Hello everyone,

I recently modeled a business card holder in Catia which I printed on two different printers at the 3DExperience Lab in Vélizy-Villacoublay, and I thought that it would be interesting to share the results because they were completely different. The CAD is shown here : 

The print didn’t require any supports even with a 50° incline on the business card holder. I first printed it on an Ultimaker S5 with the following parameters:

• Material: Ø2.85mm Slate-filled PLA

• Nozzle Diameter: 0.4mm

• Layer height: 0.15mm

• Infill density: 20%

• Printing temperature: 210°C

• Printing speed: 100mm/s

The results I got weren’t satisfying enough, as you can see in the picture below, the bottom surface wasn’t printed smoothly. I also had an issue around the final layers where the filament got stuck on the spool which prevented proper filament feeding, but this wasn’t the printer’s fault. Overall, the finish surface isn’t very smooth and the layer lines are quite visible.

The other printing was made on a Bambu Lab X1 Carbon AMS. The parameters were pretty much the same, but I used Ø1.75mm black PLA and increased the infill density to 60% to add more weight. I also enabled ironing on the top surfaces. You can see how different the results were, the surfaces are way smoother and you can’t see the layer lines. 

I don’t know if there are better parameters to use on the Ultimaker S5, but based on my previous prints, the Bambu Lab has never disappointed me, even though it costs more than half the price of the Ultimaker S5. 

We also tried to print a "torture test" on each printer and the Bambu Lab (pictured on the left) did a better job than the Ultimaker (on the right):

Does anyone have a hard time getting a satisfying result with an Ultimaker printer? Or do I have to modify some of my parameters?

You can also check out the timelapse of the printing on the Bambu Lab below !