Prints started to get all wonky about a week ago. I couldn’t figure out the problem. Changed the nozzle, tighten the belts, lubed the z screws, and cleaned the carbon fiber rods. Disassembled the extruder and I didn’t see any clogging, but when I disassembled the hall sensor, I noticed a lot of wear. Then I found a piece of metal inside the extruder that I suspect broke off from the hall sensor somehow. A new extruder arrived yesterday and the X1C is printing like a champ again.
I had the same basic experience with the hot end on my Prusa MK3S recently. Naturally it loves to kick the bucket anytime I’m making a gift for someone on it and not when I’m printing something unimportant.
Yeah, I need to have a bunch of spare parts available. Since Bambu’s warehouse is on the west coast, it takes a week to get to me on the east coast.
I had spares too, but it still sucks to have a print fail 35 hours into a 37 hour job, especially when you’re on a deadline.
Are you trying a 3ed party extruder or going with the official replacement?
Official replacement. Already arrived and printing again.
Are there 3rd party replacements for Bambu Labs printers now? I’ve heard people saying a disadvantage with these printers is that you have to buy expensive proprietary parts to repair them if they break
I don’t own one but I saw this on AliExpress: Upgrade Hotend For Bambu Carbon Lab X1and P1P Thermistor Heating Rod CHT Hard Steel Nozzle Bamboo P1P Bambulabsx1 J-Head Hot End
At the risk of sounding like a shill, I think bambu components are fairly priced. Nozzles cost $15 a piece and I’ve replaced 2 of them in 3000 hours. The X1C also prints much faster than my old ender 3 so I got a lot of value out of the components.
I think a more valid argument is if there are few or no 3rd party parts available and Bambu goes out of business. It doesn’t look like we’re going down that road now, but it’s possible to stock up on spare parts to prepare.
I had a look too, and they seemed quite affordable. At the risk of sounding pessimistic, :) I think the biggest risk is that they lower quality and raise prices once they get big enough, but hopefully there will be high quality 3rd party parts available by then.
3000hrs straight usage? That’s impressive.
I noticed that towards the last couple of hundred hours it started to clog/jam a lot more. I thought the gears might be wearing but it looked ok upon visual inspection. I wonder it’s an early warning sign. I only print PLA and PLA+ so nothing abrasive.
What are the replacement costs for this? I’ve heard that Bambu uses all proprietary parts so there’s no buying Chinese knockoffs at a discount.
$45. I’m 100% ok with spending $45 after 3000 hours. So far I feel I’m getting good value for my money both with the printer and the parts.
That’s more than a year of work at a full-time job (2200 hours) for reference.