So, I’m helping out a person with a a1mini.
The printer was knocked down onto the floor and a kitty did a #1 on the extruder/hot end.
On top of that there is a severe case of caked on pla to the point that the hot end itself can’t be removed. And I can’t even heat it up as the printer can’t communicate with the extruder/hotend.
I’m trying to figure if I can buy the entire unit as a part including the pcb/stepper/hot end/ the smaller fan and possibly the larger cooler fan.
Photos coming up [here](View my photos at: Forum) as soon as I can find faster service.
This is very stressful to read lmao sorry for your loss
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LOL. I’m just thankful it’s not my printer. My X1C is in great shape and printing about 2-3 per day.
I’m just trying to help this person, she is not technical at all more the creative type.
She does not have the ams but the part sticking out of the extruder has 4 Bowden tube holes. Can I reuse the one she has? Also the extruder comes with the pcb and stepper + all the gearing and cutter etc as I understand?
Also is the the silicone shroud/sock included in any of the parts?
It depends if it was damaged in the fall or not.
Your coming close to maybe buying a new printer & using this one for parts.
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The knocked on the floor is rough, and the worst nightmare ever. You’ll have to order the parts to try to fix all that. After looking at your pictures, the real problem had nothing to do with the fall, it’s the major filament blob that can only be fixed by heating up the hotend.
That was a really bad failed print or two or three that created the blob, not the fall. The way to prevent blobs - sit and watch the first layer or two print. The stringing is usually bed adhesion, and you can stop the print before the blob happens.
There is an excellent instruction on how to clean the hotend.
This happened to me. And it was a nightmare to remove. The biggest problem was after getting most of the melted filament off the hotend, there was an invisible layer left on the hotend heating plate, the hotend itself, and the hinge points for the clip closing. So when the end cooled, I couldn’t remove the hotend. I bought a spare hotend assembly (now in my machine and I managed to fix the old one), and hotend - (nozzle).
As an aside, trying to fix this one might be good money chasing bad. You don’t know if the Z and X axis parts are still aligned. The printer may never work right again due to bent parts. The suggestion above of buying a new basic one (no AMS, no options, just the printer), and use this one for spare parts is a really good one. Spare parts are things like belts, motors, plastic covers, screws, maybe even some circuit boards, and possibly the extruder. The parts aren’t expensive, but you’ll have them from this broken machine.
Best of luck with this challenge.
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