner perimeters first, or by using a skirt to get over the issue with the first layer.
That was the best analysis on the subject I've seen. Good job. I think it's pretty marginal, just depends on the person. For "artistic" prints keep it mostly on to get the best quality, for other situations, I turn it down or off. It's a separate decision for each print.
I can tell how much effort and work you put in this video. Thank you so much mate, I really appreciate it! Keep it up ❤ Greetings from another A1 user :)
Thank you for doing this experiment. I guess you need prime tower if you have multicolor first layer or want it to be perfect. For other layers underextrusion will go into the inner wall and you won't see it.
I would say flow is fixed by the time the outer wall is being printed especially if your print order is Inner/Outer. I think it explains the Vader print small holes. I personally use 10 width and 10 volume.
Thanks for Video, subscribed. Im a beginner in 3d printing too. Bought A1 Mini combo couple weeks ago, haven't even tried AMS yet) Will wait for more Videos.
Thank you for doing this. I have always wanted to know.. and now I do! ❤ I would be interested in a future video that reduces filament retraction during swaps to see if poop + purge tower can both be reduced without loss of quality. Thanks again for your time in testing. You da bomb :)
Seems like there would be some value in being able to restrict the height of the prime tower so it could be used for improving the bottom layer. Or being able to set the volume for various layer-heights. Logically, only the top/bottom shell and the walls are particularly sensitive to the lack of a prime tower. At least for the minor defects that seems to be showing up without the prime tower. Having the prime tower be more of a tree support structure would allow it to prime more for layers with a lot of external surfaces. Actually. Couldn't printing infill first be used to partially replace the prime tower as well?
So the conclusion I get is that a prime tower is advised, but the default settings are too strong (probably on purpose) I'm wondering, if combining this with the option to prime into the model (in the infill for exemple) could remove the prime tower entirely without risking that slight underextrusion that might happen sometimes. After all, if the infill is under-extruded in a few spots it hardly matter, no?
thanks for comment! and im glad that you saw that. My initial plan for this test was to keep everything at default as much as possible and only change the prime tower settings, so i could judge the results solely based on the different prime tower settings.
yes i think its the newest one. Nevertheless, In this video, my goal was to only evaluate the prime tower, so i didnt use any optimisation (like changing the flushing volumes or purging in infill etc.). I tried to keep everything at default except the prime tower settings.
Hi, I am sorry but I am new to your channel. Which 3D printer do you use that prints those colors so vibrantly? It's a bambu printer but which exact model? Thanks 🙂. My best guess from the video is the Bambu Lab A1 combo?
i dont know if that option is available in Bambu Studio, but if it does, that second object would be susceptible to underextrusion. Unless that second object isn‘t that important, i guess it would be fine.
I'm looking into getting into 3d printing. With the Bambu sale. I appreciate this video. I'm a complete noob and don't know much as I'm kinda jumping into this blind. The information was clear and the content didn't waste any time. Great job.
i have a p1s and no ams (going to go get one soon). i do multi color by layer with pauses. ive done both. i find that when i load the new filament, if i just make it extrude 3 or 4 extra times, i don't need the prime tower and dont have any underextrusion issues. not sure how you could do that on ams?
Supports don't exist in many prints and don't exist once all supported areas are exhausted beyond the lower layers. A more reliable method would be to print infill first, then inner walls, followed by outer walls. ..or at the very least print outer walls after inner walls because I don't know if slicers support printing infill first.
i don't see why theres no setting for the prime tower to be printed away from an object when possible, that way the tower will only be printing on layers with a change in them.
i guess that would save some filaments, but if it has to move away, then move down, then move up again everytime, that would mean longer printing time and adds the risk that the print head will knock down your model. But the idea is good, hopefully they’ll come up with that solution soon
this has never happened to me before, but you can also make the brim bigger so it‘ll stick better to the plate. Or try to wash your plate wish dishsoap & wipe the plate with IPA before a print. Most problems that occur in 3D printing are caused by the bed being dirty
Hi there! I'm having an issue with my Bambu Lab printer where the Purge Tower isn't printing, even though the option is enabled in Bambu Studio. I'm using a single filament (no AMS Lite), and while the model prints fine, the Purge Tower is completely skipped. I've double-checked the settings, but the issue persists. Does anyone have any suggestions or tips on how to fix this? Thanks in advance!😅😅
hi there, if you’re only printing in one color, you don’t need the purge tower, so thats why its skipped 😊 Unless you’re doing timelapse, then it’s gonna be activated.
@@Lukis3D Thank you for your response, but I'm already aware of that. The problem is that during printing, my printer often leaves the model, moves to the upper right corner, lowers to the print bed, and then returns to continue printing. When this happens, a small piece of filament always gets left on the model. 😒😒
purging into infill is not all-in-one solution for it. A model isnt usually uniform, it has small area and big areas. where an area is small, it will flush a small amount (or none at all), and when the area is big, it will flush more. So the priming isn’t going to be consistent througout the model.
@@jeriellopez4927 it depends on how many colours you use and how complex the design. The purge is the same amount every colour change. So if your printing something like a rainbow your going to waste an absolute tonne of filament. Where as if you were just printing something that was black until half way up and then it became white for the rest that would be only a single purge event. But if you have 4 colours on a single layer for every layer in the entire print…. Not your talking about 4 purges multiplied by the number of layers. The wastage will outweigh the print weight significantly. All depends on the print. That’s why Prusas big printer can use a bunch of individual hot ends instead. Each hotend is loaded with 1 colours and the machine just changes the tool it needs as it goes. More like a fancy CNC machine.
I use 4 x1c at work since it was released I legit only used prime tower when I forget to turn it off 😂. Btw if you wanna really reduce filament waste just play around with filament purge volume.
20 g is about 7.7 % of 259 g... If you're gonna round, you could at least round to the nearest number, not to the nearest 10 or whatever. :D
aw poop, i mustve miscalculated that one! thanks for pointing that out!
What I noticed from printing many multi color models is that the prime tower is mostly needed when printing models with text, such as a box lid that has some writing on it. If there's no prime tower, it many cases the writing will be under extruded and messed up.
For a beginner, this was just what I was looking for - thank you!
your welcome, that was my intention😊 Glad that it‘s helpful!
Same here, this was very helpful
Thanks! As a new P1S owner, I'm trying to get my head around all the complexities of 3D printing. This helped a lot for multi-color printing, and the pros and cons of Prime Towers. Clear, concise and to the point. Great work 😀
I was wondering about cutting the prime tower by half. So I search for it here and you were the first result. Thanks for sharing! It will save my time from experimenting myself.
your welcome man! glad that its helpful. I‘ve also been experimenting with other settings after I posted this video and currently i use 5/10 and still get great results.
"I WASTED FILAMENTS SO YOU DONT HAVE TO" said the legend
exactly😂
@@Lukis3D Duuude! I appreciated the tests, I do own a Bambu + ams but try always to minimize color changes on the same layer or close, I swear I still refuse to print full multicolor with one toolhead, it makes an insane amount of waste! Like the mini Jordan poops 3 times the volume of the build and it's 3 colors, madness! Thanks for printing for us all those pokemons 😅
@@Lukis3D *ending the video - I liked a lot the robot, Im very into the Dummy13 thing and the bot u printed is very nice to be a print in place. Hueforges and flat prints on bed is where u got to the point!
Ok, one point I have is that a 7m difference it's not always just a 1% on 8hrs. My life is short 7 mins is 7 mins!
Apart that, the added time is negligible and the difference is crucial I see, when you have color changes on the bed or on the visible upper surfaces.
There, it makes the difference because the color change and nozzle residual pressure is managed at best and the prime tower is needed so large only when it has layers with multiple color switches.
That thing the residual pressure sends me mad. Now I know what t f is making the nozzle drip. Negligible with PLA but sensitive on PETG. Really, thanks! I'm working on some printable playin cards just right now, other than enjoy a lot hueforge. Using that pesky tower sometimes will improve some things!
You can use prime tower like purge tower. Lower your purge and the color left on the nozzle will be purged into the prime tower. So you will get stability on prints with prime tower without the waste of it.
If you pair this with flushing into object and the color change waste reduction gcode, you can then reduce the purge tower's size to the minimum volume the slicer will allow (probably 1 cubic mm) and then prime initial tiny bit of volume with the purge tower and the rest into random toys and tools rather than waste. By the time the hotend gets to your actual print, it's ready to go.
I heard you can use objects as a prime tower if you don't mind muticolors in your second object. It would be cool to have you showcase that as well.
Yep - you can. This comment is old, so you probably figured it out already, but when you have more than one object on the plate and the plate has multiple colors, just right click one of the models on the plate and select "Flush Options" and then "Flush Into Object".
Thank you. Just got my first ams lite. The waste was concerning, but worse was i didn't understand what it was even doing. I like others thought it was a purge tower. Thanks for the clarity!
your welcome, glad that its helpful!
Thank you so much for this video. You confirmed my suspicions that a prime tower was mostly needed but it didn't have to be the default size.
This was all great information and a great comparison.
your welcome! yes and nobody talked alot about this so thats why i made the test so i could share my results to those who’re looking for the same info.
Thank you. For this I will be trimming down the amount of filament used for the purge tower.
Neat video! Something I've experimented with is mitigating underextrusion by doing inner perimeters first, or by using a skirt to get over the issue with the first layer.
thank you, and thats a great idea!
That was the best analysis on the subject I've seen. Good job. I think it's pretty marginal, just depends on the person. For "artistic" prints keep it mostly on to get the best quality, for other situations, I turn it down or off. It's a separate decision for each print.
well said! and thanks for your comment🫶🏻
Great video, the data is laid out very clearly. Thank you :)
thank you for your comment!😊
All I can say is THANKS! I am a new 3D printer owner and I have been binge-watching all related content.
You welcome, and welcome to the hobby! Which printer do you have?
@@Lukis3D I got the Bambu Lab P1S combo. So far all I have printed are toys and demos, but I plan on using it for engineering purposes.
I can tell how much effort and work you put in this video. Thank you so much mate, I really appreciate it! Keep it up ❤
Greetings from another A1 user :)
thanks man! glad that it‘s helpful. *high five🤚🏻*
spot on video, very informative and editing on point, you have gained a sub
Thank you for testing this. Well done and very good explanation, video quality and results. Loved it.
your welcome! glad it helped
Exactly what I was looking for. Now to reduce the poop
good luck man!
I just got my A1 Combo after using a CR-10S Pro V2 for years so I've got a bit of a learning curve. This video was very helpful. Thank you!
Glad it was helpful!
Good info. Thanks for the science 🔬🥼
Thanks, any time! Glad that its helpful
the color bleeding is related to the purge amount anyways, you can just increase it etc!
This was a helpful insight for me. Thanks for making the content!
your welcome! glad it helped!
Best video I have watch on this issue THANK YOU! very helpful
your welcome, Glad it helped!
Thank you for doing this experiment. I guess you need prime tower if you have multicolor first layer or want it to be perfect. For other layers underextrusion will go into the inner wall and you won't see it.
your welcome! Yes you can of course do that as well 😊
As someone who is fresh off the hot bed (lol), I appreciate the dedication into looking into this and giving everyone the feedback ☺️
I would say flow is fixed by the time the outer wall is being printed especially if your print order is Inner/Outer. I think it explains the Vader print small holes. I personally use 10 width and 10 volume.
i use 10/15 from time to time with great success, and thanks for pointing that out!
Making toys for my son in the future I’ll turn the towers off. He just wants the toy he doesn’t need it perfect. Thanks for the info!!!
your welcome, I’m sure he’ll like the toys!
Thanks for this. I just started 3d printing is this was so helpful.
your welcome! Glad that its helpful. And welcome to 3D printing!
Thanks for Video, subscribed. Im a beginner in 3d printing too. Bought A1 Mini combo couple weeks ago, haven't even tried AMS yet) Will wait for more Videos.
your welcome! and welcome to the club!
Thank you for doing this. I have always wanted to know.. and now I do! ❤ I would be interested in a future video that reduces filament retraction during swaps to see if poop + purge tower can both be reduced without loss of quality. Thanks again for your time in testing. You da bomb :)
thanks for your comment! Yes it's definitely one of many things that i wanna test out too!
wow man bambu is some witch craft, i never imagined multi color
Nice video, thanks for the time and the tests!
Thansk for testing it! Helped us a lot!
your welcome! Glad that its helpful
Very informative video. Thank you.
your welcome, glad its helpful!
i remmber like years ago they find a solution well not bambu lab but the open maker space . it was literaly dumping in the infil.
Exactly what i was looking for thanks so much!!
your welcome! good luck💪🏼
Nice vídeo, nice work. Congrats!
Awesome video!
I am new to 3d printing and videos like this is making it a way more enjoyable experience
Seems like there would be some value in being able to restrict the height of the prime tower so it could be used for improving the bottom layer. Or being able to set the volume for various layer-heights.
Logically, only the top/bottom shell and the walls are particularly sensitive to the lack of a prime tower. At least for the minor defects that seems to be showing up without the prime tower. Having the prime tower be more of a tree support structure would allow it to prime more for layers with a lot of external surfaces.
Actually. Couldn't printing infill first be used to partially replace the prime tower as well?
Ótimo experimento. Foram poucas as entre os modelos.
Great video! Ive always been curious on how much difference that tower made
took forever to find this... excellent. im subscribing.
also, i wanted my colors to blend, zeroed out flushing volumes..
your welcome man! and thanks for subbing!
Thanks for the video bro, very informative
your welcome, glad it helped!
So the conclusion I get is that a prime tower is advised, but the default settings are too strong (probably on purpose)
I'm wondering, if combining this with the option to prime into the model (in the infill for exemple) could remove the prime tower entirely without risking that slight underextrusion that might happen sometimes.
After all, if the infill is under-extruded in a few spots it hardly matter, no?
Very well made and very useful/helpful video 👍😊. Thanks! Subbed. 🥰
Awesome, thank you!
Thank you for this interesting test.
your welcome! glad that its helpful
Thanks for testing!
your welcome, hopefully it helps!
Looks like you only need the priming on the 1st layer - perhaps when it is going slower?
Great video!
Did you try the option "flush into objects infill"? I saw, that you deselected this option.
thanks for comment! and im glad that you saw that. My initial plan for this test was to keep everything at default as much as possible and only change the prime tower settings, so i could judge the results solely based on the different prime tower settings.
What I'm getting is if the waste bothers us, we can avoid it. Good to know
Great work, loving your content 👍👍
🇦🇺
thanks man!
my granddaughter has come with all kinds of uses for them!
nice job, thank you for that. did you know that you can use any model as prime tower (they should be equal hight)
your welcome man! Yeah that’s doable as well, as long as that you don’t care about the color of the other “sacrificial” model
Thanjkyouuuu!
nice work!
thank you!
Thank you so much!
your welcome! Hope it was helpful👍🏼
Nice one. I have shrunk the tower but never tryed it without. interesting results. Cheers.
Thanks for this info 😁
your welcome!
Lukis, just looking at the poop amount: are you using the latest default bambu settings? or have you tried any pooptimisations?
yes i think its the newest one. Nevertheless, In this video, my goal was to only evaluate the prime tower, so i didnt use any optimisation (like changing the flushing volumes or purging in infill etc.). I tried to keep everything at default except the prime tower settings.
good info. will reduce it by 1/2. tnx
your welcome!
Thank you very much
Thanks for this great test 👍
no problem, and glad it helped!
Hi, I am sorry but I am new to your channel. Which 3D printer do you use that prints those colors so vibrantly? It's a bambu printer but which exact model? Thanks 🙂. My best guess from the video is the Bambu Lab A1 combo?
0:43 A1 mini 0.4 nozzle
Hi there, yep its the BambuLab A1 Mini + AMS combo
@@Lukis3D Thanks!
Can we make the prime towers in egg shape or something useful? Make a video about how to recycle trash coming out of the printer (it's a lot)
most excellent!
i swear i saw a video somewhere using the inside of the model itself as a 'prime tower'
that would certainly work if you have models with infill. There are some models that dont have infill, though😔
@@Lukis3D true! Would be a lovely option to have in the slicer though 👀
great video thank you so much
Thank you
your welcome!
Considering the pla pop with the prime tower , the prime tower is nothing.
What about changing the prime tower to a different, somewhat useful object?
i dont know if that option is available in Bambu Studio, but if it does, that second object would be susceptible to underextrusion. Unless that second object isn‘t that important, i guess it would be fine.
Good job!
Thank you! Cheers!
Whare'd you get the Fallout model at the end? I tried searching and only found a low poly one. Yours looked better.
sorry, i forgot to include the link 😅. Here it is: makerworld.com/models/253238
Great video. For me would be interesting whether you could reduce (balance) the boob vs. primetower….
I'm looking into getting into 3d printing. With the Bambu sale. I appreciate this video. I'm a complete noob and don't know much as I'm kinda jumping into this blind.
The information was clear and the content didn't waste any time. Great job.
thanks for your comment! The A1 Mini is my first printer and its so beginner friendly and im having so much fun printing with it!
i have a p1s and no ams (going to go get one soon). i do multi color by layer with pauses. ive done both. i find that when i load the new filament, if i just make it extrude 3 or 4 extra times, i don't need the prime tower and dont have any underextrusion issues. not sure how you could do that on ams?
2:43 Poop Größe ist einstellbar
what abt purging into model mode?
bel test grazie
Nice video
thanks so much!
Thank you for your Land-fillament study. 😂
your welcome😆
when printing with supports, is there any reason we can't just prime to the supports?
Supports don't exist in many prints and don't exist once all supported areas are exhausted beyond the lower layers. A more reliable method would be to print infill first, then inner walls, followed by outer walls. ..or at the very least print outer walls after inner walls because I don't know if slicers support printing infill first.
RIP headphone users. There is a very noticable pop in the audio blasting my ears every time there is a P sound.
sorry for that haha, i’ve invested in a pop filter after making this video.
My tower broke off after 11 hours into my 13 hour print! What do I do??
I always disable the prime tower. Never have problems.
great to hear that!
good video
thanks man!
Why do they not use the supports as the prime towers?
It would have been interesting to compare also to the weight of poop
definitely! perhaps in a future video 💪🏼
Can I get a link to the purge tray you use?
of course, here is the link: makerworld.com/models/15603
Do you think there are many variables when using Silk PLA?
The principle should be the same. If you used the setting to print your Silk PLA next, let me know of it works!
@@Lukis3D Thank you will do!
i don't see why theres no setting for the prime tower to be printed away from an object when possible, that way the tower will only be printing on layers with a change in them.
i guess that would save some filaments, but if it has to move away, then move down, then move up again everytime, that would mean longer printing time and adds the risk that the print head will knock down your model.
But the idea is good, hopefully they’ll come up with that solution soon
3:03 eco mode
you can go even lower, like 5/10 and I would call this the Super Eco Mode😄
Thanks I appreciate it
Good video, thanks for posting.
thank you!
what happens if the prime tower gets knocked off the build plate during a print? Whats it mean? Any help would be greatly appreciated!
this has never happened to me before, but you can also make the brim bigger so it‘ll stick better to the plate. Or try to wash your plate wish dishsoap & wipe the plate with IPA before a print.
Most problems that occur in 3D printing are caused by the bed being dirty
@@Lukis3D Thank you for your reply
Hi there! I'm having an issue with my Bambu Lab printer where the Purge Tower isn't printing, even though the option is enabled in Bambu Studio. I'm using a single filament (no AMS Lite), and while the model prints fine, the Purge Tower is completely skipped. I've double-checked the settings, but the issue persists. Does anyone have any suggestions or tips on how to fix this? Thanks in advance!😅😅
hi there, if you’re only printing in one color, you don’t need the purge tower, so thats why its skipped 😊 Unless you’re doing timelapse, then it’s gonna be activated.
@@Lukis3D Thank you for your response, but I'm already aware of that. The problem is that during printing, my printer often leaves the model, moves to the upper right corner, lowers to the print bed, and then returns to continue printing. When this happens, a small piece of filament always gets left on the model. 😒😒
So basically there's no way to remove the prime tower if you are focusing on quality
you can certainly reduce its size, sometimes i even lower it to 5/10 and notice no significant differences. I wouldn’t completely turn it off though.
I don’t use prime towers with any prints on my A1.
multicolored prints too?
@@Lukis3D NONE.
great video, thanx
thanks!
Why hasn't anyone figured out how to purge into the voids of a infill grid? No waste printing full color objects.
purging into infill is not all-in-one solution for it. A model isnt usually uniform, it has small area and big areas. where an area is small, it will flush a small amount (or none at all), and when the area is big, it will flush more. So the priming isn’t going to be consistent througout the model.
It’s the purging that is terrible. Seeing half a kg of wasted filament to print a 100g object is terrible.
Is this real? 500g waste for 100g print seems unreal
@@jeriellopez4927 it depends on how many colours you use and how complex the design.
The purge is the same amount every colour change.
So if your printing something like a rainbow your going to waste an absolute tonne of filament.
Where as if you were just printing something that was black until half way up and then it became white for the rest that would be only a single purge event.
But if you have 4 colours on a single layer for every layer in the entire print…. Not your talking about 4 purges multiplied by the number of layers.
The wastage will outweigh the print weight significantly.
All depends on the print.
That’s why Prusas big printer can use a bunch of individual hot ends instead. Each hotend is loaded with 1 colours and the machine just changes the tool it needs as it goes. More like a fancy CNC machine.
I use 4 x1c at work since it was released I legit only used prime tower when I forget to turn it off 😂.
Btw if you wanna really reduce filament waste just play around with filament purge volume.