Bambu Lab is recalling each A1 3D printer — don’t use them till you learn this

Bambu Lab is formally recalling all A1 3D printers (not counting the A1 Mini). The corporate “strongly” urges homeowners to cease utilizing it for security causes after it was alerted to “unstable temperature readings” that it first traced to a defective heatbed cable final week, as reported by Tom’s {Hardware}. After additional investigation, Bambu says “lower than 0.1% of all of the A1 printers offered” are affected by the issue, however it might probably’t say with one hundred pc certainty what the trigger is, so it’s providing a full refund to any A1 proprietor who needs it.

The corporate isn’t recalling some other printers in its lineup, so for those who personal an X1 collection, P1 collection, or the A1 Mini that our personal Sean Hollister known as “virtually the straightforward button” of printers.

Right here’s a TL;DR of what’s happening:

The corporate wrote final week that it hadn’t correctly designed the heatbed cable’s pressure reduction — the fatter a part of the cable meant to stop kinking the place it connects — making it too straightforward to break and presumably quick circuit. However Bambu now believes one other, but unknown concern may very well be at play for some printers, main it to its resolution to recall the A1.

Bambu Lab says that it’s going to take as much as 15 enterprise days to course of every refund, however if you wish to apply the refund to one in all its different printers as an alternative, it provides you with an $80 voucher to make use of in the direction of that buy — or in the direction of a redesigned A1 printer once they’re obtainable “round Might.”

Alternatively, you possibly can select to restore the A1 your self when new heatbeds are prepared across the finish of March and obtain a $120 voucher to make use of for something in Bambu’s on-line retailer (supplied self-repair is authorized in your nation). Bambu uploaded a video of the alternative course of and detailed it in a written tutorial that will help you determine for those who’re comfy going the DIY route.

Lastly, Bambu asks that A1 printer homeowners let the corporate know which choice they choose on this registration web page so it might probably order the suitable variety of elements to arrange. Choosing the self-repair course of will truly lengthen the A1’s guarantee by six months. Bambu says its official resellers “ought to” supply the identical phrases to those that bought by one in all them.

In its weblog final week, Bambu included some footage. Right here’s what it says a broken cable will appear to be:

And right here’s a wholesome cable:

Replace February fifth, 2024, 12:24AM ET: Added some extra element.