Sorry to hijack the thread but its pretty close to my issue as well and I am to much of a newb here as far as 3d printing goes.
So, like this thread, My A1 has been printing pretty much nonstop for nearly 3k hours and much of that time it was working just fine… I mean I had to learn about ironing and scarfs and supports and using new software etc, but all of a sudden a week ago I started getting intermittent spaghetti that just as quickly disappeared but was replaced with the extruder clicking internally and the nozzle scraping along the print pad for the first lay which was ultimately damaging the print plate as well as tearing up the print job. In observing things as they happened I noticed that the actual print head, the hot end, would be pushed downward a millimeter or 2 and then “snap” back into place. My observation sees this happening with the clicking noise, with the print nozzle dragging across the print bed, I know that the nozzle dragging is a Z issue and yes I have found the magic 29.1 setting for first layer issues, and I have auto calibrated and leveled so many times that My 1980’s era D&D character would be a god level from all the practice and experience. lol
The magic 29.1 does not make a hill of beans difference, - or + with trial ranging from -1.0 to - 0.1 to -0.01 to 0 to +0.01 all the way up through +2.0.
I did take the extruder, as well as the hot end, apart and clear out what little dust and debris out. I did find that the screws on the back of the hot end had come loose and that was allowing the nozzle to shift about relatively freely so I tightened them and tested everything… nada, still the clicking and still the nozzle visibly shifting down and snapping back up into place over and over and over and over an..(clicking stop print job for the hundredth time).
It happens with every spool of filament I have (mostly all pla but one spool of tpu for ams) and only happens when actually trying to print the first layer. In My testing of things to try and resolve it all I did cold pulls as recommended, and in maintenance mode where the nozzle was not over/on the print bed it extruded just fine. So the clicking is only during the first layer printing and only when actually over the print bed.
I have taken the extruder all the way apart, cleaned, and rebuilt it.
I have cleaned the print bed with hot soapy water and then an isopropil alcohol bath to finish it off.
I have done and redone and redone the done with G29.1 Z. I have used hyperlock and tried super tac, cold print plate, regular ole textured plates, changed out .4 nozzles with hard ones and back to stainless as well as trying 0.2 and 0.6 nozzles.
Heck I have even factory reset the printer 3 times now.
During this time I got a second A1 w AMS and have it set up and loaded into bambu handy and printed the exact same print job to it as the first A1 was trying to do the same plate.
All I can think of now is to just yank the ripcord and purchase and install a whole new extruder set.
I even thought maybe it was a slicer issue but printing on the 2nd printer with the exact same job and it works perfectly tells Me that its not a slicer issue.
I have spent days trying to figure this out, reading all tge wiki and anywhere else I can find information but nothing seems to even make a dent in the issue.
Help…. please
Might order a new extruder but it’s kinda sad as I only had the printer for only 4 months