Bambu Lab X1CC Extruder/Hotend Maintenance Clip

Edit: 8/30/2013 - It's my birthday but you get the presents! Created v2 of this idea, from scratch, and it's over here!

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Please note: if you have a P1P (I don't) and you print this out and get it working with your P1P, please show a make if you can, and comment letting me know. Right now, I only have it tagged with the X1C because that's all I can test it with. I don't know if the extruder/hotend/fan assembly are identical or not. Please test for me if you can.

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As a long-time tech maintenance guy who's seen his share of broken connectors, and cold solder joints near small, cheap connectors, I try to avoid unnecessary cable disconnection and removal. The cable going from the hotend to the fan assembly is pretty decent, but the cable is so small. I could see this breaking over time, especially if you aren't careful. I hope the next printer has a better design/solution for this.

Although there are times you may need to remove the front, and set it aside, I feel like most of the time for me, I'm just sliding it off to the side to do a little work on the extruder, like clearing a jam or whatever, and most of the time, that doesn't require you to disconnect the fan assembly cable.

It's probably not the best idea to leave the fan assembly hanging off to the side as this puts strain on the single cable we're trying to protect. And while I admire the ingenuity of people creating clips that hang the fan assembly off of the X-rods, I'm not a fan of touching these aside from cleaning them with IPA and a lint-free cloth, especially with plastic.

So my clip is designed to minimize supports. Yes, there are supports on the “F"emale connector side, but they are small, and pop right out. The connection between the M and F sides should be tight, and with my 0.2mm layer height on the X1CC, it works great and doesn't fall apart. You'll want to print these so that the face opposite of the magnet holes is on the bed. This should minimize support requirements.

The magnets are really small, and that's probably great for Bambu Lab design people, but it's really a pain to design around. On the hotend side, there are two indents where the front-cover magnets and plastic surrounding the magnets go. You'll find that the M Arch 2 works pretty good in sliding into those two indent holes, along with the magnets connecting. On the fan cover side, which is what the F part is for, you'll find it's just friction and magnets. It's fine. There's not a ton of weight, and it stays up fairly well.

Let's take a moment to talk about the magnets. They are very small, and a pain to work with. Go check out my Magnet Card model which can certainly help you get the magnets all facing the correct way. The main thing is: opposites attract, and a magnet with known polarity can help you determine the polarity of the magnets you'll need to place in the clip. Obviously, the magnets in the front fan cover assembly are the opposite polarity to the hot-end side magnets - otherwise they'd repel each other.

I have a reference magnet test print I made to help me keep track:

• The left hand side ("F") needs to have north ("N") facing up.
• The right hand side ("M") needs to have south ("S") facing up.

If you're using the magnet card to help you establish N and S on your larger (say, 12mm X 3mm) test magnet (which I absolutely recommend you use), all you need to do is put the magnet card the opposite end up (remember, opposites attract), let one of these teeny magnets attach itself to the larger magnet, and then press the magnet into the hole. Do that twice. Then flip the magnet card over, and do the same thing twice on the other side.

As I mention in the Magnet Card model, if your smartphone has a built-in magnetometer, you can use that to determine the magnetic polarity of your larger magnet, so you are sure that you have the big reference magnet facing N one way, and S the other way. Then all four magnets should fall (or basically snap) right into place.

The magnets I used for this build are available here.

You can probably find N52 3mm diameter by 1mm thickness in a different configuration that doesn't have the 5mm magnets with it, but those are what you want. The magnets are so small that you need the most powerful ones you can find in order for this to work. The N52 are reasonably strong.

I've included a reference image from one of my previous design iterations. it shows you (L)eft/(N)orth/(Cover Side), (R)ight/(S)outh/(Extruder Side) visually. Obviously the “arch” side is the extruder side.

I've gone through a few design iterations of this model recently, and decided that this was the first one I would publish, as it works well, and the little “arch” on the “M” model helps you access the hotend, LIDAR array, and even the top-end of the extruder where the tube is. I find that those areas are where you're going to be accessing the most. Cleaning the LIDAR array, the hotend sometimes needs to be tweaked, and clearing extruder jams is made a lot easier with this clip.

I know this design isn't perfect. However…I do listen to your questions, comments, concerns and suggestions. I also love seeing your makes!

Remember that my design is the way it is because I don't like supports, and this is my current level of design expertise. I'm sure there are dozens of ways to make a clip like this. If you have any ideas, please share them.