Bambu Lab A1 3D Printer Recall - All You Need To Know
Вставка
- Опубліковано 28 чер 2024
- Bambu Lab have just dropped a bombshell and told EVERYONE to stop using their newest 3d printer, the A1.
Why?
In this video I'll not only explain the reason for this unprecedented move, but I'll also show you how I think they can fix it.
Bambu Lab Recall Article: blog.bambulab.com/a1-recall-u...
Form to complete for return/cable replacement: bambulab.com/support/aone-rec...
This video is sponsored by PCBWay
pcbway.com/g/0IW9ST
..............................................................................................................................................................
BUY ME A COFFEE
If you're enjoying my content, why not consider supporting the channel by buying me a coffee?
Even very small amounts are greatly appreciated and re-invested into bringing you better content.
www.buymeacoffee.com/rickyimpey
You can also use the UA-cam 'Thanks' button above if you prefer.
...............................................................................................................................................................
Other videos used:
• The Mediocre Man (Elec...
• What is a Short Circui...
Did I just watch a complete, reasonable, and informative video about an issue on UA-cam? Well done.
here's your adult card
now you need to do your entire chore list without bailing half way through and you can get the premium service
This is what I predict will happen. Some people will return their printer, either because they don't feel comfortable doing a basic DIY repair or because they're feeling buyers remorse. Some people will turn off their printer and wait until Bambu ships them a new hotbed. Most people will continue to use their printer, believing that the odds of anything happening because of the problem is 1 in a thousand. They will get their replacement hot bed and their $120 store credit, and they may even replace their hot bed, but not all of them. You may be mad at Bambu for under-engineering the cord to the hot bed, but if you're mad about their response to the situation, you should probably take a deep breath.
It will be way lower than 0.1% when the cable is looking good. Recall is all what bambu can do for now.
@@dtibor5903 my friend, what does anything you just said have to do with anything I said? I remarked upon what I thought most people would do about the recall, and stated that if you were unhappy with Bambu's response to the situation then there is something wrong with your thinking. I did not mention the design, UAT or production process. Bambu Labs is paying a big price to stand by its customers and they deserve our praise.
My immediate thought was to just wait for the new hotbed to be sent out, however i've now decided that I'll return my entire printer and upgrade to the X1.. this A1 was my first printer and i'm in love with it.. this seems like a perfect opportunity for me to upgrade. Dunno, I dont feel like you can be mad at Bambu for making the responsible decision to recall the machines, even though it sucks to have to put it away for a couple months. I've had to deal with their customer support and they've been nothing short of excellent. I'm not gunna jump off the Bambu wagon because of this.. in fact I'll probably double down with upgrading.
@@drjrjules1 I was just commenting on another guy's video who returned his A1 and bought an X1C. Maybe this is all a plot by Bambu to sell more X1C's! :)
We don’t even know if it’s their fault yet, could be like the 12vHPW connector and it’s just a bunch of idiots slamming the cable against a wall…
Honestly, your channel is the only one that has explained how this issue has happened and all about the voltages which is a BIG thanks !! But I’m with you that the cable is definitely too short & coming out at such a very short turn to the bed. I was about to buy the A1 recently but other issues made me stop & now this happened I can see the A1 being their last ‘bed slinger’
I don't know about that. There's a reason why they built two bedslingers despite their motto "no more bedslingers". They are cheaper in production and shipping. That's the only way they could gain a foothold in this price region at all.
I’ve opted for for the heat bed replacement and $120 voucher. They supplied a link detailing the replacement and it seems very straightforward. In the meantime, my cable is fine and already had a printed support before they made their first announcement. I’ll be using it right up until the repair, though I won’t be leaving it unattended.
Replacing it should be fine its the same set up as when we got it.
@@Uncle_Baby_Billy I did not have to attach my heatbed. It won’t be as when we first received it but their video link detailing its replacement was straightforward
Do you get to keep your old bed?
@@user-qi5mo9uz6d replacements won’t be shipping until next month, will find out then. In the meantime I already had support on my cable and will continue to use it, but only while I’m able to supervise it
@@user-qi5mo9uz6d they do not require you to send the old bed. Got it last week and have it installed, now I’m waiting for the $120 store credit
Dang, I literally received this printer a WEEK ago, and I already can't use it anymore. It's frustrating but it is also good to know that Bambu Lab have taken note of the problem and are trying to fix it.
did you do the recent update ?
Thier response sounds like a good reason to deal with them in the future. Safety first, then options to return or repair. And if people keep using and something happens, Bambu are less likely to be held responsible as they've asked everyone to stop using.
The problem is not just the outer plastic getting fatique. The tight wrap of the inner wires by the outer plastic dipped insulation is the problem. They are using the wrong cables on all their bed slingers. Same applies for the cable going to the extruder. You either need cable chains with loose single strands inside - or a flexnet wrap cable to allow for movement.
Such a basic mistake for a company that should be taking "3d printing to next level"
Pro tip a flex net sleeved cable still has a solid ass cable / strands of cables inside lol. They simply just used the incorrect inner insulation for those specific wires and the outer sleeve for aesthetic reasons is also incorrect and on top of that, length wise, it's too short of a cable and with it not having much flex or play to move it's forced to flex in any given spot, but once it finds a spot to flex it will flex in the same spot over and over and over until failure.
Also the thickness and type of wire they are using. They fatigue as well. Bend a piece of metal over and over again, eventually it will break. Same case here.
Started seeing the warnings 2 days after I finally made my decision about the A1 and placed the order. Came home to the unit sitting in my doorway today and what should have been exciting turned to dread pretty quickly. As an engineer, I totally understand that these things sometimes happen and hope they can get a solution put together quickly. They appear to be taking it seriously and that's certainly important. I'm likely to keep this system and see what they come up with. Unfortunately, I had a large amount of printing to do and was counting on the speed of this machine to accomplish my goals.
you can print a cable holder for the cable to prevent over stressing it tho so it wont break lol
You know what to look out for now. Provide a quick and dirty strain relief solution, and just start printing …
Mines seems to be fine. I am just going to do the replacement. The replacement is straight forward and after having and upgrading Ender 3 so many times. My only beef with Bambu is that short behind AMS lite cable.
Ricky,
Thanks for the information and quick response to your subscribers. I purchased two machines at Christmas from Micro Center NY and I love them. Being as I am an electrical and mechanical engineer, I have inspected the cable and so far it is fine. I only print when I am right next to these printers and never leave them alone. I opted to send for new beds and cables and I will replace them when they come. In the mean time I inspect the machines before each print and always keep an eye on them. So far so good. I hope Bambu Lab resolves this quickly. These machines are fantastic. By the way, I love your videos. Keep up the good work. Happy Printing everyone. MartytheMachinest
Great video Ricky. It's good to know that Bambu Labs are being proactive on this issue. Sadly though they'll be damned either way. People will complain that they can't use it or they could of kept quiet and not said anything and then if a fire happened the same people would be up in arms saying why didn't you fix the problem.
Personally I think they are doing all they can in this case.
Thanks for passing along this Useful information. Ive got an A1 with an unaffected cord and will be taking the option to receive the new heat bed and cable when its available. I have other Bambu products and will continue to support them as I feel like this is a great solution to a problem.
This is the first video of yours that I've seen as I'm really new to the 3D printing space, the A1 was going to be my first purchase.
Taking the issues and disappointment regarding the situation aside, this is a really good video.
I don't think I've commented on UA-cam for quite some time, but there's a level of quality here that's made me do it - I really can't believe you only have 43k subs.
Incredible work. Informed, well articulated, unbiased, captivating with no over the top commentary. Kind of reminds me of bigclive (with some differences), if that makes any sense?
Looking forward to keeping up to date with your videos.
Welcome to the channel! Thanks for your comments. We don't make a lot of noise over here but try to keep things as sensible and balanced as possible. My goal is always to help people make the right choices for them by giving them as much information as possible. That doesn't always bring big views or subcriber numbers but that's not the end goal really. Hope you like some of the other content I've made now your here👍
I don't agree that a recall is a reputation killing move. On the contrary, it is a responsible action that I expect from the company that is serious about customer safety.
Playing cool and pretending everything is fine - that would be a reputation killing move.
Same.They are nailing the reaction as far as I'm concerned. I was saving up to get one. I guess I will have to wait a bit longer.
Such a great video and the best explanation I’ve seen of the problem. Keep up the great work and thanks for sharing.
Hats off to them for pulling the printer, and offering solutions.
These things happen and at least they have their customers safety in mind.
Great video. I didn't even think about the lunar new year effecting their staffing or the fact that new people come in not knowing they may have to pop the hood at some point. And it was cool seeing you open the A1 to examine it's repairability. Getting a printer swapped out seems like a pain to wait for but I appreciate Bambu offering it as well as the new cable. Hitting both bases.
I have an Anycubic Kobra Neo which suffered from faulty bed thermistor wires. They used thin cheap aluminum wires which would break within the insulation causing a misread bed temp and an error. Their solution was to sent you a whole new bed with the same exact wiring on it. I chose the route of desoldering the old wires, and soldering new higher grade flexible wires on.
Kudos to Bambu for being so proactive on this, when the A1 is back on the market, I'd be interested in picking one up myself to replace my kobra neo. Hopefully those who choose to do the repair themselves can manage it safely!
Thank you for the video, I was looking at Bambu labs stuff and I had no idea what the deal was.
I don't own a Bambu printer, but I'll give them props for proactively getting out in front of this issue, and the design on the A1 is clearly still miles ahead of my Creality S1 Pro. Ricky makes a good point about evolving expectations as 3D printers graduate from hobbyist/tinkerer to mass market appliances, but Creality for one still lags behind on quality control with incremental developments to the aging Ender 3 platform, and plenty of other incumbent manufacturers are similarly dragging their heels.
In addition to the same risk of kinking the S1's heatbed cable, even in normal operation the cable's natural bend can bring it dangerously close to the Y stepper motor, which gets insanely hot during normal operation. I printed my own cable chain/guide to mitigate these potential risks, but it's problematic that this was even necessary in the first place.
Thank you Mr. Impey I been following you for about 9 months probably more time flies. Just a personal user and I learned how to use my Ender 3 S1 Pro. Since then I watched one of your videos and got hooked on the Bambu's not sure if it was off your video but I think you had a similar style. But found Bambu and have since bought 3 of them all different models, and have stopped using the Ender. Glad to see your video on the A1 and look forward to seeing your official video on the Bambu 3d printer. I been having a blast using the Ender and not having to spin them dam leveling thingamajig's!
The standard mechatronic solution to this is to put cables in a cable chain, where the cable can't bend more than the cable chain allows. There are a whole load of print in place, parametric cable chains out there, all they would need is an adapter at one or, ideally, both ends. But this assumes you fit it before any damage occurs.
Kudos to Bambu for the prompt recall. This is a MAJOR departure for a Chinese company most of whom build garbage unless directed by a foreign company subbing out to them.
The wretchedly thin power cord is no surprise but their adult response is impressive! If companies like Bambu emulate the Japanese embrace of quality they can capture much larger markets.
W. Edwards Deming is a hero in Japan while he was neglected in his home country. China would do well to study quality because at their labor costs they can make it affordable rather than compete on the bottom with emerging nations who have lower labor costs on that bottom end.
Good thing I decided to buy it next month. We will see how the new version will be. Still excited and I think the way they handle the situation is really responsible.
my brand new A1 just showed up. they have revised the wiring with a mesh sock. and that is about all i see. there is also a tag on it now that says "DO NOT ALLOW ANYTHING TO COME INTO CONTACT WITH THIS CABLE."
Its very difficult to stop these issues, and getting users to repair it themselves will be frowned on by the safety standard organisations....
Ah well the update confirmed my thoughts...
Great videos Ricky.
Lets be honest here. I have rarely seen anything come out of China that complies with UK electrical safety regulations.
Wrong fuses, poor earthing, access to live parts, illegal plugs, the list is endless.
Personally I don't want to see mains AC going anywhere other than the power supply.
I deal with poor design issues every day and this is a bad one.
There is not one electronics engineer who should/would risk their career/livelihood/freedom by implementing any fix to this machine.
The same goes for any DIY repair whether advised by Bambu Labs or not.
When it potentially catches fire and burns the house down, after the investigation in to why you modified it, guess what your insurance company is going to say.
Get these machines returned ASAP.
I would love to inspect one, if anyone is close to me in Northants.
I want to know what those "other critical adjustments" are. Do you know Ricky? Thanks for the vid and I personally am going with their bed replacement option.
Well, even though there are no visible bed springs and adjusters, they are there. They are inside all of the plastic coverings. I don't know if the bed will need tramming somehow or if they come factory set. I guess we will find out!
@@RickyImpey I was thinking the same thing. I returned their A1 Mini because the tramming was a pain and I just could not get it done right. I have on Ender and other Creality units but it was such a pain on the A1 Mini. Most likely my old eyes. They took it back and I got this A1. I really hope we do not have to do the tramming. All and all I think they are trying hard to take care of this and I am sure it will be taken care of.
Not sure how many amps they are pushing through that wire but seems like a flexible, “coiled” cord might be a fix
I watched the replacement video on the official Bambu Labs website. It appears that the actual bed itself is attached via 4 screws to the actual carrage so you only remove the bed, not the mechanism that moves it. It appears that its as simple as removing the bottom from the gantry assembly, removing the front and rear bottom panels, unplugging 3 connectors and unscrewing the ground, pushing the strain relief out of the printer housing, and unscrewing 4 screws that attach the bed to the carrage assembly. Reverse proceedure to install. It also appears there are 7 wires total inside the cable and 4 of them are in a single plug connector.
1:56 The main reason for going with 110 - 230 V beds instead of 24v ones is cost and space. An appropriatly sized powersupply for a good bed heating performance would cost ~40 to 50$, which goven the price of this printer is a significsnt portion. And these powersupplyes aren't small. A 500w one would take up ~ 50% of the space of the base.
Going with 24v instead simplyfies safetyratings a lot, since the company can just buy a readymade and certified psu and build the rest of the electronics under much simpler design rules, due to 24v being safe to touch. This saves significant ammounts of onitial costs.
Would you suggest buying a P1S combo instead of waiting of the A1 combo as first printer?
Not only because of the waiting time, also in general worth it? I would spend about 215€ for a shelf to cover the A1 but would a P1S just place on what i have. So price difference would half for me.
Look at anything that has an electrical connection attached to a reciprocating mechanism, inkjet printer head, scanner, HDD head, etc. They all use flat cables. Round multicore cables flexing like on the hot bed will always put strain on some of the conductors that are on the outer radius of the bend. The action will pull them tight. In this case either the copper conductor will stretch or the outer insulation will collapse causing a kink in the cable. You can see this in the video. This then creates a stress raiser at the point of the kink and the strands of the copper conductor will fatigue and break. This continues until the current being carried by the remaining copper conductors is too much and the cable heats up and goes into melt down. A flat, "ribbon" cable is not subjected to the same stresses and will, if designed correctly, will last a very long time.
Much as they are a sweet little slinger, Penny pinching keeping cables like that as short... as they can still get by. Id say that cable 3 or 4 inches longer to take the tight bend out and this may not have shown up. Maybe a rubber bend moulding leaving the case.
thanks for keeping it real
The fact that they are going through such extremes to get ahead on this before one of these machines burns someone’s house down shows just how much they care about their customers. And that makes me trust them even more.
Ricky, if you have contact with Bambu, I am a registered electromechanical engineer in New Zealand where its technically illegal for a customer to mess with this . I am willing to talk to them about doing the required work potentially for NZ and Australia to speed up the resolution in these areas. P.S, don't tell them this but I'm glad I got an S1 PRO/Sonicpad after watching your content! 😆
This is a major oversight from an engineering standpoint. This is a known problem with bed slingers for many years. The issue could have been avoided by using a proper spec cable and a different design.
My Ankermake m5c has a cable like this but at 2000hrs+ of heavy printing it’s in perfect shape. I want the A1 so bad now.
It’s sad men, this machine was perfect for me. I returned it yesterday it hurts. I wish they came out with an improvement soon. I’ll for sure buy it again
Hopefully they will find a way to speed things up🤞
Improved A1 should be in the first priority for bambu now
I guess they should print a "strain relief" and adhere it to the back of the bed cable where the cable gland is. Clothes irons have this.
Glad they're taking steps to address this, Ender 3 pro pretty solid for moi.
I just ordered the p1s. After i realized I’m not getting an A1 anytime soon. ❤
I think this will actually help their reputation in the long run. I believe this is the first time a 3D printer manufacturer has treated its customers as customers and not beta testers. You're absolutely right about what you said; even only a few years ago, we were essentially crash test dummies for half-baked DIY projects. It's good to see that changing
Great video! thank you for actually explaining the issue. A hard choice, as someone who is confident in tinkering I feel option 2 is best, however as a hobbyist printer who's printing needs are not essential, is the (albeit tiny) risk of serious hazard worth it at all? Despite the inconvenience I will be going with the full refund. This will also allow me to get the ams lite next time round.
thanks
I actually snagged a Flashforge 5M since they were on sale for $300, as soon as I saw the recall for the A1 on Friday. Yes, I didn't know until Friday and was using it a ton. The app on my Pixel 7 don't like sending push notifications so i did not see that when it was originally sent out.
Now I'll still have my Ender 3 S1 Pro and the Adventurer, once it's here Wednesday. But my wife uses the A1 since she doesn't have to use a slicer and can get a profile from the APP.....
Now I wait for the replacement bed and that $120 voucher.
Great choice! They just released vanilla Klipper firmware for it as well as design schematics and a print your own enclosure design they'll have a cheap accessory kit for soon. It's a lot of printer for the money.
I use now use 120 volts at 750watt and fast to heat the bed. The first time I put in with wrong strings wires. And one broke. I changed the wire with silicone coat. So they are the best bending
This is why I've always used Neoprene jacketed light to medium duty industrial cables when making my own power cords - more commonly known as H5RN-F or H07RN-F. Very flexible stuff that's also heat and liquids resistant.
Aside to that, an angled strain relief along with a slightly longer cable would probably help. The former would help in situations where the user butts the machine back up against a wall. More complicated fixes would be to use a cable snake or spring type anti-kink mechanism to limit the bending radius.
It's definitely hurting Bambu's reputation that this happened. In Reddit I've seen an uptick in A1 owners asking about or outright buying other brands. Bambu had a reputation of being a quality printer, and this knocked them down a couple of notches it looks like. Hopefully they don't just fix this one problem, hopefully they make changes to increase their QA.
I have a sidewinder X-1 that uses mains voltage for heating the bed, and they have also reported issues (no recalls), but it does make you wonder whether you should leave your printer unattended. At the very least, make sure you have a smoke detector and fire extinguisher at the ready!
Talk about a bad timing for an ad. Just got an ad for the Bambu Labs A1 Mini during this video. The algorithm it seems has it's own sense of irony.
🫣
I noticed that the same cable / missing strain-relief issue may exist on my new A1 Mini.
The Mini is not affected by the same problem. It has a different cable and a low voltage bed.
@@RickyImpey That is nice to know but the lower voltage means higher current and the A1 Mini strain reliefs are suspect. I can only go by my electrical career (46kV, 4160 - 600V factory substations, 16 PLC running 2,000 motors, programmer, national trouble-shooter, panel builder)
Just returned my A1 Combo to Micro Center last night and picked up a P1S for just $60 more after the $80 refund credit offered by Bambu Lab. I will miss easy multi-spool printing for awhile, but will eventually pick up an AMS.
Really bummed! Just got it! I placed a ticket a week ago that the camera won’t show live feed or time lapse when printing. On the latest update. Anyone else have this issue? They reported 2 days ago they haven’t got the programmers to work on the camera issue yet as they were working on heat bed issues. Then it hit the news of the recall!
I'm seeing a trend with UA-camrs. Ones with affilliate links to any Bambu Lab product have stayed quiet on the subject of the recall. Ones who don't seem to be happy about sharing the information. I wonder why!
Every bedslinger is open to this problem. I Bought 5 of the same printer at the same time and they are all fine but 2 just happen to have a sketchy bend in the power cable. I work with wires and am paranoid about wire bends so i was able to correct them but i think if those printers were bought by first time users they would have left the weird bend and after many hours of printing im sure it would have severed itself.this is why its best not to leave printers alone. We all do it but you gotta be safe. Im fine leaving it overnight if im home because worst case scenario the smoke alarm would do its job and when i go to work i leave the camera feed open on my desk with the option to cut power through a smart outlet. If the printer is malfunctioning your app wont turn it off. We all hope nothing bad will happen but its important to be aware that printers are inherently kinda sketchy, its 2 heat sources that move around all day. Just do what you can to be safe.
Agreed! I think we all take risks with our unattended printers. I use a smart plug and a camera with mine, but I really need to wire in a smoke Detector that will cut power when it’s triggered.
@@billmurphy7430 im working on the same thing! Im about to set up a real print shop, its time to make the smoke alarm plug thingy. I might do custom pcb but have also just considered wiring a switch by using the alarm signal to trigger the switch instead of the alarm. My electrical skills are vert basic but i work with alot of smart guys so i can get it done with help. Let me know if you got any ideas, id love to hear them.
Careful Man... my artellery 1x had the same fault, thankfully unlike the x2, it is not a mains powered bed, i think, so it was no big deal. i replaced the bed and printed a housing chain, thing for it. like tank treads containing the power cord. this prevented it from folding so hard and i never had a problem again.
these cables are only just about longenough and are being bent round 180 degrees before heading to the bed. perhaps add more slack to the cable and have it coming out of the base in a way that it doesn't have to bend so far.
I hate that I had to give up my A1. I was originally going to keep it once the recall was made, but my A1 had an extruder sensor failure that resulted in me having to return the printer to the store I got it from. Unfortunately, because of the recall, I had to get a different model. I got spoiled on the sensors and capabilities of the A1.
does anyone know if i bought an A1 used (facebook market place) is it still eligible for the recall?
A recall is a recall. Doesn't matter who owns it. Same thing with cars. Get in touch with them and get taken care of..
i predicted this issue when i saw how an A1 works Vs my X1C (the X1 doesnt throw its heatbed violently back and forth but rather slowly winds it up/dn)
I wish this recall came out sooner. Mine exploded taking out half the house. The flaming filament hitting and decapitation all my family members. Even my hamster "printy" didn't survive the massive carnage!
What really was devastating and tragic was me losing my 18 hour pint during the process. 😢
Can’t wait for the flood of factory refurbished A1’s to hit the market 😍
What about the quality of wiring inside the printer?
Has anyone received a replacement heat bed yet?
There are some images floating around on social media that points to a different possible cause. The strain relief is heatpressed onto the cable. This can lead to the insulation of the wires melting and the bare copper being exposed which can lead to short circuits.
Do you have a link to any of these posts? I would be interested to see what people have found.
@@RickyImpey I did post them but unfortunately UA-cam always seems to classify my post as spam when I post a link. So I sent it as emails to the channel address.
@@RickyImpey An A1 owner in the bambu labs a1 owners group on Facebook did a dissection of their bed cable. The images show that the strain relief is indeed heat pressed on and the insulation on nearly all the wires was melted and copper conductors exposed. I havent looked since late Friday but im going to guess that if the images are still up they wont be for long. It also appears the strain relief is not big enough, the cable isnt long enough, the conductors probably should be a higher gauge, and the insulation probably should be of higher quality due to the repeated movement the cable is subjected to. While I specifically dont know how many AMPs of mains voltage the cable is carrying the photos clearly make them look small.
@@ShawnHicks-os6jp I've seen reviewers measuring around a 300W draw, so if the bed runs at mains voltage, then in the UK it's barely pulling more than an amp. Take a look at the thinnest 3 core flex, and it'll almost certainly be rated to 3 amps - So nearly 700W, which is definitely more than the A1 heatbed uses.
The problem is almost certainly related to poor strain relief, perhaps poor manufacturing processes, poor cable strand selection, and lack of testing to ensure the cable type, length, etc are up to the frequencies, vibrations, range of movement seen by a printer bed.
A pity the end users have become the medium/ long term product test department, but at least Bambu seem to be handling their failure in an open and constructive way.
@@exasperated it seems to be that in the 3d printing world the end user is almost always the beta testers though bambu up untill now have been pretty good at minimizing the issues and rolling out nice updates with firmware though those also tend to cause more problems in the short term. Generally I tend to wait a while when a new product or firmware come out, but in the instance of the A1 i happened to be in Dallas near a micro center on other business and simply picked one up since it was already deemed that we were going to add one to our print farm. So while the recall is an annoyance for us its not a huge deal.
Bambu taking responsibility (which they should) and for the sake of caution recalling all A1's should be an indicator that they are taking the issue seriously and are concerned that the printers may not be "safe" and with the Chinese new year was probably the wisest move. I think they are trying to not only innovate and push new printers and tech but become a standard in the consumer 3d printing business. Its somewhat surprising to me that they have received so much backlash. The literally are delivering on what people have been asking for with the exception of a larger core xy build volume which as much as i dont like the A1 being released before the large build volume core xy as a business owner I understand why they did.
All any of us can really do is speculate the core issues of the cable failures, but i believe its a combination of issues which isnt all that surprising for any new product and seems to be a simple fix really its just the logistics of designing, testing, manufacturing and distributing the parts which takes time. Honestly its kinda a good thing these issues were found as early as they were and the problem isnt any worse then it is. Obviously not as good as there being no issue at all but there is that silver lining.
I have raised the mains issue (as I live in Aus with a wife that works in insurance lol)
The biggest issue I have isnt the handling of the situation, but the requirement for having kept the box! Lots of people live in smaller apartments and houses. The box was huge! Its likely gone to waste for most people (as is mine) they state you can only fill out the form once... do we get a label for postage because this will likely cost well over $100 for a non business ownwe? Lots of unanswered questions still.
The blog said they would cover shipping. What the didnt mention is how to claim option 1 or 2 if you purchased thru a reseller. I happened to have purchased mine thru a reseller when i was near one an a business trip. Needless to say they are no where near where I live, and Im not making a trip to return a printer. Bambu should honor all of their units reguardless of where it was purchased. Currently it seems they only have an option for individuals who purchased direct from them and had their units shipped from bambu.
From what I have read, I think their intention is to make it possible for anyone to return the A1 if they want to. I imagine that they possibly just haven't worked through all of the different types of customer situations that they will encounter. I would advise contacting them to ask what you should do if you bought from a reseller or don't have the box etc. I would think they will work it out.
@@RickyImpey i went ahead and filled out the recall form and just filled in purchased at micro center for the order id number. I received a confirmation of my selected choice, and the discount associated with that and a timeline on when to expect what. So it seems that even though there was no clear explaination for items purchased at authorized resellers the regular form worked fine.
Also it appears that individuals returning the A1 to microcenter received refunds no questions asked and the $80 discount twards one of the other bambu labs printers. Many posters reprited that stock of the p1p and p1p combo to be depleted at several microcenter locations.
Ive choosen to repair myself. I cant afford the uplift to a P1P, Ive bought accessories for the A1 and I don’t want to wait until May. I've watched the guide to changing it, and it seems easier than a lot of things I've done. It's not like I gotta get the soldering iron out. Plus the £111 voucher was the icing on the cake. Ibe gone from angry as hell to impressed at how they are dealing with it
I thinking same but if like he said, there is fine tuning to be done while changing the bed and this could lead to very bad print quality.
@ontime8342 I can't see that being an issue as it'll run the calibration and if it does cause issues like that Bambu will be right back where they started with loads of angry customers
I have opted for the bed replacement and hopefully the machine's self calibration sorts out printing issues if any. I have checked my cable numerous times and also printed and attached the cable strain clip and have seen no issues at all. I am also connected to mains power through an RCD so any short will shut things down immediately. So I will be using my machine under close supervision, i.e. no more running it overnight like I had been for weeks, checking the cable before and after every print and wait to see what happens with either a bed replacement or something else that Bambu might come up with in the mean time. Sending it back is not an option for me as I got rid of the packaging weeks ago.
is this also for the a1 mini
No just the A1👍
i did that recent update where they detect wether or not the printer is affected by the recall and mine was ok
Recall is on all A1’s, so if not an A1 then you don’t need the update to tell you.
@@Goosefangmaybe you need to re-read where you got that info cause both my a1 printers are running fine on current firmwares
@@necrotic805 “Current Solution
Given the challenges customers face in reliably assessing cable damage on their own, and to ensure our customers' absolute safety, we are extending the recall to include all A1 printers currently in the market, regardless of their condition.
We strongly urge all customers to stop using their A1 printers until the issue has been resolved.”
Directly from Bambu Labs recall
@@necrotic805 recall is for A1, not A1 minis
Anyone knows or heard from Bambu, what the return and refund solution will be for us, who has thrown out the packaging?
Wasn’t expecting to return the printer after 1,5 months because of a cable issue…
No news on that front, and Im doubtful at this point we will hear much as far as updates for a few weeks.
Yea, either sent it in with a similar save packaging for like 80$ coupon and a faster fix time i guess. OR get 120$ coupon and a new heatbed sent for installing it yourself, but this takes longer as they said via email after my callback ticket form.
a couple ways they could solve the problems.
1. take a page from track lighting and industrial electrical tracks in factories.
using a track with brush like contacts that ride on a rail that sticks out the back*.
2. take a page from the other 3d printer makers and use 12 volt heaters and use a bunch of 12 volt heaters and parallel wire them and have a 12 volt 100 amp power supply that is 1000 watts something you could easily see in pc ship selling extreme gaming pcs.
even use the dps power supplies from servers that show up on ebay.
* = using such track power distribution requires that the bed only move front to back if the bed has to move in the x and y then it wont work.
I wish I could somehow buy a ton of these as-is and fix myself for a farm. These are perfect farm printers otherwise.
My A1 printer has no damage at all to the heatbed cable, however I do have one qeustion, what would happen if I continued to use it until I decide to either send it back or ask for a rep[lacement heatbed, and something happened to my machine durring that short time period where it short circuited or caught on fire? Would Bambu Labs still give me a refund for the $600.00 printer?
I'll be honest I haven't lost any faith in the company if only because they quickly recalled it, that means that they are paying enough attention to recall everything and not try to sweep it under the rug. I think that's worth looking at
I wonder if other fast heating printers such as the FlashForge and QIDI are going to have the same issue……….
A regular plastic insulated AC cable simply is not designed to bend hundreds or thousands of times per hour many hours a day. Neither is the DC wire used by other manufacturers really but fortunately low voltage wire has much thinner insulation and on most 3D-printers there's no thick outer jacket to stiffen things up so they mostly get away with it unless the wire used is of really crappy quality (too few strands, aluminium instead of copper, poor quality insulation) as the ratio of the bend radius to the cable diameter is much more favorable.
There are of course industrial grade flex cables specifically engineered to withstand constant bending meant for applications like this but they are much more expensive than regular household/automotive stuff so the designers would have hard time convincing the bean counters it's actually necessary to use the better wires, especially as this is a budget consumer machine built down to a price. I guess Bambu and other manufacturers will learn from this, cutting wrong corners to save a few pennies can get really, really expensive.
Still, unless the cable is totally sub standard crap the material should be fire retardant so it can melt and smolder but not go up in flames which means it's very unlikely to start a fire unless there happens to be something flammable close to the cable. So if I had one of these (which I fortunately don't, I opted for an Ender 3 V3 KE when upgrading to a new generation fast printer) and the cable had no visible signs of breakage I would keep using it under observation (not leave home when printing and have a smoke detector and an extinguisher at hand and regularly check the cable) until I got a replacement.
The issue is BL has used, a mains rated appliance cable, to cut down the costs. There are special high flex high voltage/high power (220V/2.2kW) cables controlling VFD spindles in CNC milling machines, through a dragchain, without any issues. But the cable itself could cost much more than the off-the-shelf nichrome heaters. The bottomline is the design decision to cut costs, by not coming up with a better design, and to slap on an appliance cable to a high power appliance heater, all the while knowing the usecase very clearly.
Currently the issue is the liability of customers not doing the cable upgrades properly. All the cables, will bite the dust(or smoke🤔) eventually!. Easier solution, is to get the bed separated and sent to BL(postage paid), for a proper fix. They can give additional credit in BL store, for those customers. For those, who don't want the repair done by themselves, they just return the entire printer, and get credit for a new A1 with free shipping(or better yet pickup one from a nearby retailer like MC). The old printer can be sent back in the same box, while the credit card payment used as a deposit. What BL should avoid at all costs, is a CA suit, with no benefit to customers, brand reputation or BLs bottomline, while lining the wallets of those who brought the CA forward. Just some helpful 💭
That happened to my ender 3 s1 plus. The wire covering got brittle and the power wire broke.
Most companies wont even take this seriously.
I believe Bambu did the right thing, disclosed the issue and have a plan to make it right. Not many manufactures will do that. This will build brand loyalty in the long run. I also praise them for offering a self-repair option. I support the right-to-repair movement. I think we, as consumers, need to change our mindset about making repairs and attempt more repairs ourselves. Manufactures need to get better at sharing repair instructions. Bambu is on the right track. Repairs like this can be done safely without being an electrician or having an electrical engineering degree. Safety instructions can be included with the repair instructions. Doing a repair like this yourself will make you more aware of how the printer works and lead to building self-confidence for future repairs, which has many other benefits such as reducing down-time, reducing back-and-forth shipping, reducing landfill waste,. In the end it will improve safety and reducing costs.
I kinda wonder if the people who had this happen shoved the printer too close to the wall or something?
only affects .01% of customers with that model? seems like an iffy number and probably just to keep faith in the company, worse than that it might convince some to ignore the potential threat and continue using their machine. Maybe more testing next time and not to rush things to market.
In my opinion this is the beginning of the end for Bambu. Quality control issues and drastic increase in prices and comparable printers from competition with much more attractive pricing won't help Bambu in long run
A spring wrapped around the cable would prevent sharp bends.
I've opted to return mine. 📦 Unfortunately, I've not got the packaging as I have had the machine since release. I've asked them for help in this, and as of yet I have no reply 🦗 #unboxingfail #packagingproblems
Can we expect to see alot of refurbished A1 printers for sale?
It wouldn't surprise me. They won't be able to sell the returned ones as new but surely will want to recoup what they can from them🤷♂️
I guess there will be 'officially refurbished' A1 on bambulab web with a 25% discount.
The early Pursa models used this method and it worked good for bed wiring. take a peace of filament. tie it into your wiring (tape and just follow along side of the wire) the filament will prevent the wire from bending and reduce the chances of your wire to brake. TBH this is really a N00b mistake. as i said this was a fix on early Pursa models. Its like wanting to build a boat with no understanding it needs to be water tight to some degree.
Good report, but i disagree with what you say of the A1 cost, for what it does its a bargain. I do question we will see new beds by April and can only say I hope so. Sad day when the home fix it person is not allowed to fix his own equipment, calls into question all those Voron kits. Would have been nice to know what those countries were so we don't have to think it is ours.
3d print some cat track + a guide for the cable along with a little bracket for mounting, fix the issue yourself? As an electrician fixing this myself doesn't seem like that tall of an order
Bam boo boo....why I like my Creality Ender3.... proven workhorse
Huge bummer on this, I was about to buy one too. Thank god I didn't!
A1 mini too?
No, A1 Mini is fine.
need to put a 3 prong outlet like on all 3d printers, and have a cord that plugs into the side of the machine.
I've got the X1C and love it. I got the mini and feel like I got scammed.
I am trying to get a full refund but after 45 days I've had no response.
Phrosen or however it's spelled is launching a 16 color printer and I'm considering it.
The mini has layer shifts and other issues and then the entire extruder unit failed. I bought replacement parts but as I was replacing it other issues came up and now I own a mega combo brick. I feel like they scammed me with this printer. Trying to get a refund but Bambu doemst respond to customers. I've got tickets open with no response.
I was considering a second X1C but I'll give the other brand a chance.
“A fire or worse” What is worse? What else can it cause?
2:00 you are completely wrong about delivering more current
The higher voltage is actually there so you could use SMALLER current to deliver the same POWER (ohms law) the cable gauge is actually determined completely based on current and NOT power therefore you can actually use a smaller cable cross section to deliver more power
In the Bambu A1 case they use 110/240v (voltage) and up to 7A (current) which make the bed heater 770w (power) in 110v countries and up to 1680w in theory in 240v countries but they seem to have capped the PWM under 700w in real use………
They are using a 0,5mm2 cable to do this as it is only up to 7A
However if they wanted the same power out of 24v they would have to pull 29,16A from the power supply which would require a much larger power supply and at least 2,5mm2 cable……..
I guess he meant to say "power" (i.e. Watts) because it's correct in that case: "The main reason for doing this is to either deliver the same amount of to the bed using a smaller cable or alternatively deliver more to the bed using the same size cable".
Could also be a heater with higher internal resistance for 240V countries, would be the common practice for DIY where you'd buy a silicone heating mat with some watt rating for your specific voltage 24V, 110V or 240V
@@zapl80 yes exactly
I have an Artillery SW X2. The X1 had issues with its line voltage bed heating cables, but they quickly fixed it and put lessons learned into the excellent X2 cable. I trust it and I am thankful for the agile bed heating. Your toaster is easily a more substantial shock hazard than this thing is.
I summited a ticket 7 days ago haven't heard a peep from Bambu. My ticket just says processing. I didn't even get a don't use printer email??? Anyone else in the same boat? I got my A1 right from Bambu web Site.
I would email them separately with your details if I were you. People are getting replies quicker than you have.
Im glad you menioned it ruining the experience for 3D Printing as a whole, I Am that use case scenario I Got my printer two weeks before this started showing up online. I Bought this to print toys for my kids and to make more interactive and fun projects to stimulate their imaginations. I Then see i can burn my whole house down after making a heft investment in the printer, 12 spools of filament and all sorts of tools, Lube, Brass inserts, Magnets, Sandpaper and paint. Now im waiting months before i can turn it on and make things for them again and its got me a bit depressed. While i think its cool i can get a few new nozzles and a new bed plate when i can print again for free this experience is dulling my excitement for this hobby. I Hope i can get up and printing again soon.
I really feel for you. I hope that eventually you and your family will be happy that you got into 3d printing. It can be a really fun thing to do with the family but this kind of thing can make you really regret spending all that money.
Absolutely i mean this printer was unbelievable, I only really worried about that first layer after that it would be smooth sailing. I Absolutely want to keep my printer and just replace the bed. Im hoping this will work out well and the printer will work for years to come!@@RickyImpey
Yeah its a bummer alright, but it appears they are working to rectify the situation quickly, though that doesnt ease the pain of an extended wait.
I work in QA in the manufacturing stage (not planning) and we don't notice stuff are wrong all the time. Wrong dimension, design, part number...
To me there is 0 need for Bambu Lab to restore any faith in their company.
We are all humans, making various mistakes, some more consequential, some less. Bambu Lab issuing (and incentivizing!) a recall this quickly after launch for an issue, that still affects only few models (due to the cause being high stress on the cable followed by fatigue), tells me that they have beyond excellent quality assurance, customer relations, product life cycle management and corporate and moral integrity.
It is a really odd experience with many of the new or smaller Chinese companies, who either hide that they're based in China, or leave it ambiguous, but when it comes to customer relations or support, I wish I could get but half as good after-sale support for my all German washing machine and water heater, like the one I got for my 5€ pen or 250€ standing desk frame.
why no one is talking about the 80c to 100c firmear update thay did makeing a cable cary more load ? or em i not right that the cables forcet to cary more load im just asking lets say
100c just takes longer. The load is dictated by the impedance of the heating elements. All the firmware did was increase the limit of the bed.
I added this printer to my cart yesterday and was going to check out today. How can they still be selling this printer on their website when they know there is a manufacturer's defect and they currently have no fix for it yet?
That speaks volumes for where their interests lie
Everywhere I have looked it has been pulled from sale. It may have been because you already had it in your basket. I'm pretty sure you wouldn't have been sent one.
@@RickyImpey weird cuz I just added it to my cart yesterday here in Canada on their Canadian site
gladly mine is P1S. Good luck everyone.