I have 3 extruder clogs in the last ten prints with three different PLA. Tonight I get the My printer gave me the error of “the cutter is stuck”. error message. The print says it completed but it obviously didn’t so I assume the printer didn’t extrude filament and it thought it did. The tube is not releasing from the toolhead like it previously did. I have now tried disassembling the unit again the same way I have twice before and the screw for the lever is stripped and I cannot turn it with any allen wrench I have, I previously had used the factory wrench included with the printer. I do not believe I will be able to drill and extract this due to its size. I also have no idea where to source the screw except from Bambu which could take who knows how long. Any assistance would be appreciated as this is becoming increasingly frustrating.
You can pop the “C” washer off the pivot pin and remove the cutter arm that way, no need to remove the screw. Put a rag on the bed to catch the washer so it doesn’t roll away.
Looking at this I do not see a way to do it without damaging it. Any tutorials or anything I am missing?
Thanks
Try pushing a piece of rubber band into the end of the hex head with the Allen key to give it some grip. I can’t see how the head of the screw would get damaged though, as the screw is not tight, it only goes into plastic.
So if it’s not the screw head itself that’s damaged but the screw won’t remove as the thread is stripped, then unfortunately it’s damaged enough that you’re going to have to forcibly remove the screw and try to repair the thread after you’ve removed it, or replace the lever arm.
As @michael-bawden says, you can remove the circlip that holds the lever arm onto the pivot pin and this will allow you to remove it so you can get the cutting piece and therefore, the extruder out.
Note - when you loosen this screw you really need to take the tension off the arm as it’s spring loaded. And the screw doesn’t need to come all the way out to move the lever out.
Your extruder will have ground up a part of the filament between the knurling and the space between it and the guide hole. I had the exact same stoppage yesterday from matt filament which is not as slippery as normal glossy PLA, and I also couldn’t removed the PTFE like you’ve found. You have to take out the 2 screws that hold the PTFE clip piece and remove it with the extruder. Once out you can take out the 4 screws that hold the back of the extruder case and you should be able to cut the filament that’s ground up and then you’ll be able to remove the PTFE. Note- you will have to loosen off the idler tension screw all the way and if possible, take out the spring all together so you can remove the large gear. It’s not an easy repair for the uninitiated.
I’ll look at the rubber band idea, not sure I even have one of those anymore. I’m not sure either on the stripped head, I have had to loosen and tighten it 4 times so far and I have cleared 2 other extruder jams in the last 4 days so this is getting a bit frustrating to say the least. I’d rather be learning to use the printer better then how to better repair it.
This might be of interest for you. I managed to solve my extruder clogs: PLA-CF Printing Issues: Clogged Nozzles and Ringing Artifacts on X1C - #9 by MoparMiningLLC
I had a similar problem with mine, I was able to remove the clip with needle nose pliers, on mine the bolt seemed to be super glued in, even when I pushed the cutter arm in to relieve tension on the bolt, the bolt would not turn and the head stripped. I think that bolt should use a larger size hex key. I tried Vice grips but could not get the bolt removed. The real hard part for me was re assembly with the bolt still in the cutter but I somehow managed it. After my new bolt arrived, I tried using vice grips again and eventually the bolt came loose. There is a metal threaded insert in the cutter that the screw goes into and the screw has blue lock-tight on it.
Unfortunately if the screw heads are stripped there’s not much that can be done other than destroying it further. I would suggest for future repairs invest in a good set of allen keys like this.
They don’t have ball ends which destroy the hex in small screws. I have 2 sets one of which is more than 20 years old and shows no signs of wear.
I’ll try that tomorrow. I can’t even order a new cutter arm and bolt since they are apparently out of stock. All this on a 4 month old unit. Not a good sign of things to come.
If the key fits in and the head is NOT fully rounded:
Use a tiny bit of toothpaste (sticks well) and mix in some fine grit carbide powder or aluminium oxide, does not matter.
Fill the head with it and wiggle the key in as deep as possible.
If the head is not fully stripped and the screw not seized or glued in place it will come out.
Have to do this all the time at work with M6 bolts that got stripped by people using ■■■■ tools…
I know it can be frustrating, it was for me. My printer was only a couple of weeks old when I got the first clog and could not get the cutter off, I think I have only had 2 clogs in more than 2000 hours of printing and each time it was after a filament type change, ASA to PLA and the clogs were the same gray PLA that got stuck inside the extrude. I don’t recall what brand it was. I did learn how to disassemble and clean the extruder which I do every 400 hours or so.
To get that clip off you want to push on both tips of the C at the same time to slide it off make sure you have a towel or something to catch the clip when it comes of as you don’t want to loose it. You may even be able to do it with a wide flat head screw driver. If you can’t push it off, there should be a small gap at the back of the c where you could fit a small exacto knife or tweezers or something else with a sharp point to pull the c clip off sliding it to the side away from the post it’s on.
Has anyone actually sourced the screw? I do wish I had known about the CS from Bambu being this bad, obviously my prepurchase research was sorely lacking in this area.
This is the issue with the majority of YouTube reviewers, who don’t want to lose their customer base (and subsequent cash inflow), don’t want to lose the free printers and supplies from manufacturers for their reviews, and usually get support over and above what the average person gets. Have a look at Nathan Builds Robots, a very popular YouTube reviewer who lost Bambu Lab as an affiliate over some critical comments, that they deemed didn’t fit with their “brand identity”.
Gave this technique a shot and so far no dice. I’ll try again tomorrow when I have another pair of hands and much better lighting.
Yep, I should have been more careful on that. I’ve had some bad service before but this takes the W (or the L). When I first sent in a support ticket for a different issue, I didn’t get a response for ten days.
I only got the one replacement from Bambu labs back in August. I see the web site says it should be in by 3/25 but then their shipping is slow so will likely take a while to get from Bambu Labs. The bolt is M2.5 and 13mm long the fist 4mm are not threaded but the rest is threaded to the head. a 13mm to 15mm long M2.5 fully threaded bolt should work fine. The only Bolt I could find that is M2.5 and the correct length was the bolt that holds the Hot-end Fan to the hot end but it’s not threaded to the head so it will not work. (The threaded insert is close the the front of the cutter arm) That fan bolt has a 2mm hex head not the flimsy 1.5mm hex head that the cutter arm has. If you are able to get the original bolt out you might be able to source a bolt that will work to get you printing until you can get one from Bambu Labs.
Yeah that had nothing to do with his obvious love for Creality and Prusa, nor him taping “Prusa” to his bambu printer, or expousing the now debunked ■■■■ about the printer sending data even in LAN mode, phoning home, etc. If any YouTuber is honest, and I doubt there are, Nathan isn’t one of them. He has just as much an agenda as any other. He likes to be the contrarian.
It’s perfectly ok to have an opinion, but be careful whom you get that opinion from.
Ive no doubt he has his own agenda, but the point was that when one of the reviewers isn’t afraid to expose some truths, or negative opinions, they get shut out pretty quick. If that’s their main bread winner, then they’re unlikely to say anything bad about the company for fear of losing revenue. And that includes saying how bad Bambu’s customer service is, which even though it’s fairly well known in the community, you’d be unlikely to find in a review of any of their printers.
Nathan is only speaking what his audience wants to hear. He intentionally pushes the boundries not for “truth” or being honest, to antagonize and be “edgy”.He knows there are those that hate Bambu and he can curry favor with them to earn free printers from Creality and possibly Prusa, of which is is far more selective in finding fault. If he does he tries to point to Bambu as making the same issue, as though it’s ok for another manufaturer to then do it too. His review of the K1 series was laughable, and his thermal runaway with that one was not reproduced elsewhere, that I’m aware of. I stand by my opinion that you can do far better to prove a point than him.
I believe Modbot and Stephan (C&C Kitchen, much respect for) have both mentioned it in their various reviews. I haven’t watch everyone so I can’t say. I do remember hearing that Bambu puts no stipulation on reviews. Remember an affililate link earns the reviewer money because you clicked on it. That doesn’t mean the company requires only positive. The review may just doing his own thing to earn money. That falls on the reviewer not the company. That’s across the board.
For the sake of argument, I’ll agree with you. Still isn’t why he’s been left out by Bambu. He has intentionally thrown shade at them. If he keeps trying to instagate drama then why would they want to be associated with him. I’d say he isn’t on brand.
He’s not one I’d point to for an example.
Now, I’m not defending Bambu CS, although I haven’t had issue with them. Replacement parts I needed due to my own stupidity were to me in a week, from filing to front door. I would say that what is complained about is pretty much the norm for any printer manufacturer. Creality is a bear, Elegoo is better but they like you to jump through hoops just like Bambu. Bambu does, due to popularity, need to step it up. Maybe one of the downsides to growing in popularity so quickly.
Please understand I’m not arguing with you, just having a convo. I respect your opinion and it’s yours, I hope I get the same. Thanks
I ordered two filament cutter levers tonight since they came back in stock, I do not see the option to order a complete replacement extruder, is this even a thing? I wouldn’t mind keeping a spare on hand kind of like an extra nozzle.