P1s toolhead plug failure

[Olias]

While I can’t be certain from the photos, they look like standard JST connectors, I’d wager its probably 2.0mm pitch. You can find these on Amazon with pigtail wires attached if your considering doing any type of modifications and don’t have crimping tools or experience, that would be the way I’d go and simply cut and splice the wires.

https://www.amazon.com/s?k=jst+4pin+connector

If you want to be sure, measure the outer housing and compare it to the data sheet. Two of my favorite sites for this are Mouser and Digikey. From there you can compare the housing and deduce what the connector is.

Here’s their links for their search engine for fine pitch connectors which is where I’d start my search.

https://www.digikey.com/en/products/filter/rectangular-connectors/free-hanging-panel-mount/316

https://www.mouser.com/c/?q=2mm%20pitch%204%20wire

Note that JST is the originator of this type of connector but TE, Amphenol FCI and Molex all make competing connectors. So don’t get hung up on brands but this style connector “White and fine pitch” are generally called JST as a generic term. If you walk into a well stocked electronics shop and were to ask for a 4 wire JST connector, they’d know what you are referring to. They would ask you the pitch which typically is either 2mm, 2.54mm and 1.25mm. Those are the most common industry standards. This particular connector would be found under “Wire to board” category if you’re searching on the Mouser or Digikey site.

Here’s what an example JST data sheet would look like. After you measure the housing, just scroll down to the dimensions section and match it up. Easy peasy.

https://www.mouser.com/datasheet/2/564/ePA_F-3476797.pdf

[simon14]

Thanks for that. Unfortunately, the one I am looking for is this

The connectors for X1C are certainly JST.

The back story:

I had one original hotend fan coming with the nozzle dead after a few weeks. Went back and forth with support for almost 2 months, sent me toolhead board and the monochrome lcd before sending me the replacement of complete hotend assembly.

I went ahead and bought one spare from aliexpress for $22

But at the time, X1C hotend fans were only $6 a piece and some how I found the connector for $15 / 3 connectors

Thinking I just cut the JST connector off the X1C hotend fan and solder the connector for P1S fan there. Unfortunately, the connectors were female, while I needed male connectors for the hotend fans.

I already salvaged the connector from the dead p1s hotend fan and used it on the new x1c fan.

Now aliexpress sells p1s hotend fan for AU$11. I can just buy it and toss the x1c fans in the bin. But I am a bit salty over myself for buying those x1c fans thinking I got it cheap that way . I am addicted to shopping for DIY parts.

End of the day, bambu lab just buys off cheap fan made in china and sells for quadruple the price. I am sure the fan is just a simple sleeve bearing one, nothing special about it. And its life time certainly shorter since I print ABS mostly. I just don’t like give BBL extra money for something like this.

I do have a few 12v, 24v fans of that size with dual ball bearing and all. They were for the corexy hypercube project that never have time to finish even though I already had the amount of parts to built 2 hypercube corexy printers.

PS: sorry for hijacking the thread

[Olias]

That style of connector you reference is most likely a Hirose DF or a similar series with a 1 mm pitch. As far as I know, this product is only available as a surface-mount device designed for soldering to a PCB, not as a crimpable cable solution.

If you closely examine Bambu’s connectors, they take a somewhat unorthodox approach, although other companies have used similar methods. They solder wires directly to a PCB, add a layer of potting material, and then cure it in an oven. While this technique is common in certain microminiaturized devices, such as Apple Watches and some cell phone technologies, it is not widely adopted for “pluggable” items. For such applications, JST connectors are a better solution where wires are required.

This is one of my criticisms of Bambu. The fan component and nozzles are designed with a connector specifically intended for single installation, not for regular maintenance cycles yet they market it as a “serviceable” component.

Here’s what I mean: the workmanship in these photos suggests that the epoxy portion is hand-manufactured, not performed by automation. This is due to the lack of uniformity one expects for robotically applied material as evidenced by the stray epoxy that has been allowed to flow onto the PCB and the wires. You would never see this approach in Japanese or Korean technology. It has all the hallmarks of a sweatshop operation, likely in Shenzhen Province or perhaps Pakistan. That said, who knows? Maybe Bambu is the real genius here, and the rest of us are just behind the curve.

What I can say is that in the companies I’ve worked at, no engineer would have been allowed to use this approach for anything requiring periodic servicing, such as the removal of an extruder due to normal wear and tear. It’s simply not a sound approach.

Here is a likely catalog for the socket side of this component. What you’re showing on the fan is the plug side. Again, neither was ever intended to be used for cable solutions.
https://www.hirose.com/en/product/document?clcode=&productname=&series=DF40&documenttype=Catalog&lang=en&documentid=en_DF40_CAT

@simon14

Now aliexpress sells p1s hotend fan for AU$11. I can just buy it and toss the x1c fans in the bin. But I am a bit salty over myself for buying those x1c fans thinking I got it cheap that way . I am addicted to shopping for DIY parts.

End of the day, bambu lab just buys off cheap fan made in china and sells for quadruple the price. I am sure the fan is just a simple sleeve bearing one, nothing special about it. And its life time certainly shorter since I print ABS mostly. I just don’t like give BBL extra money for something like this.

At any rate, to address your approach: If I understand you correctly, yes, purchasing pre-wired pigtail connectors and splicing wires is the most sensible solution if the objective is to retrofit with an off-the-shelf item or adapt, for instance, an X1 to a P1 platform that uses a different connector. I’ve done this quite often, but not under these circumstances. This approach is typically reserved for situations where the OEM part is no longer available, leaving no choice but to source a commercial off-the-shelf component and retrofit it into the design. In other words, it’s a hack, and you have to ask yourself: is it worth it? What do you gain?

[simon14]

Thanks for the tips.

@Olias

purchasing pre-wired pigtail connectors and splicing wires is the most sensible solution if the objective is to retrofit with an off-the-shelf item or adapt, for instance, an X1 to a P1 platform that uses a different connector

My purpose was to save some cost and having fun while at it. This is kind of my hobby and because that what I can do. I wouldn’t do that if I fix stuff for customer, just get the exact replacement is the only way to do, take less than 5 minutes to swap new part in.

My day job is not fixing stuff like Louis Rossmann, but more like designing and debuging PCB. I am capable of doing some SMD rework including QFN packages and some small BGA packages but not really into reballing stuff. Transplant a female connector onto this tiny PCB is no problem for me

I agree this connector is not meant for repeating plug/unplug. Same goes for JST as well, but I agree JST connectors are better for this.

I usally tell my boss to spray over silicone/conformal coating over solder joint for the PCB that we place inside the bike’s engine and he hates it every single time , saying that coating takes forever to dry and too much time consuming to make just one pickup for the bike.

Well what can I say, China has much more cheap labour than the rest of the world, doing manual work like that is very much sensible for them.

@Olias

This is one of my criticisms of Bambu. The fan component and nozzles are designed with a connector specifically intended for single installation, not for regular maintenance cycles yet they market it as a “serviceable” component.

And they include extra hotend for free but w/out thermistor and heater. I guess, once the customer had to swap in the spare hotend, he could damage the thermistor on current hotend when trying to move it to the spare. Customer ends up buying the whole hotend assembly with fan and all. That is just some cunning bussiness trick to me.

[Olias]

@simon14

This is kind of my hobby and because that what I can do.

We are kindred spirits in that area

@simon14

My day job is not fixing stuff like Louis Rossmann,

I’m a huge fan of Rossmann!!!

@simon14

I am capable of doing some SMD rework including QFN packages and some small BGA packages but not really into reballing stuff. Transplant a female connector onto this tiny PCB is no problem for me

Then you are in a really good position to comment on some of the things I wrote about.

BGA soldering BTW is one of those areas that I yearn to learn but just don’t have a current use case.

[Wsquared58]

JST connections come in all shapes and pitches and is a true pain to try and create by hand. Saying it’s a JST connection is like saying my car is a ford.
A list of JST’s