No-Mod COB Tape Light Bar for Bambu X1-C

This is a basic light strip for my new Bambu X1. It was designed around stuff I had lying about in my workshop, so it's perhaps not quite as elegant as some! It's a no-mod design, so you won't have to stick stuff to your AMS unit, or print riser feet, or anything like that.

It's also my first project specifically designed for printing on the X1, and I had to unlearn a lot of things I took for granted on my old Ender 3. For example, my E3 usually required 0.2-0.3 mm minimum tolerance between parts. But I was finding anything over 0.1mm to be ridiculously loose on the X1!

Anyhoo, on with the story... The chamber light on the X1-C is a bit "meh!" to say the least. It does what it needs to do for the printer's camera, I suppose, and I believe they can't make it too bright because of the LIDAR system. But, come on! It's like a candle in an auditorium! As my printer lives in a dark-ish corner of my room, I found myself constantly struggling to see what was going on inside.

My initial remedy was simply to use a retangular torch. It worked OK, but I wanted something a little more bespoke. So I had a quick rummage in my "I'll keep that, it might be useful one day" parts bin.

I soon turned up an ancient 12v Nokia transformer (as used by Queen Victoria), some 8mm COB tape (a leftover from my Underground Sign project), and a spare barrel jack connector. I also had a small switch that I'd removed from a garden light to pre-empt any corrosion issues. The switch probably isn't really up to the job, but I used it anyway!

Once this was all hooked-up as a temporary rig, I tested it out by laying the tape down on the glass below the AMS, and tried it for a few days. So far as I could see (pun intended), I now had the opposite problem: It was like a solar furnace in there. Hand me my welding goggles! But, joking aside, I knew I could tone this down with a little bit of design work on the lens.

Now I could design a case. I was slightly limited by the size of the barrel jack and my desire for a switch. These made the connections box a little bulbous to say the least. I also compromised by allowing myself a slight overhang on the switch box end, on the basis that I could easily slide the AMS over a by tad (if I could stand the lack of symmetry!).

Everything else was designed to slip under the front edge of the AMS without any modifications or extra parts.

The X1-C has a slightly bigger bed area than my old E3. But the long light bar would be too big to fit, even diagonally. So I had to split it in two. I also decided to separate the switch box as a third part, purely for ease of printing the parts and soldering.

The joint between the two light bar halves was tricky to work successfully, and I tried a number of prototypes before settling on the current (less than perfect) solution. It relies on the lens for final strength. Therefore I split the lens into 3 parts to make certain that the middle piece bridges and reinforces the centre joint.

Speaking of the lens, my solution to the brightness of the light was to just to be very selective with my infill and surface patterns. I used a fine Hilbert Curve on the outer faces, and a basic honeycomb at 40% on the infill. The result looks quite good. It tempers the brightness nicely, and helps to direct the light down to the bed, where I want it. The only downside is that it also causes light to be reflected back into the light bar, so my choice of silver filament shows the internal structure a little. If I were to do it again, I'd use a dark colour like black instead.

The main switch box is also glued to the light bar. It has got clips, and they work great. But I preferred the security of glue for final fixing. The cover plate is held in with a spare screw from a 2.5" hard drive. I originally planned it to be a friction fit. But I found it kept working loose due to the temperature fluctuations from the printer during use. I didn't want to glue it, as I wanted full access to the solder joints etc in case of any future issues. So a screw was the simplest solution.

The light bar assembly doesn't attain full strength until the lens pieces are fitted. But you can't fit the lens parts until the COB tape is stuck down! So I used CA glue to secure the two light bars together until I'd soldered the connections and put the COB tape in place. I should really have put a weight on the light bar to keep it flat until the glue fully cured though; I didn't, and it left me with a slight kink in the lens bar that meant the lens slot was out of line when I went to install teh lens pieces. It was easy enough to remedy with a hooked needle file though (what do you mean you haven't got one?! Everybody needs a hooked needle file!). But that won't happen to you anyway, because I've now pre-warned you about it!

One tiny bit of advice. Let the CA glue cure for a few hours before placing the lamp onto the printer. It's nothing to do with strength though; it's just that the CA continues to evaporate from the joint for quite a while afterwards, and I found nasty CA stains on my shiny glass top. Easy enough to remove with white vinegar, but save yourself the bother and worry.

So there it is; old junk to utilitarian light bar. Job's a good 'un! Now I'm off to trip the light fantastic!

Ta-ta and happy printing.

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Update for Filament Labels As Shown in Last Picture.
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I've added an extra file for tag holders from my tag system for my filament storage boxes, since it made sense for the tags to be available for use with the light bar. Full details of the tag system are here:

https://www.printables.com/model/623646-filament-id-tags-for-stylox-dry-store-multi-box

The light bar tag holders just glue straight onto the light bar, and then you can then take the STLs for whichever tags you need straight from the page linked above.

It all still (just) fits under the AMS unit without needing to hack the AMS in any way.

Print Settings

Printer Brand:

Bambulabs

Printer:

Bambu X1C

Rafts:

No

Supports:

Yes

Infill:

See Description

Filament: Generic I used PLA, but higher temp materials might be preferable for longevity

Body solid, lens transparent

Notes:

Flip the STLs for best printing. A tiny amount of support is necessary on most parts, but standard settings were used for this.

Category: 3D Printer Accessories