Bambu Lab Regains My Loyalty

I recently experienced my second Bambu Lab A1 3D printer malfunction in 13 months, and I started to question the durability of Bambu Lab 3D printers. Bambu Lab Support walked me through the troubleshooting process and sent me a free replacement Power Switch Assembly despite my 3D printer being just outside the 1-year warranty window. I received the part yesterday.

Although the replacement part did not come with an instruction booklet, the QR code on the box directed me to the A1 Power Switch Replacement Guide on the Bambu Lab Wiki. I followed the instructions line by line, and although some of the instructions had awkward wording that made it a little confusing to understand at first, the combination of the written instructions along with pictures made things pretty clear. The estimated time to replace the part was 20 minutes. I spent about twice that much time—I am not accustomed to repairing electronics, but I was able to get the job done. Here is the newly installed power switch assembly on the upper right, with the ground cable secured in place on the far left.

Here is where the cables from the power switch thread through a narrow trough to the compartment where the power supply is located. The wiki states, “Note: In the new version of the A1 power switch, we have optimized the cable layout by removing the intermediate ground wire connector to the AC board. Functional and safety tests have verified that this change does not affect the normal operation of the power switch or the overall system, while also reducing the number of connection points and improving the reliability and simplicity of the cable layout.” Hence, the neutral (N) and live (L) wires are connected, but the ground cable of the AC board (PE; protective earth) is intentionally omitted in the replacement power switch assembly.

Finally, I confirmed that there was power going to the 3D printer, as evidenced by the green “OK” indicator on the Bambu Lab Assistant.

After replacing the Power Switch Assembly, I was able to get 6 consecutive 3D prints without power loss. The first 5 prints were small jobs that completed in 20-40 minutes each. The 6th job was a 2.5-hour print, and given these results, I am confident that the printer power loss issue has been fixed.

Although the 3D printer malfunctions are a nuisance, I have to give credit to Bambu Lab for helping me address the problem. First of all, I appreciate the fact that Bambu Lab Support walked me through the appropriate troubleshooting steps. Many companies do not offer detailed troubleshooting and relegate that activity to the third party repair industry or would charge fees to diagnose and repair their products. Second, I appreciate the fact that Bambu Lab Support was able to identify the problem with speed and accuracy. I guess it’s not surprising that Bambu Lab knows their products better than ChatGPT. Third, I appreciate Bambu Lab Support’s flexibility in sending me a replacement part despite my printer falling outside of the 1-year warranty window—I feel that this represents unusually good customer service.

In summary, Bambu Lab lost some of my loyalty to their brand with the 2 malfunctions, but they gained it back with customer support. Thanks Bambu Lab!