There appears to be new concerns about the Bambu Labs A1 3D printer, which was recalled 2 years ago for an overheating issue tied to the heatbed cable.
I have been seeing user and community complaints about the Bambu A1 having an overheating electrical component, and that this had led to some issues including melting through of some of the printer’s plastic parts.
Looking at all of the different complaints and posts, it seems that the issue is tied to a thermistor – a temperature sensor – on the AC power board.
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That component has reportedly been overheating, failing, and then in some cases melting through the adjacent plastic surfaces.
I saw one recent post where a Bambu A1 that shipped in late December had the thermistor replaced by a different component.
There’s no recall yet, and also no Bambu Labs communications about the matter.
At this time, the reported issue is something to be mindful about if you have an A1 3D printer. I haven’t seen complaints about any other models yet.
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Bonnie
Thanks for the heads-up. I have one of these printers bought mid last year. I’ll be keeping an eye on it now.
Brian Puccio
And on the flip side, people have criticized Prusa for their AC mains powered bed being mains powered and allegedly the (or one of the) reason(s) there are no kits of the Core One XL: too easy for people to construct a fire hazard and sue Prusa.
rox carbuncle
just out of curiosity do you know if this also involves the A-1 mini? i assume they are ostensibly the same in terms of their electronics. i have one of them…its a worry now.
Stuart
I have only seen complaints and reports about the A1, and NOT the mini so far.
Owen H Morgan
The mini has a low voltage DC hear bed, and if I remember correctly, the power supply is an external brick.
Nick Stubbings
The A1 mini has an internal PSU.
rox carbuncle
so, just to loop us back around – this would indicate that the a-1 mini has the ‘potential’ to be a problem in this scenario, yes?
Jordan
Great. I just bought one of these during the end-of-year sale. Now I have a house-burner. Just wonderful.
Gary
I have had zero issues with my A1. I never done more that 18 hour prints. That may be when it fails. I have countless hours and prints on mine. It’s a flawless work horse.
Dupo24
There has been no reports of fires. Also, the A1 is made of fireproof material.
Owen H Morgan
I believe this has only happened to a handful of the hundreds of thousands of machines sold. I have well over 4000 hours on mine.
Jordan
Remember, these are essentially giant hot glue guns with motors. You -should- be keeping an eye them while they’re in operating.
Mount a smoke detector + keep an ABC fire extinguisher nearby.
Don’t go to sleep or leave it unattended while running — you wouldn’t do the same with a hot plate, soldering station, or toaster oven.
MM
Same with laser engravers and desktop CNC machines. They need babysitting to operate safely.
Josh H
I had mine have a really hot build plate for a long time after a print. Like 30m, like it never turned off. Luckily I was there to check and I flipped the power switch. I haven’t had it happen again but I was wondering and suspicious about it. I bought mine on the backorder wave in late Dec around Christmas, arrived just before the new year.
I’ll make sure to check shortly after prints complete now and keep an eye out. For what it’s worth, I also seem unable to update my firmware since I got it. It goes to 25% and just stops until I restart it. I’ve waited a day before.
PARoadrep
If you remove the sd card from it then try the update it should work. Saw it on another post and tried it, worked for me!
ElectroAtletico
No problem so far. Althought, mine is (1) in its own individual wooden table, (2) offset from the wall, and (3) in a spare bedroom that is always maintained at 70F.
So we good.
Babz
Been running mine non-stop for over two months straight with no issues.
A1 AMS Combo
Frank D.
Old problem? New problem?
…
( X1C + mini user )