Polycarbonate (PC) Printing Guide
Polycarbonate prints hotter, stiffer and less forgivingly than any other common filament in our knowledge base — it has no low-temperature fallback the way PLA or PETG do, and it demands the chamber heat and drying discipline to match its toughness. Get it right and it out-tanks PETG and ABS both; get it wrong and it clogs or delaminates rather than politely warning you first.
Baseline: Bambu's stock PC profile
| Setting | Stock value | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Nozzle temperature | 260 °C | Range 260–290 °C — 260 °C is the floor, not a starting point |
| Bed, textured/engineering | 110 °C | Cool Plate and SuperTack unsupported |
| Chamber | 60 °C | Highest chamber vitrification point in our data: 120 °C |
| Part cooling fan | 10–40 % | Narrower than ABS/ASA — even less cooling tolerated |
| Overhang fan | 60 % | Lower than ABS/ASA's overhang exception |
| Flow ratio | 0.94 | |
| Impact strength (Z) | 9.0 kJ/m² | Roughly double PLA's; the toughest material in our data |
No headroom, on purpose
PC's nozzle temperature range starts at 260 °C and the stock profile already prints at that floor — unlike PETG or ABS, where the stock value sits comfortably inside its range, PC has nowhere cooler to go if stringing appears. That means the usual "drop 10 °C" stringing fix (see the stringing guide) isn't available: attack moisture and retraction instead, since temperature is already at its floor.
Drying: not optional, and unforgiving
PC is aggressively hygroscopic, and wet PC doesn't just string — it can foam and pop at the nozzle badly enough to ruin a print outright. Dry any PC spool that's been open more than a day or two before printing; see the drying guide for the general per-material schedule, and treat PC as a material to check first, not last, when something looks off.
Chamber heat and layer bonding
With a glass transition around 120 °C — the highest of any material in our knowledge base — PC needs real, sustained chamber heat to bond layers well and resist warping. An open printer with only a cardboard tent will struggle noticeably more with PC than with ABS/ASA; if PC is a regular material, an enclosed, chamber-heated machine (Bambu's X1C/P1S/X2D/H2D, or an equivalent enclosed third-party machine) is a genuinely different experience than fighting it on an open bedslinger.
Common problems
- Stringing with no cooler setting to fall back on: dry the spool first, then tune retraction — see the retraction guide.
- Warping despite chamber heat: verify the chamber target is actually active (some downloaded profiles zero it), and check brim width — see the warping guide, whose chamber/brim logic applies to PC as well.
- Layer separation on tall parts: PC's high impact strength depends on good interlayer bonding at temperature; a fan setting borrowed from a cooler material undoes it. See the layer separation guide.
Frequently asked questions
What settings does Bambu’s stock polycarbonate (PC) profile use?
Nozzle 260 °C within an allowed range of 260–290 °C — so the stock value is the floor, not a midpoint. Bed 110 °C on textured or engineering plates (Cool Plate and SuperTack unsupported), chamber 60 °C, part-cooling fan only 10–40 %, overhang fan 60 %, flow ratio 0.94. PC’s Z-direction impact strength of 9.0 kJ/m² is roughly double PLA’s — the toughest material in the knowledge base.
Why can’t I fix PC stringing by lowering the temperature?
Because there is no headroom: PC’s nozzle range starts at 260 °C and Bambu’s stock profile already prints at that floor, so the usual drop-10-°C stringing fix isn’t available. Attack moisture and retraction instead. PC is aggressively hygroscopic, and wet PC doesn’t just string — it can foam and pop at the nozzle badly enough to ruin a print outright. Dry any spool that has been open more than a day or two.
Do I need an enclosed printer for polycarbonate?
Realistically, yes. With a glass transition around 120 °C — the highest of any material in the knowledge base — PC needs real, sustained chamber heat to bond layers well and resist warping. An open printer with a cardboard tent struggles noticeably more with PC than with ABS/ASA. If PC is a regular material for you, an enclosed, chamber-heated machine like Bambu’s X1C, P1S, X2D or H2D is a genuinely different experience.
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- FDM 3D Printing Filament guide for Beginners — Bambu Lab Wiki
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