An interesting patent has just been awarded to Bambu Lab related to print quality.
The patent, WO-2025237368-A1, was awarded to Shenzhen Tuozhu Technology Co Ltd, the parent company of Bambu Lab. Bambu Lab is the brand, Tuozhu is the company.
Titled, “Intelligent speed-adjusting method and apparatus, 3d printer, and storage medium”, describes a more intelligent approach for handling speed adjustments in real time on FFF 3D printers.
Speed adjustments are pretty common in 3D printing. Slicers can set speed limits for corners, bridges and other tricky geometries in an attempt to raise success probabilities. Speed changes can also happen manually: an operator could simply select “high speed” (or equivalent) on the control panel to get the machine moving a lot faster.
Abrupt speed changes are tricky to handle, and it’s not only the motion system that is affected. Extrusion temperatures and cooling fan speeds could theoretically also be linked to the change. If speeding up you might want to increase the extrusion temperature to handle the increased material flow, for example.
The patent attempts to resolve some of these challenges by introducing an analysis of each print job. The GCODE is examined to identify “risky” maneuvers, such as the first layer, overhangs, bridges, etc. The print path is segmented into two categories: sensitive portions that might easily be damaged by speed changes, and the remaining non-sensitive print path segments.
Then, as the print job proceeds, the degree of adjustment for the sensitive path is different than the second path. For example, if switching to a faster mode, they might increase motion speed a bit less than they would for non-sensitive paths, and increase fan speed more.
This is an interesting concept, and could very well increase the print quality of output produced on systems using this approach. The results would surely be subtle, but this could be quite important for anyone producing production parts on a Bambu Lab machine.
Another twist in the concept is that they the submitted GCODE could contain multiple subfiles, with each corresponding to a different mode. Then, when the job executes on the 3D printer simply switches to the appropriate mode. This approach might simplify the process by “pre-cooking” the variants.
The patent seems to suggest that this functionality would be baked into the 3D printer firmware. Competitors might get around the patent by having their slicers adjust the GCODE beforehand to make similar changes, but Bambu Lab’s approach also permits real time changes from the machine’s control panel.
Features like this will be behind the terrific print quality we admire. When you pick up a part from a 3D printer and are amazed at how precise it appears, remember that patents like this one and others are the true magic that makes it happen.
Via Google Patents
