Hello everyone. So now I’m in the club of mystery, constant clogging of my machine. PLEASE do not comment on this topic with the default advice from Bambu wiki, they are not working. All of them were checked.
My situation looks something like this. I have the P1S machine and print with original Bambu PLA Basic filaments. Nearly 660 hours printed on this machine. And one day I started to get clogs. The problem is after cleaning the clog it’s again clogged. The main mystery is that nothing was changed in the operational environment. After the first event of clogging, now I’m getting clogs all the time at the 5-20 layer of print.
Nothing changed in temperature and humidity near the printer
Used default Bambu Studio presets for the filament
Used only original Bamby PLA Basic filament
What I’ve tried:
Changed hotend
Changed extruder motor
Changed ptfe tube
Checked that all extruder gears spin smoothly and clean
Tried to dry the filament
Tried new spool of filament
I had built several printers before by myself from custom hardware from BTT, compile and tune marlin etc. (fyi) but I can’t fix what’s happening with this printer.
Does anyone have any idea what’s going on? Please help. Or that “masterpiece” will go to the trash bin.
Could it be a filament diameter issue ? the filament in the middle looks like it is being stretched and snagging/slipping ( lines ) as its being fed through the extruder mechanism
I’d second @Neiljt here in that a check of the filament diameter could be helpful.
From the Vid’s, I can not really spot the issue unfortunately.
The Cold Pull’s look clean although there is some extruder abrasion visible on the upper left (so maybe some new residue in the extruder, which may of course also travel with the filament while reducing extruder grip). Did you insert the filament at 220°C or was it colder? It’ll only really be effective if fully melted before being allowed to cool prior to pulling. I have only really ever had success with the hex key method. Usually, I do that 2-3 times in a row.
Another item you may want to check is if the 220° nozzle reading is correct. If you have a contactless thermometer you can verify that. Also, you could remove the silicone sock and have a look at the thermal paste condition.
Finally, do you know what the build chamber temp is when the failure occurs? I do tend to print much warmer than recommended to counter warping/curling but I know that I’ll get heat creep issues above 39°C. Or of course during ironing if I do not fully open the “gates” for that.
I insert the filament when it was 220C. There aren’t any problem to unclog the machine) There aren’t any problem of usage conditions, once again, all worked, but one day something started to go wrong with constant clogging and anything could help me.
For the chamber heat I don’t have any variants to make it colder. All is open, 20 degree in room.
The main problem is that all worked fine, and troubles started without any changes from my side.
My last idea is that the TH board malfunctioned. My theory is there is a problem with stepper driver, which leds to higher current that should be, lead to stepper motor overheat and heat creep. But I will not buying this board to check is this the problem or not before the Bambu Crew say to me that they have a problem batches with this boards. Don’t want to burn my money for that machine again.
That is indeed a possibility, but I do not think the diagnostics are quite there yet.
While I agree that heat creep is unlikely with a 20°C environmental temp, keep in mind that the build chamber temp can be quite a bit higher. In my case, I can hit 40° in a 22°C room for a PLA print. However, I agree that with an open lid, it is very unlikely that you have heat creep.
There is one item that you did not mention in your list above though.
Did you closely inspect your extruder gears? Did you by chance take pic’s?
The reason why I am asking is that you very clearly have extruder filament abrasion:
Also, I assume the first vid is to illustrate the success of a “simple cold pull”? The “simple cold pull” never properly worked for me. It always just temporarily freed the nozzle but it was never long before it clogged again. The only method that reliably works for me is the hot hex key method | Bambu Lab Wiki if I do it a few times in a row. And then check/clean-out the extruder gears.
If/When you can state with confidence that it is not that, then indeed potential nozzle temp issues come into play.
Since you changed the hotend, it may indeed be the TH board with its connector. There have been a few reports here in the forum where that happened. It would be helpful to ask Bambu support through a ticket to check your logs in case they can spot that. It may take some time, but a TH board replacement requires active help from Bambu anyway (if you decide to keep going once a TH board issue has been confirmed).
Thank you so much for your time and interest with my issue.
I see your red circle, that’s rathe abnormal result that regular. There are also a lot of cases when extruder motor skips steps. I try a lot of hot / cold pulled and even changed the nozzle. Sometimes event, when the stars and planets set up in right order, I could print full “Benchy”, but it’s so rare.
About TH board. I don’t have any variant left actually.
The main problem in this situation is that nothing was changed in operational routine, just something stop worked, and that’s drive me nuts.
I fully sympathize. Been there myself a year ago. X1C LIDAR issue, fortunately still in warranty. It took 5 months though.
But its not all lost. I would recommend you run two parallel tracks:
Open a ticket asking Bambu to analyze your logs as you fear your TH board may be defective. Ticket creation requires you to upload a large log file from the printer and subsequently it is a slow step-by-step process, at times maybe even infuriating, but you can not only link this thread, you also do have a head start. With @SupportAssistant being the first responder, he may be able to expedite the ticket once you have created it. You may want to ask for his aid by personal message with your ticket number. At least you’ll find out if it really is the TH board and can then decide if you want to replace it. As far as I know, a TH board replacement requires Bambu support anyway: Once a new board has been installed, it needs to be activated by Bambu before the printer works again.
Take a breath, a walk, a good nights sleep (or two), do something with friends and family and then, when you feel like that dopamin withdrawal is no longer driving you crazy (see: I have been there ) just run through the recommended maintenance as a bit of a slow yoga exercise. Then, just for the heck of it, carefully do 2, 3 or 4 hot hex key cold pulls (but take care not to hurt yourself) before disassembling the extruder with your favorite song playing gently in the background, brush out the extruder gears and check for wear and residue, maybe take a pic or two (especially if you see brownish dust or residue), put it all back together and then try another manual extrusion before going for a rear spool print.
If path 2 works, let Support and @SupportAssistant know (and maybe drop a line or two here so we know what it was in the end and how it was resolved). If it does not, path 1 is much more elaborate, but if that is it, then there’s no way around it.
Also removed back cover from the back TH Board and successfully print Benchy. Obviously that’s not the successful case, will continue to print tomorrow with bigger models.
Considering the details provided, and the picture that shows the filament being deformed, there is a high chance that it could be caused by heat creep.
If this picture shows the filament when the printer was working with the top cover removed, then the problem might be different. Is this problem occurring with other filament, like PETG?
In the picture shared, the printer seems to also use a different PTFE tube. If the internal diameter is smaller than the original, the filament path could be constrained and cause some problems of extruding.
It is recommended to please open a ticket and our support team will help further investigate this topic. Including the logs can help troubleshoot this problem better.
Hi. Yes, that’s new PTFE tube like I said in previous messages if you read them. This is original PTFE tube from Bambu. No, printer not working with lid opened. Lid was opened all the time. Will open the ticket with support team. Thank you.
Could you please provide the info about TH boards? Are there any versions / revisions of them? If so, what’s revisions exist and how to differentiate them?
The PTFE tube color in the picture is slightly different from the regular white, so I was thinking it could be an aftermarket variant. Please excuse the misunderstanding.
It would still be useful if you can try using a different type of filament. This could help find out if the problem is linked to the filament type, or something else.
But before replacing it, I recommend discussing with our CS team, so the problem is first identified. There should not be a link between TH board and clogs.
My next suggestion, based only on A1 experience would be to try again with drying the filament , my experience was a similar one with generic tpu having a moisture level 63rh ? i found because it was to soft/wet/greasy the extruder gears couldnt feed it past the hotend causing the gears to slip and deform the filament until it had reached a rh level of around 43 ,then it started to print normally
I would filloq Eno’s advice above, but looking everything over I agree that it is leaning toward a TH board issue. I would do one thing while you are waiting on a response from opening a ticked. Take and dry your filament for 2 days, and also take another filament like PETG, and run a test to see what results you get.
) just run through the recommended maintenance as a bit of a slow yoga exercise. Then, just for the heck of it, carefully do 2, 3 or 4 hot hex key cold pulls (but take care not to hurt yourself) before disassembling the extruder with your favorite song playing gently in the background, brush out the extruder gears and check for wear and residue, maybe take a pic or two (especially if you see brownish dust or residue), put it all back together and then try another manual extrusion before going for a rear spool print.
