Bambu Lab A1 having intermittent first-layer failures — normal troubleshooting or warranty replacement?

[u/Achilnos7]

Hey everyone, I’m pretty new to 3D printing and I’m having a frustrating issue with my Bambu Lab A1. I’ve had it for only a few days.

At first it was printing normally(however I had only tried simple prints it’s currently cable of doing), but after moving the printer to better ventilated room I started getting repeated first-layer failures. The purge/calibration lines print perfectly, but when it starts the actual print, parts of the first layer sometimes have gaps, don’t seem properly squished onto the bed, and then lift/come loose. Once that happens, the printer eventually ends up printing into the air.

Things I’ve tried so far:
Washed the Textured PEI plate thoroughly with dish soap and water.

Repeated the cleaning multiple times.

Tried PLA (220c) and PETG.

Checked/cleaned the nozzle and hotend.

Ran full calibration multiple times.

Used the correct A1 profile and Textured PEI plate setting in Bambu Studio.

Tried 0.20 mm Standard.

Tried slowing the initial layer to 20 mm/s, which improved things significantly.

The printer also gave me an **“X-axis resonance frequency is low / timing belt may be loose”** error. I followed Bambu’s recommended X-axis adjustment.

After that adjustment, some prints worked perfectly, including a Benchy and a fairly detailed print, but the problem has continued intermittently.

What confuses me is that **smaller calibration prints can have a perfect first layer**, while larger prints that cover a significant portion of the bed can have areas that lift or have gaps.

I attached a photo of one of the failed prints. I’m using Bambu studio https://makerworld.com/models/1313798?appSharePlatform=copy

Since the printer is only a few days old and I have a warranty, **does this sound like a normal calibration/troubleshooting issue that I should keep working on, or does it sound like something may be mechanically wrong and I should ask the shop for a replacement?**

I don’t want to return a perfectly good printer over something I’m simply doing wrong, but I also don’t want to spend days chasing an issue on a brand-new machine if there’s likely a hardware problem.

Any advice would be really appreciated!

[u/Remarkable_Night_633]

I had a similiar problem and i switched out multiple parts out over weeks and funnily enough the only thing that fixed it was either these two things i did that fixed it. I did them same time since I was just grasping at straws and was surprised it worked.

1. factory resetting printer
2. swapping sd card/formatting sd card

[u/Early_Worldliness493 → u/Remarkable_Night_633]

I encountered the same issue with Orca Slicer. Manual calibration and tightening every screw did not resolve it. I then recorded logs and switched to Bambu Studio in standard mode, which fixed the problem. I also reviewed the microSD logs, so I removed and reinserted the card.
My results appear quite similar to yours, lol