I have my kickstarter X1C now for several years, but especially since I’ve expanded it with an additional AMS-HT (I have now 2x AMS v1 and 1x AMS HT) I’m having occasional issues:
Sometimes a print fails to start due to “unstable communication with AMS - please restart printer”. Regardless if I restart it or not, I’m then often to start a print anyway. A multi-filament print is then usually stable.
It sometimes fails to feed filament, and it is unclear why. It feeds filament all the way to the print head, to the point I see on the screen it detects filament is in the print head - then it pulls back the filament again, retries a few times and fails with “problem extruding filament”. I’m not sure what it uses to detect this issue, because as far as I know the X1C has no sensing on the extrusion. Restarting the printer sometimes helps. There is really no clog or jam.
Any idea how to troubleshoot and resolve these issues?
Also something to note: I’ve tried replacing the AMS cabling, or reversing the way it is daisy chained. Not sure how to distinguish the new AMS cabling and the older cabling.
Sometimes the lights of the AMS are flickering white after starting the printer.
Also something to note: In a multi-filament print the other day I had the issue it failed to extrude filament during the print. It literally didn’t engage the extruder, even when I manually used it from the screen. Therefore it was also not able to unload filament (but interestingly it also didn’t move to engage the filament cutter). I had to power off and restart the printer to resume the print, which it did just fine.
I have seen similar problem that you described with warn PTFE tube. The problem is it takes too much power to drive / pull the filament through the tube.
Maybe the tubes inside the AMS, from AMS to printer, or inside the printer. Could be any or all of those. They are intended as consumables. Life span could verry greatly depending on the filament used.
Could be the spool rollers.
Just somethings to check. After you find the problem make sure to post the solution.
“Kick Starter” that’s awesome, I got my first X1C right after Kick Starter with still a fat discount.
From what you are saying, it sounds like there maybe some excessive friction in the PTFE tubes. maybe worn or kinked causing the retracting problem. Since you also had an issue with a multi color print failure to unload, the PTFE that goes into the extruder may also have a bit more of an angle than whats Bambu likes. Every bend causes friction so keeping the bends to a minimum is huge. They have different Bowden tube guide on makers world that may help a softer angle to your extruder. I have replaced mine because of this same issue and so far its been fine
‘Unstable communication with the AMS’ and ‘flickering lights’…
Pick up a spare cable and try that, and inspect the plugin on the printer; inside too if you can. It seems you’re chasing an intermittent failure to communicate.
The solution was indeed the PTFE tube of the filament buffer. A bit hard to see on camera, but it was not quite round on the inside anymore. I wouldn’t have expected issues like this because the filament did reach the toolhead, but apparently there are some resistance gauges that still didn’t like this.
Yes, I see the warn side of the tube. There are power sensors on the motor to detect problems. I suspect this is not the problem. Just guessing. the wearing on one side I would not expect to grab the filament much put possible.
When it was a problem for me it had warn though to the outside of the tube.
