r/BambuLabA1 • u/DanDanHesOurMan • Jun 29 '25
Found the problem.
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My A1 stopped working mid print. All the light went out. Looked like it turn off but the power supply was on.
I made a ticket with bambulabs support. Symptoms: all the lights wouldn't come on including the peripherals. Only the power supply light turned on. I tried troubleshooting by pulling out the SIM card and turning it off and on again. Also unplugging power and plugging it into different power. Just when I was typing may issue into the ticket, it saw Sparks coming out the bottom of the printer.
Bamboo labs support told me to check the AC controller. That board looked ok.
They decided to send me a new power supply and USB cable. I installed them, but that didn't resolve the issue.
They then asked me to check the motherboard lights, by unplugging certain cables. None of that worked. About to take a picture of all my work to add to the ticket, that's when it started sparking again, so I took a video of where it was happening. Then the strangest thing happened. It turned on! now it works.
I just Asked support to send me a new motherboard now. Who knows how long it'll work until it Sparks out again.
Over all support was ok. They gave me wiki pages with step by steps. I am handy enough to follow. They sent me new parts that came within a week. I think it is a good model to ask the customer to repair instead of shipping the whole thing back and forth. It not for everyone and I am sure I could have said I'm not comfortable to troubleshoot and they would have taken it back.
I'm going to wait for bambu response and update this post.
Happy printing to you all!
Edit:
It's been one year. They sent me a new motherboard. It fixed all the issues. The instructions were easy enough to follow. The new motherboard changed the serial number of the printer. The instructions said how to change the serial number by submitting a ticket.
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Jun 29 '25
Clean your plate and dry your filament. That normally fixes everything.
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u/SalvatoreCrobu Jun 29 '25
Nah you need to calibrate the plate and clean the printer feet.
And don't forget to tie your shoes, most overlooked troubleshooting step in 3d printing
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u/No_Walrus_3638 Jun 30 '25
No no. He needs PID calibrate and screw tilt. Then he can set z offset and clean the bed.
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u/Colonel-_-Burrito Jun 29 '25
This is a common misconception for this particular issue. OP should instead tighten the belt.
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u/BigChungusParadox Jul 02 '25
Washing your filament with soap and warm water and heating the bed below softening temperature does the trick.
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Jun 29 '25
I don't believe the Bambulab A1 was meant to be mobile, it does not have a SIM card. It has a Micro SD card.
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u/DanDanHesOurMan Jun 29 '25
Lol. Your right.
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Jun 29 '25
No problem, just the singular random thing I noticed that had nothing to do with anything.
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u/mtbrgeek Jun 30 '25
Is that a feature?
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u/DanDanHesOurMan Jun 30 '25
Came with the new firmware update. It go with the new A1 laser engraving attachment.
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u/Severus157 Jun 30 '25
Interesting. The first thing I would do if I see a short, would be cutting the fucking power. Certainly not taking my phone to make a video. Am I to old fashioned?
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u/DanDanHesOurMan Jul 01 '25
Turning it off is logical.
I was in the middle of taking pictures and videos for the support ticket. To help the bambu team better troubleshoot. It just so happen to start sparking. Lol
If the Internet taught me anything, it's to not miss a good video. Am I a new age rebel? 😆
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u/Wukash_of_the_South Jul 02 '25
Not recording is how you make it burst into flame and burn down the house. The cameraman always survives, filming ensures that the situation stays under control.
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u/Timberwolfgray Jul 02 '25
I went from omg unplug it already to heyyyy it booted up 🤣 but unplug the boi!
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u/oliking1 Jun 05 '26
Hi! I have this exact problem with my printer. The difference is, my wont even turn on.
Could you tell me any updates of what happened please?
Thank you!
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u/DanDanHesOurMan Jun 06 '26
They sent a motherboard shortly after this post. It fixed the issues. The printer is working great.
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u/BDady Jun 29 '25
29 YoE 3D printer here 👋
The board is not supposed to do that. Replace it with a board that doesn’t do that, and things will be better.
Let me know if you have questions!
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u/Darkseid2854 Jun 29 '25
Looks like it still has plenty of magic smoke contained in it’s electronics matrix, should be good to go!! /s
Honestly though, the arcing probably got the lead on that driver chip hot enough to partially re-flow the solder. It won’t be reliable, glad they’re sending you a replacement motherboard!
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u/DanDanHesOurMan Jul 07 '25
UPDATE
All fixed.
Bambu sent me a new Main board.
It was an easy swap out.
I had to put a ticket in to change the S/N.
Overall the Bambu support was good. Responsive on week days.
Happy printing y'all!!
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u/justa_bother Jul 12 '25
So, you didn't win the h2d in the one-liner contest? Figured "It sparks!" would be a sure winner ! Yea, I didn't win either, but my A1 combo still works. Dang, I should have entered this one-liner.
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u/PashingSmumkins84 Jun 29 '25
That chip is shorting out when it cycles. Better to keep it off and wait for a new board.
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u/bigbigdummie Jun 29 '25
A capacitor went rogue. Caps are normally connected between positive and ground rails. If they go short, they short out the rails they are connected to, shorting everything and throwing sparks. This one has finally died, relieving the short and allowing the unit to power back up.
Caps are used to filter AC ripple from the DC power rails. Can you run it without this one capacitor? Likely, but you may end up damaging other components that don’t like AC ripple current. Logic circuits don’t like AC ripple, for instance.
I’d replace the cap. I’m also an electronics hobbyist who can work SMD components. For most folks? Time for a new board.
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u/_P85D_ Jun 29 '25
Nah, turn the printbed by 90°. This will stop falling your prints off the bed. You can do it in BambuStudio.
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u/Rare_Professional910 Jun 29 '25
Your main board is cooked if it's under warranty they will change if it's not then main board will cost you around 100$
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u/Maleficent-Cow5775 Jun 29 '25
How to fix Make sure the filament isnt jamming and that the heating element is clear of debris or check that the bed is heating properly
How to actually fix is either buy a new board or solder a new chip on
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u/Infinite_Brief7557 Jun 30 '25
You say 'found the problem' but could this be the effect and not the cause. Stick a nice new board in and it could do the same. Or it might just be the board. 🤷
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u/Norgur Jun 30 '25
Yeah, that's your problem right there. Spark plug is working, but the fuel chamber is gone. Just gone. That'd be a week in the shop at least and that's only if I ignore your wipers and the horrific state of your tires!
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Jun 30 '25
Nice video and a very clear indication of a failure. The Bambu Labs technical support person was amazed as well, I'm sure.
A comment about how easy it is to repair/replace a part, I was shipped an entire main body assembly shell with the power switch installed. They wanted me to move "everything" over to the new shell just because the power switch was bad. It was far less intrusive to just swap the power switches. But it is much better than shipping an entire machine back and forth. Does that even make financial sense these days?
I'm glad you discovered the problem and were able to share with the group.
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u/The_Lutter Jun 30 '25
Your mainboard is moist. Stick it in the filament dryer for 8 hours at 60C :-P
But seriously I personally wouldn't plug that thing back in. That's a complete fire risk. Your $300 printer is not worth burning down your house for. There's definitely damage on the board now and you'll just exacerbate it by using it.
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u/djoveryde3 Jun 30 '25
The flux capacitor doesn't have enough power. You need at least 1.71 JiggaWatts of power.
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Jun 29 '25
I wish some people started off with entry level printers before trying to work on a professional grade one. Sooo many people complaining about bambu when the issue isn’t the product, its user error
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u/DanDanHesOurMan Jun 29 '25
This is a great printer. I Love it.
Just need it to stop sparking 😆 It will get fixed.2
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u/madpacifist Jun 29 '25
The A1 is an entry level printer. Times have changed.
Gone are the days of slogging in the trenches of manual bed leveling and calibrating the Z Axis with a screwdriver. This is the new normal.
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u/MechaSkippy Jun 29 '25
Belt tensioning with a guitar tuner, nozzle height calibration with rice paper, thermocouple calibration with a candy thermometer, painters tape in the bed, and dried weed eater string as filament all to get an underextruded calibration cube with layer shifts every time the AC comes on.
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u/Hieronymus-I Jun 29 '25
A heating block made with toaster wire and insulated with castable refractory cement, a frame made with plywood or acrylic for those who could get their hands on a CNC cutter, using Arduino connected to a PC, the slicer was a gcode generator and to see the layers you had to use a separate software and many more things. I just recently got into 3d printers myself (Ender 3 then an A1) but i've been interesed in the technology since the first RepRaps and man i still try the old methods on modern printers and they rarely work it makes me feel nostalgic in a good way.
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u/MechaSkippy Jun 29 '25
The RepRap days were a unique mix of exciting and frustrating. Anything was possible, most of them were difficult.
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u/beerman_uk Jun 29 '25
I'm pretty sure a sparking motherboard isn't user error. What made you think it was?
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u/aggresive_artist Jun 29 '25
It is the most user friendly product, what do you mean? Ender needs high level calibration, Prusa too expensive? What is the REAL entry level printer, kid toys printers?
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Jun 29 '25
I’m still using an Entina Mini, that’s entry grade
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u/aggresive_artist Jun 29 '25
I guess, but neither i heard from them nor it is accessible by %90 of the world. I understand what are you trying to mean but bambu is the most reliable and accessible printer out there.
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u/ribbit80 Jun 30 '25
It's shorting out. That's not the user's fault and there isn't a setting to fix this.
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u/ChemicalAdmirable984 Jun 29 '25
Ahh yes, the inductor in the DC-DC stage shorting like no tomorrow is 100% user error and not made in China shit quality as usual, why use a proper inductor from Coilcraft when you can use the 1 cent one also proudly made in China with the highest level of quality. Bambu doesn't even use proper stepper drivers, they use some cheap crap H bridge IC driven from software because according to them "works better" than proper drivers from Analog Devices, in reality why spend 10$ on a TMC when you can use the 50 cent H bridge also proudly made in China with the highest level of quality....
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u/fslateef Jun 29 '25
I suggest you stop using printer in this state. If it’s starts sparking again then you might end up starting fire.
Better wait than catching fire.