new user here. 1 day printing. Had same clicking noise when extruder does back forth movements. Likely due to the “tiny play” between gears (which is usually needed otherwise it would be too tight).
Seems normal! no effect on print.
If your flow has issues then it might be a different problem
I ended up fixing it by buying a 0.2 needle on aliexpress & pushing into the nozzle while it’s hot, made a mess so be prepared and protect the bed, but was the only way for me
Bambu includes a needle for the 0.4 hotend but does not provide a smaller one with the extra hotends for some reason.
To be more precise in my case it was not some normal intermittent clicking, it was a constant clicking with no filament extruding at all → hotend was clogged.
Had the same issue for the past few days.
Print started off OK.
Then the dreaded clicking from the extruder.
(Originally thought it was the nozzle scraping along the infill so didn’t worry too much about it)
Another print ruined.
Today I decided to poke a tiny 0.4mm cleaning needle up the kyber of the nozzle.
Positioned the toolhead in the centre of X axis.
Heated the nozzle to 240° C.
Took a few attempts to slip that needle up the nozzle (73-year-old eyesight is not the best).
Once it was in, I gave that nozzle a bit of a workout.
Pushing needle in, partially pulling out and twisting it a few times.
Pulled the needle out and a big blob of molten plastic came oozing out.
Printed 2 test cubes…different sizes…no issues.
Currently halfway into next 1 hour print and sailing along quietly and smoothly.
Using the same filament (PLA Silk).
Such an easy fix…Hope it lasts.
If not…back to the needle.
Thank you very much. I noticed exactly the same thing as you, from the first impressions when I started to observe the operation in more detail. I came to the same conclusion, intentional looseness. I even applied a drop of grease, it solved it for a few minutes, after heating the click returned.
same issue after a few days, i dissasemble it grease the gears and for now it is quiet, done a cold pull switch filaments nothing is changed accept when i grease the gears
This thread is so full over complicating a simple issue. the reasons mentioned by some, is the small bit of play between the 2 gears in the extruder. My A1 clicks every time there’s a retention, my New A1 mini doesn’t. Why? until my mini does, currently there’s zero play between those gears, non whatsoever, no click, but I can guarantee you, that in a few days/prints, given the nature of the problem when using a metal gear with a plastic one, there will eventually be play and the mini will click away. Now if it doesn’t, I have two new spare part yellow gears and I’ll put one in my clicking A1 and see if the play disappears, and if it does, will it return…?
I’ll add more information later. Click or no click, it has zero effect on the print.
I totally disagree. The clicking does have impact to the print. Every time mine clicks it causes a flaw in print.
Welcome to the forum! I think the confusion in this thread comes from the fact that traditionally a clicking extruder meant that the extruder was skipping and yes, that will definitely cause problems. The other clicking is gears hitting each other. With the stock large plastic gear I’ve never heard that BUT with the new 3rd party extruder gears (BIQU, TH3D, Fysetc, etc.) it’s metal on metal and I’ve seen reports across the internet about a loud clicking. So, extruder skipping = problems, metal gear on gear clicking = just annoying.
Yeah I’ve hit my point of exhaustion trying to resolve this “clicking” issue. I’ve only had my A1 for a couple weeks and printed at least 80 flawless pieces without issue. Out of nowhere, I come to my printer to check on a print and every few seconds there’s this loud clicking noise. When the click occurs the extruder wheel in the window jerks at the same time. You can also see flaws in the print each time the click occurs like PLA isn’t being extruded during the click. I’ve cleaned the nozzle multiple times. Done several cold pulls. Disassembled the entire thing cleaning everything even though it all looked brand new. Even pulled out the stock yellow gear and cleaned it. All screws are secured. I’m using Bambu lab PLA. Everything is dry (I have a dryer and measure the humidity). I’ve tried raising the temp with no success. The only thing that seems to help is if I reduce the speed to 50% and the clicking goes away almost completely. I’ve printed 80+ different pieces at 100% with all the same filament so why the sudden issue?
You wouldn’t happen to have temp gun would you? To make sure the nozzle is actually what the printer thinks it’s at.
The only machine now I own that doesn’t have this retraction click is my first Mini. I found out yesterday that my X1c clicks but you generally can’t hear it over the part cooling fan. So three of my new printers click, no print issues.
I tried with the one I have. Best I could get was it reading 200 degrees fahrenheit when printer screen said 220 celsius so I’m guessing my temp gun is having trouble getting an accurate reading. Couldn’t imagine that the hot end would be 228 degrees fahrenheit off. It extrudes filament just fine when priming or manual feed. After disassembling a lot of it and trying a different print, most of the clicking is gone, but the print is still pretty rough. I printed a coaster and the back of it (end of print) is typically smooth, but this print it’s REALLY rough. Something is definitely not right.
I printed a different model this morning. With speed set at 100% (default) there is no skipping/clicking during the slower detailed work. However, as soon as it reached a point to go full speed to fill a large section there was constant skipping/clicking and you can see numerous flaws where filament is not extruding during this faster pace. Something is preventing consistent extrusion at full speed.
Can you post an up close picture of the flaws?
Everything points to the extruder outpacing the flow so it skips. I was googling around and found people with A1s saying their nozzle wasn’t completely lined up or the nozzle wasn’t getting as hot as it should. You’ve taken it off several times so I think that rules out the nozzle being lined up. Are you using the stock profiles in Bambu studio?
Everything I’ve printed has been through the handy app with the exception of a couple models I flipped over in studio to get the textured plate on the face rather than the back. I don’t think I’ve manipulated stock profiles because I don’t know how to do that yet. Hopefully I didn’t mess anything up when I was in studio trying to figure out how to invert the print. I’ve printed 11 models successfully since doing that so assume not an issue. Here is a photo of my brand new 0.2 nozzle. Seems pretty good to me, but it does run at a much slower speed anyway with that size nozzle. Not sure that a good print with 0.2 rules out a speed issue with 0.4?
That does look good, but yeah a .2 will slow things down. Try this, download any .stl, maybe just the basic Benchy. Open it in Bambu Studio. On the left there are 3 sections, “Printer”, “Filament” and “Process”. Make sure your printer is selected under “Printer”. Under filament select “Bambu PLA Basic” and under “Process” select “0.20mm Standard”. While it’s printing listen and watch for the skipping. If it’s perfect we can rule out settings.
Thank you! That seems to have corrected the issue! When I opened bambu studio and viewed the dropdown for the “Printer” section, I was quickly confused why there were so many different printer choices in there when I only have an A1. I set all 3 sections to what you said and Benchy printed out just as good as the first time I printed with it. It got me thinking. I have used the Handy app to print everything except two models out of about 80 or so. I started going through my print history in Bambu Studio and opening each one up. The past 8 prints or so each open to a printer other than the A1. Some are opening to X1 and some open to PS1, but none to A1. I can’t figure out why this configuration change happened. I always filter searches by A1 in the Handy app. It always says A1 all the way up to the print button in the app. So why would it be using X1 or PS1 settings? I went further in my discovery and started downloading simple models in Bambu Studio and they too are defaulting to printers other than A1. I’m on my third print since Benchy and after selecting Printer = A1, Filament = PLA basic and Process = 0.20mm Standard each have printed perfectly. Now to figure out how or why it keeps wanting to print with X1 or PS1 especially from the app. I enjoy the ease of printing from the app so hopefully I can get this figure out. Thank you again for all your help and suggestions! I’ve taken this thing apart several times now so on the bright side everything is sparkling clean and I know more about the components of the printer than I ever thought I would, lol.
You’re welcome, I’m glad it’s working perfectly again! They are constantly improving printing from the app but it’s confusing sometimes. The more you use Bambu Studio everything will fall in to place and when you print from the app everything will make more sense. There is a LOT to learn when you first start out, but you’ve already taken the extruder apart and cleaned the gears so I feel like you’re already ahead of the curve. 
