P1S not working after 2nd week. Asking for opinions

[Louie_Ambriz]

Hi Folks. Let me just say that I AM NOT mechanically inclined. I took the dive and bought teh P1S with AMS right before the holidays and managed to print two items before a print failed. I’ve been working hard to try to fix the problems that keep jumping up (clog?). I’ve replaced the nozzle and checked the extruder for clogs. Since I now have a new nozzle and can confirm that the filament reaches the extruder… that the problem is the extruder. I may have put it back together wrong. So I just ordered a new one.

Please note and this is important for me to say, I do NOT blame Bambu Lab. I know this is all my fault.

So I will try the new extruder when it comes (right now the issue is that no filament comes out of the extruder to the nozzle… i think). If it doesn’t work I may throw the towel in.

So my question for you all is, is the A1 mini an easier machine to maintain and make repairs? I am not afraid of trying to fix things. Just not great at it.

I know it may sound like I give up too early but I’ve been staying up trying to figure everything out. From the looks of it, I mean by watching a few videos, the A1 mini seems like an easier to-deal-with-machine. Even the nozzle looks easier to remove.

Let me know what you think. Even if you think I’m a weenie.

[duane777]

Hi Louie

I think the extruder is going to be pretty similar on most of these machines and it will be something you may need to open up again. So it would be better to try to figure out where you went wrong.

When you say the extruder doesn’t work, is it not grabbing the filament? Since you said the nozzle is clear of a blockage, how did you test that?

It might be as simple as the tension spring being installed incorrectly or missing as there’s not much going on in there.

Try removing the extruder again and test it outside of the machine by feeding a piece of filament in, the filament should stop at a point when it reaches the hobbed gear. Turning the yellow exposed gear should draw it in. You should then be able to push it through and see the yellow gear spin.

If the filament goes straight thru, then there’s no tension on the hobbed gear meaning the spring is not doing it’s job.

Hang in there, don’t give up too soon. There are lots of people here that can help you.

[Louie_Ambriz]

Thank you for the thoughtful and encouraging reply Duane.

I’ll test the extruder later today

[johnfcooley]

Remember if you’re printing with PLA to keep the door and or the top open. Heat creep happens when the chamber temp climps so that the heat from the nozzle “creeps” up towards the heatsink and top of the nozzle/hotend assembly.

This causes the filament to soften near or sometimes in the extruder causing a jam. Sounds horrible but easy to fix and easy to avoid.

Next time this happens shut down the printer and remove the nozzle assembly. Make sure you cut the filament with the filament cutter before doing this.

If filament has jammed in the extruder then as you know remove it. There is a big yellow wheel on one side, try to move that with your fingers. If lit doesn’t move, you’ve found your jam.

Remove the four screws and what you’ll see (going from memory) is that big wheel that has smaller gear on it, and a gear on a metal arm. Your jam will most likely be betwen those, simply use something thin and stiff to pop it out. Reassemble and be on your way.

If not, then you can remove the gear. there is a screw on the side of the extruder housing that tensions a spring. Unscrew that and keep the little disc and spring as well as the screw. The metal arm with gear should now come out with some wiggling.

After that the big yellow should come out, sometimes needs coaxing. If you don’t see plastic take a 1mm allen key and push down from the top where the filament would enter. This will remove any filament stuck, you can do the same on the bottom. To be sure it’s clear assemble the gear and arm so they’re somewhat together and attempt to run a piece of filament about 4 inches long through the top to the bottom. You can spin the yellow gear by hand and it should feed it through. If it goes your done.

Easies way to reassmele is to put the yellow gear in, then the metal arm with the other gear. From here get the screw, the disc and the spring. put the screw in a little, the disc goes against it, then the spring against that. The disc allows pressure evenly on the spring so the tension is applied to the metal arm with the gear.

Screw it in for now until the bottom of the screw head just touches the side of the extruder.

Replace the top and put it all back in the printer.

Keep the door open, escecially if you have the room the printer is in heated this time of year. Ambient air can cause heat creep quickly with that door closed.

[user_3026326371]

Simple fact is the we should not have any heat creep issues messing up extruders and more.
It is cheap hotends causing this, nothing else.

For me in hot Australia printing PLA in my P1S was a never ending nightmare…
Sure, do what Bambu claims is right and take the lid off, leave the door open and crank up those fans…
Really really great for very long prints, especially if the temps go down quite a bit at night and the print pops off the plate as the result…
Nothing that Bambu provides on their help pages or through their support addresses the actual cause of the problem - the sub standard hotend…
All you ever hear is bogus or worse - to upgrade to a harden steel extruder to ‘fix’ the problem ROFL

Yesterday we reached 40 degrees Celsius and inside I could not get the temps below 32 thanks to being a vintage rental…
Despite this slight issues I completed a 5 hour PLA print with the lid and door closed totally hassle free.
Simply by having thrown the Bambu hotend in the rubbish bin where it should have landed before even making it into a printer.
A hardened steel hotend, complete with fan, heater and all I got on special off AliExpress for $24AU DELIVERED performed MUCH better than the original.
Really low flow rate but never any heat creep issues.
Use it only for those bad filaments but still it got me wondering if it could be worth to invest a lot of money into a QUALITY hotend…
I eventually did in the form of the E3D Obxidian in 0.4mm.
Took forever to place the order as it was always sold out, then still 6 weeks to arrive…
Swapping over was fast and easy, full hardware calibration afterwards and I NEVER looked back…

Like it or not, our printers and based on consumables, not parts meant to last for as long and as reliable as possible.
Like your paper printer the real money is made once you bought it and have to deal with those things.
If you can accept that and invest into some good hotends you can have a good time.
Stick to Bambu only parts and you will never reach the potential your printer IS capable of…

[Louie_Ambriz]

Thank you John. You’ve given me and others great information

[user_1577813445]

I have both macines and the A1 mini will AMS lite is much easier and less problems.
I have been very disappointed in the perfomrace of the P1S myself and wish I knew when i brought it the issues I have today.

[Louie_Ambriz]

Hey, I’m glad to hear from you!

So without me having an a1 or mini, the things i like are:

Easily swappable nozzles with no wiring to connect
Everything seems more reachable with no enclosure (plus it’s brighter since it’s open)
Screen is alot better than my PS1

The extruder seems probably at the same level of difficulty as the x1 and p series.

And I like how both the tubes for the A1 and the AMS light are all easy top get to.

I’m still going to keep my p1s (which I havent got working yet mainly due to lack of time to work on it) but i’m seriouysly thinking of getting one of the A1s

[User_631303032]

I currently have a 2 month old P1S with around 1k hours, and have not had a single problem that I didn’t cause. I have found maitenance extremely easy, obviously not as easy as the A series where you can swap the hot end in 5 seconds, but even when I had to take off the TH board it was still easy. I think that the pros of the P1S outweigh the slightly more difficult maitenance.

[user_1577813445]

just so you know, i have 2 flash forge machines and a Prusa as well and the A1 mini beats them all and is why i purchase the P1S
i believe that the frustration is it being in a box makes it difficult to work on in comparison.
Better money would of been on the A1 with AMS lite; in my opinion

[User_631303032]

Yeah honestly I have a P1S and it is annoying to work on the hot end especially since it doesn’t move down.

[Louie_Ambriz]

Update: I ordered a new extruder, installed it and it still wouldn’t print. It would start the print but no filament would be extruded. So I knew I was doing something wrong. I had replaced both the nozzle (which was clogged) and the extruder.

After watching some youtube videos I saw a person explaining how to make sure the filament was fully loaded. Following a few steps from the video everything was fine again. There’s probably nothing wrong with my old extruder which I will check soon.

Thank you everyone for the helpful posts. I really appreciate it. I am glad to have a working P1S although I will be purchasing an A1 Mini as well.

This is a great community!

• Louie

[user_3478126184]

I got my P1S mid January this year (2 months ago). First time 3D printer owner. I have been averaging 12 hrs. of printing per day. Only issues I have had were self made. I love this thing!!!