Bambu Lab PC Filament 1.75mm 1kg

$48.00

Polycarbonate — the material riot shields and machine guards are made from. It is the strongest and most heat-resistant filament in our standard range, and one of only two we sell that is naturally transparent.

Bambu's version is formulated for reduced shrinkage, which is the thing that makes raw PC difficult to print. It's still a demanding material, but far more tractable than PC used to be.

Enclosure required, hot bed, and no AMS Lite. 45–60°C chamber and a 90–110°C bed — the hottest of anything we stock. That rules out the open-frame A-series. Check your printer can reach those temperatures before ordering.

At a glance

Density	1.20 g/cm³
Nozzle temp	260–280°C
Bed temp	90–110°C
Enclosure	Required — 45–60°C chamber
Print speed	Up to 300 mm/s
Nozzle	Standard stainless is fine not 0.2mm on the P2S
Compatibility	AMS Lite AMS / AMS 2 Pro

Why choose PC

Heat, by a wide margin. Glass transition is 145°C, Vicat softening 119°C and heat deflection 117°C. The next best in our range is ASA, at 106°C and 92°C respectively. If a part needs to work near an engine, a heater or a motor, this is the material.

Strength. Tensile 62 MPa and bending strength 108 MPa — the highest figures of anything we stock outside the fibre-filled grades.

It's transparent. Two of the four colours are see-through. Unlike PETG Translucent, PC combines optical clarity with real structural strength — useful for machine guards, light pipes and sight glasses.

The catch worth knowing

PC has a reputation for toughness that comes from injection-moulded parts, and printed PC does not fully live up to it. Notched impact strength is 7.5 kJ/m², against ABS's 21.5. Breaking elongation is 3.8% — it is a stiff, strong material that does not stretch much before it fails.

In practice: excellent for a part that must hold a load or a shape at temperature, less good for one that gets dropped on a concrete floor. If impact is the main risk and heat is not, ABS or PETG will serve better and cost less than half.

Layer bonding is also a real weakness. Bending strength falls from 108 MPa in plane to 55 across layers — almost exactly half. Orientation matters as much here as with any material we sell.

Printing it well

Use PVP glue — Bambu specify it by name for this material, and list glue as required rather than optional. The Cool Plate SuperTack is not compatible.

Chamber temperature is the biggest lever on warping — but your slicer settings matter too. Start with the chamber: the H2 series controls it actively, and on a P1S or X1C you can preheat the bed to maximum for about 15 minutes before starting. Then check the settings — keep infill under 50% and walls to 6 or fewer, since piling on more material simply adds shrinkage stress for the chamber to fight.

It is self-extinguishing in air, which is useful for enclosure and electrical work. If you need a certified flame rating rather than a property note, look at PC FR, which carries a UL94 V-0 classification.

Ventilate, and note printed parts are not food-contact grade.

Storage

Bambu specifies under 20% RH, sealed with desiccant, and 80°C for 8 hours to dry. PC is among the more hygroscopic materials Bambu make — they advise drying thoroughly and resealing with desiccant immediately after use.

Water absorption is low at 0.25%, but PC is unforgiving about the moisture it does pick up — damp PC prints cloudy and weak, and on the transparent colours you will see it immediately.

Bambu's own usage guide covers warping, chamber temperature and drying in more depth: ABS / ASA / PC Usage Guide · 3D Print Shrinkage: Causes and Solutions

Full specifications

Printing

Nozzle temperature260–280°C

Nozzle sizeAll sizes
except 0.2 mm on P2S

Bed temperature90–110°C

Chamber temperature45–60°C

Build plateEngineering, High Temperature
or Textured PEI, with PVP glue

Print speedUp to 300 mm/s

Retraction0.8–1.4 mm at 20–40 mm/s

Drying & storage

Drying80°C for 8 hours

HumidityUnder 20% RH, sealed

Water absorption0.25%

FlammabilitySelf-extinguishing in air

Thermal

Density1.20 g/cm³

Glass transition145°C

Vicat softening119°C

Heat deflection117°C at 1.8 MPa
112°C at 0.45 MPa

Mechanical

Tensile strength (X–Y)62 ± 2 MPa

Young's modulus (X–Y)2110 ± 40 MPa

Bending strength (X–Y)108 ± 4 MPa

Impact strength (X–Y)34.8 ± 2.1 kJ/m²
7.5 ± 1.3 notched

Figures from the Bambu Lab PC technical data sheet v2.0, measured in the dry state, with nozzle, build-plate and compatibility detail from Bambu's ABS / ASA / PC usage guide. Real-world results vary with printer, settings and model geometry.