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K-Profiles

Manage pressure advance (K-factor) settings for optimal print quality across different filaments.

K-Profiles


What is Pressure Advance?

Pressure advance (K-factor) compensates for filament compression in the extruder:

  • Too low: Bulging corners, blobs at start
  • Too high: Gaps at corners, weak lines
  • Just right: Clean corners, consistent extrusion

Different filaments need different K values.


K-Profile Storage

Bambuddy stores K-profiles per:

  • Printer - Each printer has its own values
  • Filament - Different K per material
  • Nozzle - Values vary by nozzle size

Retrieving K-Profiles

From Printer

Pull current K-profiles from your printer:

  1. Go to K-Profiles page
  2. Select your printer
  3. Click Fetch from Printer
  4. K-values are downloaded

What's Retrieved

Data Description
Material Filament type
K-factor Pressure advance value
Nozzle Nozzle diameter
Flow type High Flow or Standard — only on printers that report it
Notes Any stored notes

Flow type on printers that don't report it

Most printers send their calibration table without a nozzle identity, so the flow type of an existing profile can't be read back. Those profiles show as Standard — the same assumption Bambu Studio makes — and you can change it freely when creating a profile.

Your choice is sent to the printer, but on those models the firmware discards it: the calibration is stored against the filament and its calibration index, not against a flow type. So a profile you saved as High Flow will read back as Standard, in Bambu Studio as well as in Bambuddy. Only printers that return a nozzle identity — the H2D series — display the flow type you chose.

The Flow Type field is hidden only on the A1, A1 Mini and A2L, which are sold with a single nozzle variant. Every other model, including the single-nozzle P1P, P1S, P2S, X1, X1 Carbon, X1E and H2S, offers both Standard and High Flow.


Pushing K-Profiles

To Printer

Send K-profiles to your printer:

  1. Go to K-Profiles page
  2. Select profiles to push
  3. Click Push to Printer
  4. Profiles are uploaded

Overwrites Existing

Pushing profiles overwrites the printer's current K values for that material.


Editing K-Profiles

Modify Values

  1. Click on a K-profile
  2. Edit the K-factor value
  3. Add optional notes
  4. Click Save

Value Guidelines

Material Typical K Range
PLA 0.02 - 0.06
PETG 0.06 - 0.12
ABS/ASA 0.04 - 0.08
TPU 0.20 - 0.50

These are starting points

Actual values depend on your specific printer, filament brand, and nozzle.


Adding K-Profiles

Manual Entry

  1. Click Add K-Profile
  2. Pick the filament
  3. Enter K-factor value
  4. Select nozzle size
  5. Add notes if desired
  6. Click Save

The filament list is searchable and grouped by where each entry came from, in the order Bambuddy uses everywhere:

Group Source
Imported Presets you imported under Profiles → Local Profiles
Orca Cloud Your synced OrcaSlicer profiles
Bambu Cloud Your Bambu Lab account's filament presets
Built-in Bambuddy's built-in Bambu filament table

Each group shows its own library in full. Within a group a filament appears once — a Bambu Cloud account carries one copy of each filament per printer model, and those collapse into a single entry. The Built-in group is a static copy of the same Bambu catalogue, so it only lists filaments none of the groups above it offer.

That group is always there, so you can create a profile with no cloud account connected and nothing imported — including on a printer that has no K-profiles yet.

Imported and Orca Cloud filaments are filed under a generic

The printer indexes its calibration table by Bambu filament ID, and imported / Orca profiles don't carry one. Those are stored against the closest generic Bambu filament for their material (an imported PETG lands on Generic PETG). The K value is yours; only the ID the printer files it under is generic.

From Calibration

After running calibration:

  1. Note the optimal K value
  2. Add or update the profile
  3. Save for future use

Calibration

Running K-Factor Calibration

Bambu Lab printers include built-in calibration:

  1. Load the filament to calibrate
  2. From printer or Bambu Studio, run flow calibration
  3. Observe the test pattern
  4. Note the optimal K value
  5. Update the K-profile in Bambuddy

Third-Party Methods

Alternative calibration methods:

  • Marlin K-factor test patterns
  • Pressure advance tower prints
  • Corner flow tests

Copying Profiles

Between Printers

Copy K-profiles to another printer:

  1. Select source profiles
  2. Click Copy to Printer
  3. Select destination printer
  4. Profiles are copied

Fine-tune After Copy

Copied values may need adjustment for different hardware.


Sync Status

Profile States

Status Meaning
Synced Matches printer
Modified Local changes not pushed
New Not on printer yet

Keeping in Sync

  • Fetch after printer changes
  • Push after local edits
  • Regular sync recommended

Comparing Values

View Differences

Compare K-values between:

  • Different printers
  • Bambuddy vs printer
  • Different materials

K-Profiles Comparison


Backup

Exporting K-Profiles

  1. Go to K-Profiles
  2. Click Export
  3. Download JSON file

Importing K-Profiles

  1. Click Import
  2. Select JSON file
  3. Review and confirm

Useful for backup or transferring to new installations.


Troubleshooting

Fetch Failed

  1. Verify printer connection
  2. Check printer is not busy
  3. Try again

Push Failed

  1. Check printer is idle
  2. Verify connection status
  3. Ensure no active prints

Values Don't Apply

  1. Verify profile was pushed
  2. Check material matches slicer
  3. Re-slice if needed

Profile Missing When Configuring a Slot

The K profile dropdown in Configure AMS Slot shows the profiles that suit the selected filament preset first, then every other profile on the printer under Other K profiles on this printer. If a profile is not in the first group, look for it in the second — see which K profiles are offered.


Tips

Calibrate Each Filament

Even same material from different brands may need different K values.

Note the Brand

Add brand/color to notes for easy identification.

Regular Updates

Recalibrate after nozzle changes or significant printer maintenance.

Start Conservative

When unsure, start with a lower K value and increase gradually.

Backup Before Changes

Export profiles before making major changes.