Background: I’ve had my X1C for a little over a year now. It has ~1900 hours on it and I have used it for a mix of personal use and some light production work.
The other day I was cleaning out the bottom of the printer when I noticed a significant crack extending two directions from the front-right z-screw mount. On further inspection, I discovered that the rearmost z-screw mount is also cracked. When I reached out to Bambu tech support, I was told it isn’t fixable but it “will not affect printing”. When I did some googling, I was only able to find this one other post:
I’m surprised more people aren’t talking about this. Surely there are other machines with the same problem. This definitely shakes my confidence in this printer. I’ve had some issues with it before that have been addressed by Bambu (under warranty), but this one is troubling. Is this base piece really not replaceable?
Anybody else out there with this problem on their machines?
I will look mine over but I’m sure I do not have cracks, that would piss me off. To fix it you might try getting your hands on a plastic welder. Did Bambu even offer a replacement?
Hi,
I’m the one who posted the original message concerning the hairline crack in the baseplate. I opened a ticket and was informed by Bambu Labs that the baseplate is not a user replaceable item.
If you read the entire post, there were some who suggested drilling a hole at the very end of the crack to prevent propagation. What I suggested to Bambu Labs was to epoxy a ‘patch’ of similar material over the crack, which they found to be acceptable.
I’ve not noticed any additional cracks but I will turn my printer over and inspect the areas you have pointed out.
My printer was under warranty at the time, and Bambu Labs assured me that if I was to perform my own repair on the crack it would not affect my warranty.
They also offered me an exchange printer in leu of me repairing it, but since the printer was working quite well and there were shipping horror stories going around at that time, I declined their offer.
Good luck with your printer…
Thanks for your reply. I take it your printer is still working fine? Did you epoxy it? The base plate is ABS, so I am tempted to try using a 3D pen to “weld” it with some ABS filament.
I did see the first part of your post. In my first sentence I said that Bambu Labs informed me the baseplate is NOT a user serviceable part.
My printer is still working great. Never an issue with the AMS, never had a clog, it just works. It undoubtedly helps that I only print PLA and PETG as they serve my needs quite well. Regular maintenance helps, although I do see what looks like wear on the right side of the upper carbon rod. I may replace that assembly if it gets to be an issue.
I have done nothing to mitigate the crack. It has not changed appearance in over a year. Still only a single crack. Welding with a 3D pen and ABS sounds like a decent solution, let us know if you do it and how it works out.
@rabrand1955 sorry, the way this forum works is super clunky. I was replying to @JayZay in that post, not you. His (?) reply seemed to indicate he didn’t read the first part of my post.
That crack ‘begs’ for low viscosity acrylic glue. Drop some on the crack and capillary force will draw it in and the solvent will seal and heal the crack. Do small drops and keep repeating every few minutes until the crack won’t take any more solvent.
Mostly default accels with somewhat higher than default speeds, as I previously ran the Obxidian hot end and now I run the Microswiss Flowtech hot end. I’ve played with Ludacris once or twice, but it’s mostly a gimmick. With all that said, I’m doubtful this part of the printer sees notably increased loading when printing faster.
If it is ABS then don’t bother with the filament, just fill the crack with acetone. Acetone dissolves ABS and liquifies it. When the acetone evaporated it leaves behind freshly cured ABS. This is how ABS cement works for plumbers.
A little acetone in the cracks should fuse them back together.
Wow, that’s interesting. I’ve had my X1c for 2 years and 7 months. I got it right at the end of Kickstarter so I think some of the parts that are included in mine are a little different than the mass produced units because I haven’t had a single problem with the printer at all yet not even a failed print. The printer still runs like new and I’ve got over 4000 hours on it although I did stop printing for 3 months and then again for about 4 months because I got busy and during the 4-month time. I had used some really strong filament and I didn’t flush it out with PLA after which ended up clogging the nozzle which only took me literally about less than 2 minutes to fix although I have two spare default sizes and every other size nozzle available and it’s still using the original nozzle without problems. Before I got the X1C with AMS, I bought over 40 brand new printers in a 6-year time period. Some of them didn’t work out of the box others had a major malfunction within 30 days others had a major malfunction within 90 days. I still have my original printer I started printing with almost 8 years ago and I still have a smart pro and the reason that I think that still works is that I only used it about 30 to 40 times. Nothing has compared to the quality consistency and speed and non breakdown of any mechanical parts. With those cracks like that personally I would get a little upset but I would put epoxy over them. Probably some of that two part stuff from the auto parts store. That’ll guarantee to hold it all of those cracks really don’t look like they will cause any issues now You just don’t want them to get larger.
I am sorry, I did miss it.
I thought that you were assuming; my bad.
If it is ABS(not doubting, but didn’t confirm), and considering the value, there are commercial resins, cement, etc., that are more reliable than acetone.
I agree that acetone is an excellent add-on for ABS parts fixing, but I have the feeling that the effect on the chemical structure weakens the polymer. I may be wrong.
Yes commercial and cement is a thing. It is readily available at any hardware store and is just ABS dissolved into acetone. It does not harm ABS polymers to use Acetone as a solvent. It will of course mar the finish so it doesn’t look as pretty.
But it is no secret that ABS cement is really just acetone. Look it up.
