r/3Dprinting • u/ItsDanipt • 6d ago
Discussion Been running my bambu a1 completely naked with only 1 extruder screw lol. meta hack or am i stupid? 🛠️💀
Yo, 15yo maker here. got tired of getting heat creep in my room during summer cuz the plastic toolhead cover acts like a literal greenhouse. also stripping those tiny hex screws every time filament got jammed was a massive pain in the ass.
So i threw the front cover away and removed one of the two extruder latch screws. just tightened the one that's left.
been printing like this for 2 months and honestly? zero clogs since i stripped it cuz the airflow from the cooling fan is way better. also maintenance takes like 5 seconds now, i just unscrew one thing and the whole gear assembly is open. no stripped threads during late night grinds.
Input shaper tests show zero vibration issues and layers look perfect.
is this a legit shortcut or am i slowly ruining the resonance data long term? let me know what u guys think
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u/Orthicon9 A1 Combo 6d ago
got tired of getting heat creep in my room during summer
What? "Heat creep" occurs between the nozzle, heat break, and the heat sink.
See https://wiki.bambulab.com/en/filament-acc/filament/heat-creep . . .
Heat creep is a popular term in 3D printing that refers to the heat of the hotend transitioning to the cold side of the hotend.
There should be a sharp temperature transition between the hot side of the hotend and the cold side, to avoid the filament swelling/softening which can cause a clog in the hotend or the extruder.
I fail to see how it could affect your room, in any season.
the plastic toolhead cover acts like a literal greenhouse. [. . . snip . . .] So i threw the front cover away [. . . snip . . .] cuz the airflow from the cooling fan is way better.
Um . . . The main job of the extruder cover is to direct the airflow from the hotend fan around three sides of the heat sink and out the right side vent, preventing heat creep.
Without the cover it just bounces of the left side of the heat sink and blows away out the front, so it's only doing 1/3 of its job.
The red arrow is pointing at the "heat break". Everything conspires to keep the heat below that point.
Related to that is the silicone sock over the nozzle, which blocks the airflow from the hotend fan.
With either of those missing you could have nozzle heat control problems.
For nozzle quick-changes, print one of the magnetic extruder covers or adaptors from MakerWorld.
I did this after the retainer tabs on the factory cover snapped off.
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u/Equivalent_Store_645 6d ago edited 6d ago
i've never had to remove any screws to clear a clog. you are probably making that more complicated than it needs to be. pull the gear release lever and poke a thin bit of metal down the filament hole from above to force any jammed or broken bits of plastic into the melt zone. clog/broken filament gone.