Hi there! I’m a “Senior” maker with 30 years of experience and a huge fan of 3D printing. I’ve been into it for 10 years and I’m now on my fifth printer. Currently, I own a Prusa Mk3, a humble Ender 3 V2, and my latest addition, the Bambulabs A1, which I’ve been using almost daily for the past two months. Overall, the experience has been great.
BUT the honeymoon with the A1 is over. For the third time, the printed part detached from the textured plate mid-print, and the printer kept going, almost destroying itself.
The first time this happened, I broke the thermistor wires trying to remove a massive blob of melted plastic that had backed up behind the hot end. The wires are extremely thin, poorly positioned, and unprotected.
As a designer, I have to say this feels like a design flaw. There should be something preventing melted plastic from backing up into the print head—it can lead to major damage and is a nightmare to clean. Also, the hot end latches are fragile and badly secured. One of mine snapped while I was cleaning up.
A small design change, like a cover behind the nozzle or a tweak to the fan assembly, could probably avoid all of this.
In 10 years working with 3D printers, I’ve NEVER had an issue like this—until the Bambu A1. None of my other printers would suffer from this because there are no “caves” around the hot end for melted plastic to get into. I really hope the BambuLab design team comes up with an updated part to fix this.
I believe they can.
I’m not hugely popular on this forum because of my overt distaste for these printers and their features but the hotend portion of the A1 series is so bonkers-cheap and easy to replace that its really difficult to be annoyed at them for this. it’s something like 20 bucks CAD for me.
Don’t get me wrong; I’m personally upset with the design of these things for a similar reason where the latch-y bit of the hotend that holds in the nozzle + heatsink is made out of comically cheap and thin metal that is extremely easy to latch incorrectly with no indication of having done so outside of the first layer of one’s print coming out kinda rough. The idea of having to replace the entire assembly for a piece of metal with less material than a paperclip is equally offensive but I digress. I really do not like it at all and so I still 100% agree with you here.
But they’re - again - dummy cheap and easy to replace and so the fact that it doesn’t ruin the entire printer makes it really hard to really hold this and similar design flaws with the hotends against them.
I totally agree with you on that. The good side of this story is that Bambu parts are very cheap and easy to replace. But at the same time, if you rely on the printer for regular work, having to wait three days (in Canada) for a replacement part that broke due to something avoidable is still frustrating. Even my Ender 3 V2, with its awful design, feels a bit more sturdy.
I really love Bambu’s work, their attention to detail, and how they’ve kicked off a new generation of filament printers—not just in terms of hardware, but the entire ecosystem. It’s incredibly user-friendly, and they’ve done a lot to make 3D printing more accessible and popular.
My criticism of these “small things” is just to contrast all the great work around the printer. I’m hoping they can polish it even more. Because if something like this happens to someone who isn’t used to devices kind of breaking themselves, I can see people getting really upset in the near future.
yeah. I have to get one of thse for the oritinal textured plate. I have the SuperTack, and it usually solve those issues. But i still think their Original textured Plate could receive an upgrade to match with the overall quality of the product.
I am also ordering a third Part one, the BIQU CryoGrip Pro Glacier, since the SuperTack is good but has no texture at all.
And I know this probably isn’t something super easy to fix with just design changes—otherwise they wouldn’t have it featured on their own wiki…
But from the top of my ignorance, I don’t see why it would be so hard to have another sensor closer to the head, like a pressure plate that, once triggered, immediately stops the print to avoid these issues. That could prevent the infamous “blob of death.” I always wait for the first layer to finish before walking away from the printer, and this still keeps happening.
Glue might help, as mentioned, but I’m still thinking about a design plus sensor solution. Maybe I’ll try to come up with something myself and share it if it works.
clean your plate properly and it will stick to it instead of dragging around the plate accumulating more plastic… i have had my A1 since launch (i even did the bed replacement myself for the recall) i have never had a blob issue… HOT WATER AND DAWN DISH SOAP IS ALL YOU NEED THEN DRY WITH A PAPER TOWEL NOTHING ELSE NO ALCOHOL… NOTHING!! ITS CLEAN UNTIL YOU TOUCH IT AGAIN WITH YOUR HANDS
Im a 6’3" tall guy at 220lbs I have had my A1 since launch and never had an issue with a latch if my giant hands can deal with that so called tiny piece of wire, then anyone should be able to. I think many of you are just reckless and impatient. I read the wikis when i had to do maintenance not just start tearing into stuff I didnt know about. I even did the bed replacement myself on the recall and mine still runs like new. Only had 1 small clog from not calibrating my filament the first time i tried the .2mm hotend but never had another… easiest machine there is
Yeah, that’s really great advice, but I do clean the plate between every print—using 99% isopropyl alcohol. This should be as good if not better than water and soap. But worth trying water as well.
it does have a blob detection feature check you settings and make sure its enabled… I dont use it, as I always have clean build plates (the most important part of 3d printing) I also recommend the Biqu Cryogrip plates they hold extra well might help you since it appears you have adhesion issues a lot bambu has their own version but i got a bunch of cryos and love them so i can print with less bed heat… maybe try those
nope iso is not designed to remove grease and oil, most likely your issue… iso is OK for spot cleaning if you bump your hand on the build area between real cleanings but Dawn dish soap or equivalent and hot water is the best way to clean.
Iso can help prolong the periods between washing but at the end of the day you should always wash your plate with warm water and something scrubby like a scrub daddy or dish brush. Make sure the soap doesn’t have moisturizers (aka get the cheapest crappiest dish soap or plain dawn)
scrub daddies or whatever arent even necessary I have always just used a paper towel to wash and one to dry… thats it , its not that complicated… people overthink things. it doesnt have to be sterile just clean lol
Its helpful if you print TPU since it tends to leave a difficult to remove film otherwise. Coincidentally TPU is easily removed with iso and so if you have something stuck to your plate in TPU you can just squirt a little iso onto it.
There’s a lot of Reckless people around. I am not one of them. Not denying it was a moment of distraction, just sharing context from someone who knows how printers work. I built my first one from scratch 10 years ago, following the RepRap guidelines, and assembled four more after that. That’s why I didn’t expect such a flaw, like placing a thin wire right in the path of a potential blob. I’ve had blobs form on my other printers over the years, but thanks to their more traditional designs, it was never more than a failed print.
I am not the first person to have difficulty removing TPU from their plate and my go-to before isopro is to actually stick my plate into the freezer since iso can harm tpu.
I will start doing Soap and HotWater on this Bed then. I’m used to cleaning the plates on my other printers that way and from time to time, isopropyl alcohol.
I’ll do the same with this one, but honestly, I don’t like the textured plate that comes with the A1. I’m definitely getting a Cryogrip. I prefer its finer grain over the coarse texture of Bambu’s plate, plus it has better grip. The SuperTack I have from Bambu is good, but it’s not textured.
as stated i have never had a blob issue… you should know by now the MOST IMPORTANT PART OF 3D PRINTING IS A CLEAN BUILD PLATE once you get that down the blobs will stop or be VERY minimal along with the clump detection feature that check for it when enabled. The thin wire is there to make faster and easier hotend changes so there is a purpose for it and many others dont have that issue as well so a handful of people having the issue does not does not make it a flawed design. if your print doesnt stick to the bed then you will have endless issues and headaches
I’m used to cleaning the plates on my other printers that way and from time to time, isopropyl alcohol.