I’m an idiot. Yes, swapping nozzles, I pulled the smallest connector socket off the front Tool Head PCB when I failed to release the catch. But wait I thought, I have often replaced/swapped JST connector housings on my project boards. If I pull the board and put in on the workbench where I can see and work on it properly…
Yup, I was able to reinsert the housing without damaging the pins. Happy days I thought. Just until I put everything together and turned the X1 back on when a number of errors flashed up. Apparently, I had just shorted out my Tool Head boards, possibly the USB-C connector and the AP board located beside the camera.
What I did not understand at the time was how challenging it would be for me to reconnect the ribbon cable coming from the Tool Head back side to the front Tool Head board. It is a female connector which has just the smallest orientation ridges.
It took two weeks and two deliveries from the BL Store to fix everything.
But, I am happy to say that BL Support has been great. Yes, there is a time lag but we got there in the end. Thank you Marcelo in BL Support!
For those of you interested, here are the details
I must have had the female ribbon connector misaligned at the beginning and shorted out both Tool Head boards, possibly the USB-C cable and the AP board (the one beside the camera).
I found that I needed to assemble the Tool Head boards and ribbon cable on the workbench, under lighted magnification. The front Tool Head board, top ribbon cable connector is the problem. What worked for me was to loosely fit the clamp then slide the connector into place. Carefully tighten each side while watching connector alignment. As the clamp brings the plug and socket together, you can feel the alignment ridges starting to engage. Yes, it is fiddly. Tighten it up and the whole assembly can now be mounted as the ribbon cable has open ended keeper fingers you can swerve the cable into. The repair parts all come with extra silicon glue to lock every into place.
There are indicator LED lights on the back Tool Head board, the AP board and the MC board located inside, near the poop chute to help you confirm/troubleshoot. Check out the repair Wiki for the details. Bambu Lab Printer Indicator LED explanation | Bambu Lab Wiki
The AP board is a special from BL Support as they need to bind it to your X1 once installed. I had a problem with errors on restart; couldn’t reacquire the QR code and subsequently rebind the machine to my account but BL support stayed with it and cleared it all overnight.
Lessons learned.
Careful nozzle replacement
BL support has been great (just have to be patient)
Tool-less nozzle swap on the A1 is a thing of beauty
Thanks user_3026326371 for the tooling idea.
I was inspired to make this tool which seems to fit and work.
Nice to see the Bambu support can be good and helpful when needed…
Not so goo to hear all the troubles you had for such a simple mistake - a lesson learned the hard way indeed…
I had to deal with these cables in the past in a different job.
And I can confirm they are a pain in the behind if you don’t have the right tools.
For example we had a big monitor on the bench and a camera over it.
Makes a huge difference if you see these connectors 30 or 40cm wide and sharp as a knife.
The best tool we had though was made from casting resin.
A little guide with half holes for those screw posts that had the cable fixed in place during the cast.
Allowing us to just slide the lot into place for a perfect fit all the time.
Of course we also had an overhead electric double screwdriver with torque control, but that’s a different story…
If you did it just by hand and with something like those clamp on the desk magnifying glasses then I pull my hat for a job well done indeed for a beginner with those connectors.
After 50 or so per week you can do them blindfolded but doing it without having a real clue or guidance - well done indeed…
I was telling myself while fitting that cable that there must be an easier way.
It never occur to me to make a alignment/fixing tool. Maybe something like this?
My complaint on the X1 hot end swap is the temp sensor plug “clip” effectively does nothing. Basically friction is all that holds it in. I got the 0.6 E3D hot end. This one thing makes me nervous. So far printing has not knocked it loose. I suppose miniaturization comes at a cost.
Should work but if you ever need one do it so you can slide it back to remove once the cable is installed.
The half holes allowed for that but there is other ways that work.
NOW we are talking !
I like it people find a solution through my gibberish but THAT !?
We would have used a very thing slider with a matching profile for the cable.
But then again, our connectors were even worse and thinner, literally just tiny balls poking out of a Kapton strip.
With you totally simplified approach the cable gets a really great alignment while the added bump stop ensures the connectors won’t get too far over or in front of the pins either.
Would love to get nagging now but could have done it easier or better myself I guess…
You should contact Bambu with this so they include it for those in need of this repair
Wouldn’t it be nice to see your model linked with a QR code or such when ordering those spares …
but for me, sometimes good enough is good enough.