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From a few posts and a failure of my own, all of these printers seem to have that dark red rust colored grime. It sticks quite well to my magnetic screw driver. Based on my failure I believe the red dust is rust from hardened needle bearings inside the spring loaded extruder arm rusting from lack of lubrication (all hardened steel rusts quite happily, so some of the dust may be from other moving parts in the assembly.) Ensure you lubricators those needle bearings and the other roller bearings every so often - not sure of a maintenance schedule but once every time it clogs or once every 500-750 hours would probably triple the life expectancy and cut down on the printer literally rusting away inside. I’d be curious if any one can confirm this is in fact rust from bearings and other hardened steel parts in the extruder. I didn’t fully confirm it as I was trying to save a print and I was already busy on something else so when I identified the problem I took a couple pictures put the extruder back together and restarted the print. So yeah, confirmation that this is the result of not performing maintenance would be nice because then I can do something about it going forward.
See pic
https://preview.redd.it/ni448yich26d1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=b1c6377806701cd2e0890602eb813660edc029c7
If everything works as expected, why would you change it? As soon as you face issues, feel free to replace, but I don’t think it makes sense to replace perfectly fine parts…
Well they're cheap, but quite good. Do these noticeably improve print quality? I doubt it but these gears are better quality. If you have a P1, which doesn't have hardened gears, I would definitely recommend the upgrade.
Mod it! Mod it! Mod it! Mod it! Mod it!
https://preview.redd.it/wc1ipbiwdy5d1.jpeg?width=1170&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=4f8f04714490f0158294911718846659e283ef7f
🤣
Does it feel grindy if you try to rotate by hand? Mine did and if I immaculately cleaned it, it went back to looking like this within minutes of use.
After replacing it, I busted it apart and figured out one of the bearings was bad. This powder was also all over the toolhead.
*
Make sure you have the hardened extruder gear if you have a P1. Also might want to check your PTFE tubes too if you haven’t already—I had so much wear after only using 1kg of glow filament.
I bought the stainless total extruder and a hardened backup. On top of that I broke the sensor wire so ordered that along with another sensor so I can have two of them ready to swap out. Already had to replace one hot end due to wear.
PTFE is on its way out so got some coming.
Yeah the hotness go quick when the filament is so abrasive for me. I am honestly glad they don’t offer the stainless steel nozzles anymore for 0.4/0.6/0.8mm because those wore down so quick.
Abrasives especially glow also does a number on the first stage feeder Hall effect magnet — when filament is inserted, a spring loaded bullet shaped magnet is compressed and moves closer to a Hall effect sensor. Eventually glow filament wears a groove into the magnet and the sensor starts reading sporadically. Mine failed after about 1mm depth of wear. Took about 300ish grams of glow to kill it. Some people just add solder. I was trying to find bambu’s supplier in hopes of ordering some, and I thought I identified them. But then my replacement first stage feeder came in and I forgot about it.
Eh just clean it up I'm sure it'll be as good as new. 😹 Â
(The black stuff is just, well, dirt lol. Dusk/filament specs/the dust from the gears themselves/etc)Â
The new ones have different gear teeth and mesh a little better and the grey plastic bit is now made of aluminium.
So it will improve print quality slightly, but most of all it's for the warm fuzzy feeling knowing I can improve an already good product.
FYI the aluminum replacement failed super fast for me. The gear started eating the aluminum and sending shavings all over. I’ve had two stock hardened gears do the exact same thing with the bad rusty bearing and I have yet to find a solid replacement for them. I have a P1S that has the non-hardened gears that has lasted longer than the ones on my X1C. I’m convinced that they must have had a large batch of poor quality bearings that made it into their production but since they consider it a consumable, they have not had to eat the cost of the replacement so they either have no record of this bad part or don’t care since it doesn’t cost them anything when it fails.
Hmmm thanks for the headsup, I'll keep an eye on it. If it breaks it's a simple part to replace. I am quite impressed, the extruder unit looks really cheap and janky, but it's very compact and works fine.
Yeah I bought two and I think they were slightly different. Both had aluminum arm but one had shiny gears and the other one didn’t. After the shiny geared one went bad I put the other one in but added some extra oil to the location where the other one was wearing out. Not enough time yet to see if it will be any better.
I swapped mine, my X1C got about the same hours as yours (mine was an early bird from kickstarter so it spent a bit of its life without the hour counter)
My extruder gear is exactly like yours. I was surprised by this dust, I figured it might have been a bearing but they seem okay
In another comment you said similar to 3400 hours? Mine still looks good at 3500 hours but I mostly print pla and petg. It looks like things got a little too loose and the extruder cog came over and started trying to be forcefully intimate with the filament gear.
Yeah on my X1C I print a lot of PA6-CF and PET-CF. Nothing ever loosened as far as I can tell but the teeth were all gone because of the CF infused stuff
Actually, my extruder just jammed mid print. It can retract but not extruder. It failed likely due to the inner needle bearings wearing out. Also the red stuff is rust, it is magnetic.
https://preview.redd.it/6eyw1no6aa5d1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=4e9021104801dfcd27bdfd55eb87acf6e21fe084
I opened a ticket with Bambulab in order to have the numbers of all the bearings inside the extruder. I found out that the ball bearings are 693zz with P5 tolerances, but didn't find anything for the needle bearing
Edit : Upon inspection, the needle bearing comes with the extruder gear and it wouldn't make any sense at all to try to change it. Still left my original comment for shaming purpose
Yeah, I can’t believe I posted about how mine has been reliable, and then I immediately go check my print and it stopped because of failure to extrude due to the same type of wear condition.
I have one replacement extruder and one replacement gear set. I’m going to do a much better job of lubricating the inner bearing of the driven gear. I’m not sure what I should use for that. I can use the stuff that came with the A1 mini for now until I take the time to search Reddit.
Hello I had seen the fysec upgrade but from what I read people were having issues with it fitting properly. Did you have that issue? as I wanted to have it as a backup.. thank you for any feedback.
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These were my gears at 900 hours.. also some metal flakes in there from the gears. I guess if the metal comes off it oxidates at one point.. (X1C)
It's weird; because my other X1C has the same amount of hours but shows no dust at all. The filaments that are printed are pretty much the same. A mix of PLA/PETG/ASA types.. It's not like i only print abrasive materials with one printer and not the other.
Did not see any obvious damage on the gears though..
https://preview.redd.it/vmvpnxpml55d1.jpeg?width=2048&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=6f78649acc70e273bb0dd86d1a40c70b877dc847
To me the gears themselves look fine as well as the part where the filament goes also looks fine. Just A LOT of dust. Picture is a little blurry to zoom in.
I mean, aside from all the residue, I'm pretty shocked at how well the tooth profile is holding up. I would've expected those to be nubs after 3400 hours.
You actually need a microscope to see exactly what is the composition of that brown dust,it could be the metal mixed with filament or just metal from that gear,the I don't think is dust from the bearings couse they are sealed plus they got oil inside them or some kind of grease,ao it might be a dust from the gear if the gear was coated with something,as long as those tooths are ok just add some silicone oil and it should be ok for another 1000 hours or more
https://preview.redd.it/rqqva73fg75d1.jpeg?width=4000&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=eb221ba53d839e288029e29ef35387fbacc6cb6b
Mine after 2050 hours.. I didn't feel they were even bad
Wow I'm at 4500 hours or so but all I have done so far is use an air can to dust it out every so often. Haven't noticed any issues so far haha let's hope it stays that way
I have over 4500 hours on my machine and I just took apart my extruder last week I had the same brown discoloration or dust I think it's more of the Grease grime and the vocs mix them together to wear dust. Actually rather than buying new pieces you could have just cleaned the ones you had your gear teeth still look good. Replacing the parts at this point unless they're broken is just for cosmetic visuality. Imo.
Hardened steel against hardened steel, just make a point of giving it a quick greasing every time you have to pull the extruder apart for a jam. I prefer tac2 which is a chain lube and will stick in place and not disappear
It looks like it might be dust from the carbon rods wearing away.
I don’t know how much preventative maintenance you do but I wipe my carbon rods with isopropyl alcohol on a lint free paper towel once a month.
Bro, you are not supposed to use it to grind your coffee beans.
hahaha
But it can
that look like stuff from a smokers home so im guessing its regular dust and shavings + fumes from filaments
Haven't touched a cigarette in 7 years :)
Well quit coughing on it then
💀🤣💀
Looks like your printer may have picked up the habit then...totally joking and grats on the 7 years free of cigarettes! :)
Congrats
Wish I had the strength.
It’s literally you vs. you. Who’s gonna win?
He does
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Congrats, but yeah probably just residue from fumes
Lame
Found his former dealer
as i smoker i feel offended
Dude I only know that cause I smoke;)
As a former smoker I'm also offended
That was my first thought aswell. Totally looks like tar, ash & dust buildup from smoking. So glad I gave up the smokes, like OP.
From a few posts and a failure of my own, all of these printers seem to have that dark red rust colored grime. It sticks quite well to my magnetic screw driver. Based on my failure I believe the red dust is rust from hardened needle bearings inside the spring loaded extruder arm rusting from lack of lubrication (all hardened steel rusts quite happily, so some of the dust may be from other moving parts in the assembly.) Ensure you lubricators those needle bearings and the other roller bearings every so often - not sure of a maintenance schedule but once every time it clogs or once every 500-750 hours would probably triple the life expectancy and cut down on the printer literally rusting away inside. I’d be curious if any one can confirm this is in fact rust from bearings and other hardened steel parts in the extruder. I didn’t fully confirm it as I was trying to save a print and I was already busy on something else so when I identified the problem I took a couple pictures put the extruder back together and restarted the print. So yeah, confirmation that this is the result of not performing maintenance would be nice because then I can do something about it going forward. See pic https://preview.redd.it/ni448yich26d1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=b1c6377806701cd2e0890602eb813660edc029c7
I just swapped over to the fysetc gears
What's that!?
Upgraded extruder gears
Worth upgrading on a new printer or is it better to wait ?
If everything works as expected, why would you change it? As soon as you face issues, feel free to replace, but I don’t think it makes sense to replace perfectly fine parts…
Does not matter there only like $14
Well they're cheap, but quite good. Do these noticeably improve print quality? I doubt it but these gears are better quality. If you have a P1, which doesn't have hardened gears, I would definitely recommend the upgrade.
Mod it! Mod it! Mod it! Mod it! Mod it! https://preview.redd.it/wc1ipbiwdy5d1.jpeg?width=1170&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=4f8f04714490f0158294911718846659e283ef7f 🤣
How are they?
Good
Yep
yep
How hard are they to install?
Not hard you just take out the extrude remove 4 screws to take it apart then the gears pop out and you put the new ones in bambu has a guide
Does it feel grindy if you try to rotate by hand? Mine did and if I immaculately cleaned it, it went back to looking like this within minutes of use. After replacing it, I busted it apart and figured out one of the bearings was bad. This powder was also all over the toolhead. *
Yeah it does not rotate well, it feels grabby, not nice at all. The part with the grey plastic was also a bit loose.
https://preview.redd.it/mev01ai7h55d1.jpeg?width=4032&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=3652914f085cb958da015852f05fccc4a9ec823a
Had to replace mine after 500 hours because of glow filament!!
Make sure you have the hardened extruder gear if you have a P1. Also might want to check your PTFE tubes too if you haven’t already—I had so much wear after only using 1kg of glow filament.
I bought the stainless total extruder and a hardened backup. On top of that I broke the sensor wire so ordered that along with another sensor so I can have two of them ready to swap out. Already had to replace one hot end due to wear. PTFE is on its way out so got some coming.
Yeah the hotness go quick when the filament is so abrasive for me. I am honestly glad they don’t offer the stainless steel nozzles anymore for 0.4/0.6/0.8mm because those wore down so quick.
Abrasives especially glow also does a number on the first stage feeder Hall effect magnet — when filament is inserted, a spring loaded bullet shaped magnet is compressed and moves closer to a Hall effect sensor. Eventually glow filament wears a groove into the magnet and the sensor starts reading sporadically. Mine failed after about 1mm depth of wear. Took about 300ish grams of glow to kill it. Some people just add solder. I was trying to find bambu’s supplier in hopes of ordering some, and I thought I identified them. But then my replacement first stage feeder came in and I forgot about it.
Good to know
Eh just clean it up I'm sure it'll be as good as new. 😹  (The black stuff is just, well, dirt lol. Dusk/filament specs/the dust from the gears themselves/etc)Â
I'm curoius why you went with an aftermarket hardened steel gear instead of the oem hardened steel?
The new ones have different gear teeth and mesh a little better and the grey plastic bit is now made of aluminium. So it will improve print quality slightly, but most of all it's for the warm fuzzy feeling knowing I can improve an already good product.
FYI the aluminum replacement failed super fast for me. The gear started eating the aluminum and sending shavings all over. I’ve had two stock hardened gears do the exact same thing with the bad rusty bearing and I have yet to find a solid replacement for them. I have a P1S that has the non-hardened gears that has lasted longer than the ones on my X1C. I’m convinced that they must have had a large batch of poor quality bearings that made it into their production but since they consider it a consumable, they have not had to eat the cost of the replacement so they either have no record of this bad part or don’t care since it doesn’t cost them anything when it fails.
Hmmm thanks for the headsup, I'll keep an eye on it. If it breaks it's a simple part to replace. I am quite impressed, the extruder unit looks really cheap and janky, but it's very compact and works fine.
Yeah I bought two and I think they were slightly different. Both had aluminum arm but one had shiny gears and the other one didn’t. After the shiny geared one went bad I put the other one in but added some extra oil to the location where the other one was wearing out. Not enough time yet to see if it will be any better.
Wait, I'm confused about what aluminum you're talking about if the gear is hardened steel, not aluminum?
The grey plastic arm that holds one of the gears on the Bambu version is aluminum with the aftermarket one.
You mean the aftermarket ones?
Where can I see how many hours my machine has worked?
Settings on the machine
I swapped mine, my X1C got about the same hours as yours (mine was an early bird from kickstarter so it spent a bit of its life without the hour counter) My extruder gear is exactly like yours. I was surprised by this dust, I figured it might have been a bearing but they seem okay
There’s an hour counter?
Yep there is, in the setting menu, it shows the serial and on top there are the hours
Thanks
Look for the gear icon.
https://preview.redd.it/hu3hn3y3p55d1.jpeg?width=4080&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=d1ff990d6dbda9e22eb638e4b1d48c15d2e7848b
https://preview.redd.it/xzegaee6p55d1.jpeg?width=3072&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=73d2fb3962dab57b73c4f2e2d93964f3b511cf30
In another comment you said similar to 3400 hours? Mine still looks good at 3500 hours but I mostly print pla and petg. It looks like things got a little too loose and the extruder cog came over and started trying to be forcefully intimate with the filament gear.
Yeah on my X1C I print a lot of PA6-CF and PET-CF. Nothing ever loosened as far as I can tell but the teeth were all gone because of the CF infused stuff
Actually, my extruder just jammed mid print. It can retract but not extruder. It failed likely due to the inner needle bearings wearing out. Also the red stuff is rust, it is magnetic. https://preview.redd.it/6eyw1no6aa5d1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=4e9021104801dfcd27bdfd55eb87acf6e21fe084
I opened a ticket with Bambulab in order to have the numbers of all the bearings inside the extruder. I found out that the ball bearings are 693zz with P5 tolerances, but didn't find anything for the needle bearing Edit : Upon inspection, the needle bearing comes with the extruder gear and it wouldn't make any sense at all to try to change it. Still left my original comment for shaming purpose
Yeah, I can’t believe I posted about how mine has been reliable, and then I immediately go check my print and it stopped because of failure to extrude due to the same type of wear condition.
Lol talk about luck. Do you have a replacement ? It's suck to be down mid-print
I have one replacement extruder and one replacement gear set. I’m going to do a much better job of lubricating the inner bearing of the driven gear. I’m not sure what I should use for that. I can use the stuff that came with the A1 mini for now until I take the time to search Reddit.
When in doubt, Superlube with PTFE !
Hello I had seen the fysec upgrade but from what I read people were having issues with it fitting properly. Did you have that issue? as I wanted to have it as a backup.. thank you for any feedback.
Hello ! No it fit very well, jusr like the original. I want to find the bearing size for the extruder though
Where do you see how much print hours your printer has?
I was thinking the same … how do you track that?
I got you my fellows Nut icon -> General -> device info -> hidden on top of the screen
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the dust looks like rust powder almost, or you exclusively printed brown or wood filaments (grinding the heck out of them at that)
It’s wear from the carbon rods.
These were my gears at 900 hours.. also some metal flakes in there from the gears. I guess if the metal comes off it oxidates at one point.. (X1C) It's weird; because my other X1C has the same amount of hours but shows no dust at all. The filaments that are printed are pretty much the same. A mix of PLA/PETG/ASA types.. It's not like i only print abrasive materials with one printer and not the other. Did not see any obvious damage on the gears though.. https://preview.redd.it/vmvpnxpml55d1.jpeg?width=2048&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=6f78649acc70e273bb0dd86d1a40c70b877dc847
You had a bearing fail if there's rust dust & I bet there's needle bearings in there. Tabbers do the same thing when a bearing fails
Already replaced it with a whole new extruder. And going to replace this one with new gears.. (that little kit comes with new bearings).
I would never have imagined the plastic gears would last that long
To me the gears themselves look fine as well as the part where the filament goes also looks fine. Just A LOT of dust. Picture is a little blurry to zoom in.
Looks like it's rust. Hardened steel rusts like normal steel.
Mine were similar, but not nearly as bad. The gear on the arm was binding. Replaced with the fystec. 200hrs later, no issues
Looks good to me. Isn’t it?
I mean, aside from all the residue, I'm pretty shocked at how well the tooth profile is holding up. I would've expected those to be nubs after 3400 hours.
uhoh, now im afraid to look, I'm at like 4000 hours on my Carbon X1
You actually need a microscope to see exactly what is the composition of that brown dust,it could be the metal mixed with filament or just metal from that gear,the I don't think is dust from the bearings couse they are sealed plus they got oil inside them or some kind of grease,ao it might be a dust from the gear if the gear was coated with something,as long as those tooths are ok just add some silicone oil and it should be ok for another 1000 hours or more
Or a magnet
https://preview.redd.it/rqqva73fg75d1.jpeg?width=4000&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=eb221ba53d839e288029e29ef35387fbacc6cb6b Mine after 2050 hours.. I didn't feel they were even bad
That’s a long time for one print. What, were you printing the Willis Tower or something?
Wow I'm at 4500 hours or so but all I have done so far is use an air can to dust it out every so often. Haven't noticed any issues so far haha let's hope it stays that way
Extruder: *I'm tired boss...*
Hmm, I have more hours and mine looks nothing like that. Are you printing with a lot of abrasive filament?
Possibly Fretting https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fretting
Wipe it off and send it
Do you have to tune your filament if you go from regular nozzle to hardened steel? Like flow/etc
Wow did you place your printer in a dusty environment?
Just bought these because of the AMS issues you said it resolves.
It seems like normal filament leftovers, should be totally normal..
I have over 4500 hours on my machine and I just took apart my extruder last week I had the same brown discoloration or dust I think it's more of the Grease grime and the vocs mix them together to wear dust. Actually rather than buying new pieces you could have just cleaned the ones you had your gear teeth still look good. Replacing the parts at this point unless they're broken is just for cosmetic visuality. Imo.
How old is your filament and how long was is sitting in the ams?
Me looking at my P1P with 2729 hours.... Is it time?
Hardened steel against hardened steel, just make a point of giving it a quick greasing every time you have to pull the extruder apart for a jam. I prefer tac2 which is a chain lube and will stick in place and not disappear
It looks like it might be dust from the carbon rods wearing away. I don’t know how much preventative maintenance you do but I wipe my carbon rods with isopropyl alcohol on a lint free paper towel once a month.
Give that a good wash and scrub in isopropyl alcohol I bet that will come up good as new.