The Bambu X1C has been pretty solid, but today it was having a fit. It would not back out the filament (unload) from the AMS, and kept dropping an error about it. I went through the basics, and after some investigation realized it had to be in the extruder. Sure enough, some slightly wet PLA had broken (my bad), and there was a small piece of PLA stuck right over the extruder sensor, which is above the gears. I'm not sure that's the end of the story though, but more on that later.
The clog was a blessing in disguise though, since I had to remove the hot end to pull the extruder, I found noticed immediately that the thermistor wire was broken. It really just fell apart, so was an easy thing to notice. What is really strange though, is that there had been no thermistor errors, so there must have been a good mechanical connection. In any case I swapped it, and in the process, learned how much I hate tiny connectors. I also found that for some reason, known only to Bambu, they put some adhesive on the stepper connector, which must be unplugged to remove the stepper. I was able to carefully pick it off, but it's sort'a annoying, I really hope that is not there due to some issue, and I will later regret having to do that, but it's the only way to get the extruder off to check it.
The clog was a blessing in disguise though, since I had to remove the hot end to pull the extruder, I found noticed immediately that the thermistor wire was broken. It really just fell apart, so was an easy thing to notice. What is really strange though, is that there had been no thermistor errors, so there must have been a good mechanical connection. In any case I swapped it, and in the process, learned how much I hate tiny connectors. I also found that for some reason, known only to Bambu, they put some adhesive on the stepper connector, which must be unplugged to remove the stepper. I was able to carefully pick it off, but it's sort'a annoying, I really hope that is not there due to some issue, and I will later regret having to do that, but it's the only way to get the extruder off to check it.
When I got the extruder apart, I used a toothpick to clean out the gears, which had some rusty looking crud on them. I also cleaned, and then added a very very tiny (like watchmaker tiny) drop of oil to the bearings and on the shafts in the extruder. Getting it all back together was pretty easy, aside from the micro connectors which I can hardly see, and the hot end being very stubborn about seating where I could get the screws to slide in. It is all back together though, and printing part of
While I had a packet of thermal paste open, I decided to set up a new high flow knockoff hot end from AliExpress, which I picked up for about $10. It includes everything but the fan, and I also bought a couple high-flow nozzles at the same time. I'm not planning to use this right now though, since my goal was just to get the machine back up and running with as few variables changed as possible (and the only variable changed was the thermistor in this case). The AliExpres hotend does look very nicely made though, and I have no doubt it would work, and may outperform the stock even - though with some drawbacks if using abrasives or filled materials (since it seems likely the third party high flow nozzles will clog easier). Something I also noticed with the AliExpress spare hotend socks, is that they do not have the same profile as the stock Bambu socks. That means the knock off socks will not work with my spares case, which is fine since I only have the one and probably will not buy any more.
While I had a packet of thermal paste open, I decided to set up a new high flow knockoff hot end from AliExpress, which I picked up for about $10. It includes everything but the fan, and I also bought a couple high-flow nozzles at the same time. I'm not planning to use this right now though, since my goal was just to get the machine back up and running with as few variables changed as possible (and the only variable changed was the thermistor in this case). The AliExpres hotend does look very nicely made though, and I have no doubt it would work, and may outperform the stock even - though with some drawbacks if using abrasives or filled materials (since it seems likely the third party high flow nozzles will clog easier). Something I also noticed with the AliExpress spare hotend socks, is that they do not have the same profile as the stock Bambu socks. That means the knock off socks will not work with my spares case, which is fine since I only have the one and probably will not buy any more.
And finally (maybe) after tearing it down and putting it all back, it had another error when trying to pull the filament back. It's only happened on the #2 spool so far, and may be due to the bend right at the hot end. I was able to clear the latest error by purging the hot end and then unloading/loading/unloading. I already removed a bowden guide, which had been on the printer from almost day one, but it did seem to be related to the filament loading/unloading issue most recently. It remains to be seen if the other AMS spools will have this problem, or if maybe it's something else that has worn down and needs to be replaced. I hope that's the end of the issues for a while, but the next steps will be to replace the bowden to the hot end, and maybe print a riser for the glass top to give more clearance there for the tube to bend. I think the sharp bend in the bowden is the cause of some of these loading problems.
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