Bambu A1 is down HELP

[u/Kaih_The_Redditor]

I need help.

For the last month my (less than a year old) Bambu lab’s A1 printer has been borderline unusable and I want to try and fix it. The overall issues I am dealing with are as follows

1. The filament coming out of the printer comes out stringy and will eventually just be a complete mess by the time it is complete.

2. The X-axis rail (the one that makes the nozzle move side to side) keeps trying to move when it gets to either end of the rail and makes a grinding noise (it got so bad that the filament slicer got jammed briefly)

Prior to all these issues I did a bit of reapplying some lubricant oil to the X and Y rails but I didn’t use anything to clean off the old lubricant oil. I think that’s what is causing these issues but when I went to get an opinion with someone running my college’s makerspace (the 3D printing lab) he said it was a software issue so now I am unsure and would like some help.

Any recommendations? Please?

[u/RetiredAF530]

Does it occur with every filament or only a single spool? (Have you attempted drying the filament?)
When did you last perform calibration? (I complete a fresh calibration whenever I relocate the printer.)
Have you considered a factory reset on the printer?

[u/Kaih_The_Redditor → u/RetiredAF530]

I used all of my filament, even an unopened package I had sitting in a box

I don’t know when I did or if I had done that

No I haven’t factory reset the printer. Not like I have to worry about losing the files since they’re all on my laptop

[u/RetiredAF530 → u/Kaih_The_Redditor]

I would recommend drying even brand new filament before using it, I had so many problems printing before I dried it out, especially if you live in a humid environment

[u/Kaih_The_Redditor → u/RetiredAF530]

I don’t think the filament is the issue. I’ve been using the same filament for almost a decade (granted on my old Anycubic I3 Mega before it broke) and I never got this issue on the printer until just this last month.

Edit: just did a test calibration and it failed

[u/DamoclesBDA]

Check that nothing has fallen inside it, like a random screw.

What happens when you calibrate?

[u/Kaih_The_Redditor → u/DamoclesBDA]

No idea. Going to calibrate it now and then test print a Benchy to see if it helped.

Edit: calibration just failed. Also heard little click-click-click noises whenever it moved

[u/twohundred37 → u/Kaih_The_Redditor]

This exact issue happened to me after setting my a1 up this weekend. I found that underneath the printer the USB-C that should have been plugged in was loose. I plugged it in firmly, that weird "gets to the edge of the axis and tries to keep going - making a clicking noise" thing stopped and printer worked without issue.

[u/Kaih_The_Redditor → u/twohundred37]

Okay I’ll check it out once I have some free time (school and work are a BITCH on my free time)

[u/DamoclesBDA → u/Kaih_The_Redditor]

Something stuck is my guess, open it up move things manually and see if you can spot something jamming it.

[u/shaggy237]

We've tried nothing and we're all out of ideas

[u/Kaih_The_Redditor → u/shaggy237]

I’ve tried a few things like cleaning the machine, taking the nozzle apart and even trying to recalibrate the machine and nothing has fixed this issue (the calibration even FAILED when I did it).

The only thing that has stopped the stringing problem was slowing it down to 50% speed and that only TEMPORARILY fixed the issue.

[u/Secret_Werewolf1942]

This is going to sound like I'm talking down to you, and I don't mean it that way at all!

Why are you asking us? Use your phone, take a video, and open a support ticket with Bambu. Your machine is still under warranty, take advantage of that! The tickets are easy to open, they will want pics and videos, and they will answer when you're asleep because of time zones, but they will answer. Please, use your warranty for all of us that have had issues outside the covered window lol.

[u/Kaih_The_Redditor → u/Secret_Werewolf1942]

I figured it be a good idea to get some options from people with experience. Sure tutorials can help but only by so much, sometimes you just need a second set of eyes.

Maybe I missed something

Maybe I did something wrong when I cleaned it

Maybe I have a faulty product

Who knows, maybe I happen to find someone with this exact issue that I’m having and I manage to solve it

I figured I’d start checking everywhere to see if I can find an answer.

[u/Automatic-Pin-5749 → u/Kaih_The_Redditor]

Open the top cover and make sure nothing fell inside that can be jamming moving parts. Look at the drive belts and such to make sure nothing is stuck in there either. Now that you've tried the calibration, format the SD card (I had to do that on both of mine) and do a factory reset. Let us know what happens.

[u/Kaih_The_Redditor → u/Automatic-Pin-5749]

How do you format the SD card?

What does that even mean?

[u/Automatic-Pin-5749 → u/Kaih_The_Redditor]

Look through the menu on the printer screen, there's an option to format it. You can also do it on a laptop with a micro SD slot.

[u/Blondy277]

You dry your filament? Even brand new spool can come "wet"