For some owners, there’s been another twist in the tale of Bambu Lab’s A1 3D printer. A week ago, alongside the general communication of a verification step Bambu Lab wishes all self-repair users to complete when they’ve installed their new heatbeds, users in Europe were informed of the need to have their self-repaired A1 printers certified to EN50678 standard. Posting on X, Bambu Lab explained that, following legal advice, the step would be necessary for affected A1 3D printers in countries that adhere to this (or similar) post-repair electrical standards.

While the standard was published by CENELEC, a European body whose members consist primarily of EU member states, plus European Free Trade Association states, the UK, Macedonia, and Turkey, it’s not wholly clear which specific countries place greater importance on the standard. These standards are generally voluntary.

The messages to users have left questions unanswered, though, like how noncompliance will affect the warranty status, when self-repair users will get their coupons, and in which countries the certification will be necessary. We have some answers.

For one, Bambu Lab has said it will be footing the bill for the testing, including the “logistics,” meaning that, yes, in some cases, printers will be shipped away for testing. This seems to not be the only option, though, with Bambu Lab describing as-yet unnamed “partner organizations” it has identified that could handle testing in various locations. The gist of all answers given to All3DP was that the company will “handle everything,” even if you have to wait a little longer to use your 3D printer again. They’ll also foot the bill upfront, seemingly, and users do not need to pay out of pocket to be refunded later, which we’re sure will come as a relief to all.

Whether you choose to have your machine certified or not, a representative has told us it “doesn’t affect the warranty,”  meaning the 6-month warranty extension offered to self-repair users remains valid.

Contrary to the wording from the beginning of the recall, the $120 credit coupon will not be automatically sent to users. We have been told that Bambu Lab will release these after its customer service team receives photographic confirmation of what appears to be a successful repair job. This applies worldwide, not only in Europe.

We’re sure the above will be a contentious point. While Bambu Lab never explicitly made the mechanism for distributing these coupons clear, the original message that these would “be provided when the heatbed is delivered” could be interpreted to mean they would be sent regardless of whether or when the repair is made.

While not a substitute for the official EN50678 certification, verifying your work with the company in this way is some small step toward ensuring you’ve completed the fix to a satisfactory standard.

Bambu Lab wouldn’t be drawn on any official consequence of a European customer not getting their machine certified after making the repair, but our assumption would be that liability for the device malfunctioning at a later date falls on the user, not Bambu Lab, which is doing what it can to facilitate the process and, presumably, absolve itself from legal implications.

The standard they want users to check their machine against is, ultimately, voluntary, and more relevant to a manufacturer producing and selling its products at market than end-users performing a repair on a machine for personal use. But – big but – it doesn’t hurt to ensure that such a machine that heats to high temperatures and could cause a fire if damaged and malfunctioning is safe to an official standard.

For anyone left in doubt about their machine and what’s required of them, contacting Bambu Lab’s customer service team via new or existing support tickets is the route forward. Given the variety of steps and considerations involved in each case, it appears that giving specific advice unique to each user’s situation is the only way the company sees this final stage of the A1’s recall playing out.

The Story So Far

Here’s a quick recap of how things have developed.

At the end of January, Bambu Lab warned its users of an issue affecting a small number of its relatively new A1 3D printers. Concerning a weakness in its print bed cable at the point it connects to the base of the printer, this connection was susceptible to wear and had a higher chance of becoming a point of failure. An advisory note was issued, and a printable strain relief model was released for users to print their own solution.

Less than a week later, this notice was upgraded to a full product recall, inviting owners of the A1 to either return the units for refund or credit against alternate Bambu Lab machines or to cease use of the printer until replacement parts became available and shipped out for home repair. The company claimed that, at the time of its blog post, “less than 0.1%” of the printers sold had been reported to them for the problem.

Approximate timelines were given for the availability of a user-performed heatbed fix (March) and the fully redesigned units (May), with a blog post following at the beginning of March to reconfirm these timelines. At the beginning of April, a post on X unveiled the redesigned components and confirmed that they were finally on their way to warehouses and “off to customers’ doorsteps soon.” The sale of A1 3D printers was also stated to recommence in “the first week of May.”

We’ve heard directly from readers of delays in receiving their refunds, something Bambu Lab hedges against somewhat in a blog post about its customer support status, with mention of the A1 recall hitting around the Chinese New Year celebrations (which typically sees companies reduced to skeleton-crew-like operations for the duration.) Speaking to All3DP in a call, a Bambu Lab representative explained that the recall required a massive response from the customer service team, with the support staff working around the clock, through the vacation, and introducing live chat systems for regular, non-recall related inquiries plus an “AI” chatbot for simple troubleshooting.

The process for preparing and shipping the A1 back seems a complicated one, with many steps that require dialogue with the company for advice on how to proceed; if you’re missing the original box for the printer or whether you received additional items alongside the A1 are both cases that need custom advice from the customer support team.

Unsurprisingly, given what we’d say is the average 3D printer user’s proclivity for fixing stuff when presented with the option to do so, between with the option to return for a refund or to wait it out for a DIY replacement heatbed (plus $120 store credit), the majority of A1 owners opted for the home fix.

The heatbed replacement, detailed recently in a social media post, boasts a toughened cable and junction with the printer base. We’re told the replacement process itself is a simple one and shouldn’t take an inexperienced user longer than 40 minutes to implement. These heatbeds have begun shipping, in batches, with some reportedly already in the hands of A1 owners.

Over time, though, the situation has evolved for those who opted to repair their own machines. On April 12, 2024, additional steps for the sake of quality assurance were communicated, with Bambu Lab asking users to take photographs of their work at three key points of the repair process for the company’s support staff to verify that the repair appears to be correct.

Additionally, for users in Europe – more specifically, any country that adheres to electrical safety standard EN50678 or similar – Bambu Lab is also urging that the printer be officially certified as conformant before connecting the power and turning the machine on. The company explains this step is a result of “professional legal opinion and comprehensive evaluations.”

While the certification step is irrelevant to A1 owners outside Europe, a blog post update giving greater detail is conspicuously absent. This is, we suspect, to avoid confusing matters for exactly those folks.

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