It was a rainy Wednesday night.
There I was, changing back to the HS 0.4mm hot end after failing once more to comprehend the mysteries of the SS 0.2mm hot end. This time, after shamefully clogging my 0.2 nozzle for the Nth time, I had chosen (for the first time ever) to remove, disassemble and inspect the extruder and extruder gears - by the book (well, by the Bambu website).
All was well… until I put it all back together - nice and slow and methodically - and went to do a post-extruder-surgery calibration…
Disaster.
Dead.
The printer made some jerky sound, descended the bed a few inches, and went quiet - with no further explanation than a “Cannot calibrate. Try again.” (paraphrasing)
I didn’t understand.
I did everything correct. 4 screws on the back. Methodically installed. Re-screwed-in that tensioner screw on the side. Three screws on the front. One screw for the cutter. Double checked the two hot end screws (made that mistake one time). 4 plugs: nice and snug (1 tiny one at the top for the extruder, 2 for the hot end, and lastly the cover/fan plug).
What could I have possibly done wrong?? I didnt press down on the bed. No man handling. Nothing. I was gentle, even surgical.
So I did the good ol’ I.T. “turn it off and back on again”… same. Tried again. No change. Tried again, stupidly, and of course no change.
Bit my lip and did a factory reset.
Got to the calibration point and the machine just sat there quietly saying “calibrating dot dot dot…”
Wanna know what it was?
So, that top teeny tiny plug, the one for the extruder - it has two rows of vertical teeth. If you’re being gentle, and just press the plug right in to the hole, apparently the right-hand teeth will seat quite happily in the left hand slot. Which… naturally… doesn’t work.
So. Make sure you pull the connector lightly to the right and visually ensure both sets of teeth align and seat in to both slots of the receptacle.
Else, your really expensive printer is going to do a really impressive job of doing nothing at all.
You might have other problems. But this dumb one was mine. You’re welcome.
(Not my photo, but my printer is too busy calibrating happily at the moment for me to mess with it by pulling the cover off for a photo-op. So don’t yell at me for the boot looking all janky in this photo - it’s a stock photo I just edited a little red square into as a visual aide.)
