Bambu Lab is recalling every A1 3D printer — don’t use them until you read 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 bought” are affected by the issue, however it could possibly’t say with 100% certainty what the trigger is, so it’s providing a full refund to any A1 proprietor who needs it.

The corporate isn’t recalling another printers in its lineup, so should you personal an X1 sequence, P1 sequence, or the A1 Mini that our personal Sean Hollister known as “nearly the simple button” of printers.

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

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 wreck and probably brief circuit. However Bambu now believes one other, but unknown difficulty could possibly be at play for some printers, main it to its determination 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 among its different printers as an alternative, it offers you an $80 voucher to make use of in direction of that buy — or in direction of a redesigned A1 printer once they’re accessible “round Could.”

Alternatively, you may 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 should you’re snug going the DIY route.

Lastly, Bambu asks that A1 printer homeowners let the corporate know which choice they decide on this registration web page so it could possibly order the appropriate variety of components to organize. Choosing the self-repair course of will really lengthen the A1’s guarantee by six months. Bambu says its official resellers “ought to” provide the identical phrases to those that bought by one among them.

In its weblog final week, Bambu included some photos. Right here’s what it says a broken cable will seem like:

A broken headbed cable.
Picture; Bambu Lab

And right here’s a wholesome cable:

An undamaged cable.
Picture: Bambu Lab

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