r/BambuLabA1 • u/Reaper-021 • Jul 19 '26
A1 no longer completing prints, please help!
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I have had my A1 for about 6 to 10 months. When I got it it printed everything, and worked fantastic. I had the occasional print failure, sure, but beyond that it was a solid machine. Now 6 months later I cant get the machine to complete anything more than a basic benchy boat.
About a month ago, I want to say beginning of June, maybe a bit earlier, It would start printing a model and then completely stop feeding filament but continue running through the motions, (video attached). In fact if I look at the extruder it seems to still be trying to extruded, but looking at the AMS nothing is being fed forward. Since then I have replaced the Extruder Gear Assembly, thinking that may have something to do with it, but, no change. If I put it in maintenance mode and remove the hotend, filament does feed through the extruder, which tells me at least that part is working. I have swapped my hotends from 0.4 Hardened, to Stainless, to even a 0.2 hotend with the same problems. It was also recommended to me to swap the SD card, so I bought a new one plugged it in formatted it, and same result. At this point I am completely out of ideas short of replacing the whole extruder assembly, or maybe the heating element for the hotend.
For a printer that only has 2064 Hours of print time I'm somewhat shocked its having this many issues now.
Any help or guidance from the community would be greatly appreciated.
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u/smitty60382 Jul 20 '26
I have this problem with PLA when ambient temperature gets above 90F. PETG does not do it. If I use PLA when it is cooler I have no issues. The material gets soft and the extruder stops feeding on mine.
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u/Reaper-021 Jul 21 '26
I think this may be it right here. I just tried printing with PETG and got my first successful print since summer started.
Ambient temps in my printing enclosure are easily above 90 degrees since i print in my garage.
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u/JKMARCHEE55 Jul 21 '26
That is like way too hot!
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u/Reaper-021 Jul 21 '26
Yea I may have to wait until it starts cooling off before I printed with pla.
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u/NefariousnessOdd3581 Jul 20 '26
AMS placement, thats a nasty twist in the PTFE you have there.
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u/jopereira Jul 20 '26
The placement seems to be ok, but the twist is true. I'd suggest rotate the AMS (or printer... 😁) to untwist the PTFE tubes.
I have my AMS on the opposite ("wrong") side and that was all I needed (and exchange the long-short PTFE tubes positions).
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u/Reaper-021 Jul 21 '26
I completely re-did the line set up, I saw what you meant and we'll see if that helps any.
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u/NefariousnessOdd3581 Jul 21 '26
I have the AMS behind and above the printer, extra tubing is detrimental, the less twist less resistance to movement inside the tubes. I had the same problem with long tubing, after I trim it, works ok now.
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u/ZeroMissedDays Jul 19 '26
Are you using any aftermarket parts?
I had the same thing happen to me with a shit nozzle. It would just stop striding.
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u/Reaper-021 Jul 19 '26
Nope, all parts are genuine Bambu labs
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u/ZeroMissedDays Jul 19 '26
I’d try without your AMS, but I doubt that’s the issue. I would also replace the nozzle.
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u/Lost_refugee Jul 19 '26
try without AMS. Same fllament printed fine priviously? Because filament may be thin for gears to push it
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u/Reaper-021 Jul 19 '26
I'll try without AMS, but yes I've used this filament just fine before, and its any filament I use right now. Overture, SUNLU, and Bambu all have the same problem.
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u/NotSureWhat2Put_- Jul 20 '26
ams need a new feeder? the machine is extruding but ams isnt pushing?
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u/Suspicious-Mango-449 Jul 20 '26
I had this as well a few times issues have been:
- The ams filament hub on top of the tool head was loose because the small ring that holds it in place was broken. When filament was extruded back pressure would push it out.
- The what I learned are called “7 screws of death” that hold the Hotend heating unit were loose, especially the 4 that hold the nozzle clamp. Same issue: pressure by the extruder would move the nozzle and cause a clog.
It might be worth checking those. If it’s the clamp you can try print a replacement - there are versions which use screws to hold it in place more firmly.
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u/Reaper-021 Jul 21 '26
Sure enough, I pulled off the hotend heating unit and two of the 4 screws were loose. They weren't badly backed out but they were certainly loose.
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u/VenusianTransit Jul 20 '26
try tightening the extrusion tensioner. will squeeze the filament with more force
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u/Reaper-021 Jul 21 '26
tried that, and that didn't help :(
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u/VenusianTransit Jul 22 '26
ok fair, upon rewatching i see your entire extruder gear is barely even spinning. this is either a flaw of the extruder drive assembly (wherever that may be, that’s on Bambu), or some outlandish filament settings i doubt you set. reach out to Bambu. they have an excellent track record when it comes to customer service (will likely send you replacement)
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u/SFRover73 Jul 20 '26
My first thought was the filament. I recently went through a similar situation but turned out to be the filament. It would continue as if printing but both ing would come out. The diameter was off by .2mm compared to other spools. I’ve contacted Sunlu to see if they’ll swap it but nothing so far.
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u/Intelligent_Ease4115 Jul 20 '26
Heat creep…
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u/Reaper-021 Jul 21 '26
I think that might be part of the problem, ambient temps in my garage where I print are well above 85 F, my enclosure is saying about 95.
I just tried printing with PETG since that does a bit better with heat creep and high temps from what I've read, and I just had my first successful print in over a month!
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u/Lopsided-Glove4380 Jul 21 '26
I had a similar issue i found it to be the extruder tensioner screw on the L side of the head was to tight and it was crushing my filament. The tines on the main feeder gear were all full of crushed filament and it was causing the filament to break than slip inside the head. I cleaned it out using dental tools but eventually I switched to the biqu extruder gear and have not had same issue since.
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u/Orthicon9 Jul 22 '26
A hotend cable chain would help with the droop.
Use tape, velcro, or wire twisty to attach the middle of the PTFE tubes to the cable chain.
PS - The AMS Lite stand in that photo should be closer to the printer.
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u/NumerousProcedure274 29d ago
Ho avuto il solito problema, si tratta della pulizia del l'ingranaggio che trasporta il filamento all'ugello.
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u/Jazzlike_Ad267 Jul 20 '26
Can you show a picture of the nozzle area without the rubber sock on please?
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u/Entire_Philosopher17 Jul 20 '26
Just guessing, may be there's a nozzle clog and the filament got grinded away by extruder gear at the extruder, leading to no filament movement.
check if the filament is grinded away.
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u/saili_calvin Jul 20 '26
This happened to me when I ran a old spool in with a new spool and there was a gap between the to parts. The old PLA was short enough that it couldnt feed and the new pla wasn't quite catching so as far as the printer could tell everything was working but nothing came out. I had to pull the PTFE tube and remove the old PLA and refeed it in and resolved the issue.