How to lubricate the Bambu Lab A1 & A1 Mini

[@ALL_OUT_NERDDOM]

I literally just got the notification on my A1 that it’s time to lubricate the rails haha. Thank you so much for all the knowledge you share with the community. Your Ender 3 assembly video is how I began my 3D printing journey (watched it 12 times before even ordering my printer) and I have come a long way since then thanks to you ❤

[@Tombof3DPrintedHorrors]

Thanks for watching! :)

[@Jimgoodwin846]

Thanks for your video. I just replaced my Ender 3, with a bambu lab A1. I was in a quandary about lubing. I’m so pleased I found you again. Several years ago I was having some challenges setting up and leveling my Ender 3 and you came to the rescue. I just gave my Ender 3 to a friend, and intend to pass your channel along to him. Question…is there any reason I couldn’t use a “very light coat” Hoppe’s #9 a quality gun oil (spray) or CRC heavy duty silicone spray which has a working temp range of -40 to 400°. Both resist water. (In the areas where you indicate using oil) I intend to purchase the products you mentioned.

[@Skullyweb]

I'm glad you put this out with a suggested maintenance schedule. Many people see printers as just another appliance and do not realize you can't just add plastic and have parts pop out like a toaster.

[@KBShroyer]

Where was the schedule? I kissed that, but would love one.

[@user-uk3gc2dk3h]

@@KBShroyer The printer will tell you when it's time to lube it, and when doing so it's a good idea to check for loose screws, wear on belts, etc. :)

[@coloradocornbread6996]

I just noticed yesterday, after 2 weeks of owning an A1 Mini, that my rails were getting small scratches all over them. I cleaned and lubed the rails right away. I wish they told you in the quick start, or the manual, that you need to clean/lubricate anything besides the y-axis rails. Thanks for your wisdom ❤

[@KevinInlay]

Dude this is awesome, thanks for the guide. I want to baby my machine to make it last (especially in this economy). This was perfect!

[@Tombof3DPrintedHorrors]

Thanks!

[@ShortyNE]

I abandoned my 3D printing journey a while ago when real life got too busy, I had an ender 3 then and my main interest was making minis for a Strahd game I was running. Your videos were so helpful in ugprading, tweaking, dialing in back then. Been many years since then and I'm thinking about getting the A1 Mini, and then I find a whole new range of videos by you singing it's praises. Guess it was meant to be 😊

[@TheoLcr]

Definitely get yourself a Bambu, if you had an Ender 3 before you won't believe how superior these printers are. Almost stopped 3D printing because of my old unreliable Ender 3 and having to constantly calibrate it, bambu is literaly plug and play!

[@CyberCuzzi]

I’m a week in and from a horrible ender journey as well the Bambu lab is 1000000% perfect, it’s a beast of a plug and play printer, find a print and go

[@nctinman8775]

Nice to see Super Lube has survived. I ran a Radio Shack in the 90's and this was a great product. I'm hyped to be able to order more.

[@swdw973]

Use it all the time. Best all purpose grease and oil out there. Also use the grease at work for a sonic coupling compound on strap on ultrasonic sensors on pipe.

[@carlfranz2046]

Talk about timely! I got my first "clean me" message from my newish A1 this morning, then stumbled across your video. Thank you for this.

[@xGILOW]

I only got a „lube Y axis please“ message and I only did that, but now I learned how to safely and efficiently super lube up my printer. I feel like the video is a bit too long but on the other hand I will only need to watch it once to understand it for life. Thanks!

[@arranwilliams2523]

Ahead of it now and have my grease and applicators ordered before the A1 tells me it's time! Thank you!

[@neilbly550]

Very good presentation. I'm an old dog trying to learn new tricks so I appreciate your info.

[@HunterRodrigez]

Straight from the bambulab wiki article on how to lubricate the Y axis: Besides the lubricant oil in the accessory box, you can also use "WD-40 Multi-Use Product" (both in large and small bottles, which are okay) to lubricate the X-axis linear rail, Y-axis guide rail, and Z-axis lead screw. Both A1 and A1 mini utilize "WD-40 Multi-Use Product" for lubrication, and their operating methods are the same. We have not tested other types of lubricant oil and cannot determine if they may adversely affect the Y-axis slide rail (including but not limited to corrosion and wear of bearings and steel shafts). Like... they straight up tell you to use WD-40 and only WD-40... what?

[@ChristieHall-s4v]

Your video on lubricting my A1 was extremely helpful. Thank you!

[@DuyDepTraiPhoBaTrieu]

My A1 is literally 1 day old and I am already learned this lol. Thanks for teaching :)

[@BurtHurtz]

Great video. Thank you. When you are newish to the hobby, this type of thing is super helpful. Thank you for posting.

[@toejam1974]

Coffee filters can work as a lint free towel to wipe down your rails. Cheap and effective. Certainly not as nice as the towels referenced in the video but can work in a pinch :) I have used coffee filters for years to clean CPUs before reapplying thermal grease :)

[@billmartin6687]

Thank you for all the videos on the Bambu A1. Looking forward to making some of your 3d prints.Stay safe

[@hyozanhades09]

I have a Kingroon KP3S these instructions will apply to that kind of machine as well because it has linear rails !!! Thanks for the video I have been looking for a video like this for quite a while.

[@davey3765]

I never heard of your channel before... You Tube recommended it... Saw the intro and instantly subscribed! xD

[@Tombof3DPrintedHorrors]

Thanks!

[@thomasmiller8962]

Again. An excellent video. Thanks for covering a topic that is often overlooked.

[@Antman1968]

Thanks Tom! I purchased all the items via your website links. Very through procedure, much better than the Bambu Lab instructions and video. Thanks again!

[@randyp9954]

Found this very useful. Thanks again Tom you are putting out some great content!

[@jasonalexander332]

Great tips to help stay properly lubricated, Tom!

[@RobertGlazier]

I was wondering how to lubricate my A1. Thanks.

[@iblamelx4312]

Awesome! Could you may tell, how to lubricate the "idler pulley" ?

[@raybarron316]

Just ordered all of the tools and lubricants from your links on the website. Thanks for the tips!

[@jon1210]

Awesome step by step instructions! I was a bit weiry of Bambu Labs official maintenance instructions, and your video gave way better understanding of what oils/grease do and how we need to use them on our printers. Much appreciated for the lesson and information! 🫡🫡

[@juandavidruizserna]

just what i needed for my new A1; thanks for all the advice on maintenance

[@spartacus317]

Another great video! Appreciate you doing these maintenance and fix-it focused videos on the A1 and A1 mini printers. Speaking of the A1, I'm really looking forward to your in-depth A1 video. When might we expect that?

[@Tombof3DPrintedHorrors]

Whenever I find the free time to finish it. :)

[@spartacus317]

Looking forward to it! Thanks again for putting the time and effort you put into this content. That miniatures profile of yours was a God sent for my friend and I.

[@Thirdcast]

Been watching all your vids on the A1 mini, convinced me enough to invest as they look like a lovely machine to use. Bambu seems to have set the bar with it for an fdm printer! Thank you for the great and informative videos Tom, keep them coming!

[@Tombof3DPrintedHorrors]

Thank you!

[@herco2543]

Excellent detailed video on what to do. I used your links to buy the items you used. Thank you.

[@johnmacdonald6220]

Thanks for the advice and demonstration on your video. We’re considering purchasing an A1 3D printer.

[@NeSBigbasher]

I was very confused about where to use oil/grease prior to your video. It was a great help understanding where to use which product

[@ChinaAl]

thank you very much for the information. On previous pinters when cleaning the bed after a print I used some alcohol and special paper towels designed for windows. I never heard of this non-woven wipes you mentioned.

[@bobandres5559]

Nicely done, going to buy both those printers soon. Probably should take the bed plate off or cover it while your cleaning, just in case. Thanks for a very good demonstration.

[@marklotzmann8043]

Very detailed videos. Everyone should watch these on your channel.

[@dalecipperley40]

Thank you for this video. I am looking forward to your review of the full sized A1.

[@robbielowry1984]

Another very helpful video for a noob 😊. Thank you for the info!

[@Oxie_3D]

Thank you i just got a notification about this and the wiki just shows the mini so i glad i found this for the a1

[@rasmanNEBR]

Thanks! I am new to printing and had an unintended unbased pattern powder out on me...a mess! This cleaned it up nicely!

[@GreenAppelPie]

I tried white lithium grease first and found it gummed up after a month. Then tried to this and works great. I also use it on the bird feeder pole to keep the critters off

[@KentuckyFriedGamers]

Thanks Tom, my notification just came up this past weekend. Thanks for all you do in posting these videos!

[@Tombof3DPrintedHorrors]

Thanks!

[@garthd1627]

Just got the A1 mini and your videos are super helpful! Thanks!

[@amack32]

Very helpful video. I purchased everything in your links

[@Iguana240]

Thanks for this! Just assembled my A1. Will be sure to keep up on the maintenance!

[@sharitambasco4981]

A1 mini is in the mail. Thanks for the timely video.

[@EarlRumburg]

Always love the advice and instructions you provide in these videos. Thanks for all the work you do for the FDM community!

[@Tombof3DPrintedHorrors]

Thank you for watching :)

[@bertmintiens1536]

thnx for this, very easy to understand! what is the thingy with the cable you put into your mini sd cart slot pls ?

[@uncannyrecovery3980]

Great video. Just got my new A1 combo. New sub. Appreciate the easy to follow video.

[@Tombof3DPrintedHorrors]

Thanks for watching :)

[@frankmoore4754]

Thanks for this Tom, it's very helpful. Follow-up question: How often should I lubricate the printer? Weekly? Monthly? After every 24 hours of printing? Just trying to gauge frequency. Thanks!

[@Tombof3DPrintedHorrors]

The Bambu A1 & A1 mini will prompt you to do it (usually every 2 weeks or so)

[@rendren7487]

Concise and informative. Thanks. Although I'm still tempted to use the WD40 multi use oil that Bambu recommend. Hmmm

[@knoxieman]

Good video, I use cheap white lithium grease works just fine, superlube is very expensive, normal mineral oil is fine for the rails and you only need a tiny thin layer of oil and grease, so many people over grease things which just attracts more dust and dirt and makes things more sticky.

[@PeterVanWatermeulen]

Came to just add a note, as I helped with the support teams to get things updated in the wiki. The engineers actually gave feedback and let me know the A1 series, just the A1 only, has a 120 print hour interfval for lubrication. I was curious why the notifications popped up and found out the engineers did this for users to protect their printers for the long term.

[@Tombof3DPrintedHorrors]

Thanks!

[@sporewars]

Thank you for all of your videos!

[@thomasgrassi8817]

Great tips I have the supplies and will try this method first thing in the AM Thanks for sharing

[@JulysHobbyWorkship]

Will be getting my A1 mini soon, thanks for the video.

[@BSDGuyShawn]

Great video. The maintenance guide for the A1-Mini also calls out filling the oil filling hole in the middle of the slider for the Z-axis.

[@Tombof3DPrintedHorrors]

If you watch the video closely, they are only lubing the upper half of the rail, then adding oil to the Z carriage and allowing it to lubricate the lower half of the rail when they move it down, which IMHO won't do a proper job. My way ensures total even coverage of the rail. A rail with full lubrication will also lubricate the rollers, just like on the Y And X axis carriages (note they don't have you add oil to those.)

[@BSDGuyShawn]

@@Tombof3DPrintedHorrors I do the same but wanted to call out the oil hole as it is part of the ‘official’ maintenance guide.

[@Tombof3DPrintedHorrors]

@@BSDGuyShawn they also tell people to use grease on the Y axis rods for the full size A1, which is also wrong.

[@BSDGuyShawn]

@@Tombof3DPrintedHorrorscrazy. I’ve never looked at the A1 stuff.

[@ToddRumbach]

Always great information in your videos. You put me on the right path with your Ender2pro. FTG stls fill up my hard drive too.

[@robertspears8301]

Thanks for another useful and informative video. I just started using my A-1 mini yesterday. Thanks for the recommendation, I love it. I've been printing your Fat Dragon Mini Sets in 15mm. I can print an entire set at a time in about 1 1/2 hours using your settings and they come out great.

[@Tombof3DPrintedHorrors]

Glad it helped you!

[@chestercwright6070]

A1 min is on the way along with the cleaning and lib, not just for the a1 but also for my C10 se.

[@PaulB-justme]

My A1 Mini kindly let me know that I should lubricate the rails after my first use of the printer - having watched your video a couple of days earlier, it has come in very handy, as I am planning on getting a bit of printing time in today - but lube first! 😅

[@lisaharm9134]

Great video. Thank you for all of your detailed explanations!

[@xpainkillerx3143]

What should you look for in the name or description of an oil and grease to ensure it meets bambu requirements?

[@TimDavis77]

Great video. Prefer this to the method Bambu shows in their y-axis lubrication video. How often do you recommend doing this?

[@davidorr3874]

Is it a good idea to apply oil to the foam swab over the print bed? The non-woven wipes are no longer available. Do you recommend an alternative alternative?

[@joet9451]

Perfect timing. Had my A1 for 3 days and all of a sudden when trying PETG I’m getting this squeak. Does not seem to happen with pla. Almost makes me want to return it! I may give this a try. Then again I really don’t ever print in PETG so not sure I need to over react.

[@Tombof3DPrintedHorrors]

Sorry, I don't use PETG as PLA is much better for miniatures and terrain models.

[@khalidalkitbii]

Can I use regular oil such as olive oil as example?

[@jorgechapero9531]

Excellent video. Very informative

[@kenspaceman3938]

Nice vid! Please explain why oil and not grease on the rails?

[@Tombof3DPrintedHorrors]

Grease is too thick/viscous for the mechanical operation of the rail system, you need thin oil for that.

[@dzines65]

I spit my coffee out when you said, " reload for the rear" lol

[@nim6us]

Great video very comprehensive!

[@miniblaze4634]

Thanks. It took me a bit of time to remember that plate came off the A1 and I was the one that put it together. I just didn't remember it for a bit after I got the messages. I'm curious. How many uses do you get out of the sponge applicators? Is it one and done or what?

[@BiffsEquipment]

When you first get your A1 mini set up.. the instructions only say to oil the lower axis.. why is this? I thought it was very strange it didn’t ask me to lube the upper rail/axis as well.. I felt it with my hand and it felt bone dry and so did the printer head as I slid it side to side.. felt very dry and not super smooth like the bed felt. They say they don’t oil it much before hand cuz they don’t want it dripping during shipping which I get.. but I don’t get why they only want you to oil the bottom rail when the top rail is so clearly dry.. I also thought it was odd they wanted you to use a grease on the upper rail because to me it would make more sense to use oil on that rail as well.. this is what led me to finding your video to make sure I wasn’t missing something and infact I wasn’t:: seems like bamboo needs to change their oil procedure to include oilling BOTH top and bottom rails with OIL.. then use the grease for the screw which makes the most logical sense to me. (I was an automotive mechanic most my life btw)

[@oknights112]

Thanks for making this!!! It really helped me out.

[@lsantosusa]

Hi Tom, great video as always. Question for you. Your video shows the 92003 synthetic grease, which is generally used for plastic on plastic. The link in the description is for the 21030 grease, which is generally used for metal on metal. Which one is the best option? Thanks!

[@Tombof3DPrintedHorrors]

21030 (linked) is preferable, but the other will work fine if you can't find the former :)

[@kenspaceman3938]

I got some PRF Teflube H1 synthetic oil with ptfe for the rails from my local electronics specialist dealer, hopefully it’s good enough. It was only about €28/liter, that Super Lube was 10 times that here on Amazon in Europe. I’ll use some synthetic high quality grease with ptfe I bought from a bike shop, a few years ago, for the Z-rod. Haven’t received my A1 mini yet, their Anniversary deal in Europe is like €220. I want one to try to print out small figures for my son AND because the A1 mini is cute. 🙂

[@ExploreDungeons]

Great video, very useful. Thanks Tom! BTW, looks like Amazon no longer has the nonwoven paper wipes you recommend. Are cotton or bamboo ok or do we need to stick with paper?

[@dtarot]

Thank you something I was looking for

[@Tombof3DPrintedHorrors]

Glad it helped you :)

[@tsguitar1]

Can I use singer sewing machine oil ?

[@joseluisgomezrodriguez9943]

I can use grease súper lube to lubricate eje z, x and y??

[@TDHobbies]

Thank you for this video, FYI My Ender 3 that I built along with your tutorial on that printer is in operation, not with me, but it is still working.

[@xxalex03]

Quick question, do you have a suggestion for a preset for 0.4 nozzle for printing larger miniature models?

[@Tombof3DPrintedHorrors]

No, so far just a .2mm nozzle one.

[@lonerfamily5954]

hey good video but the non woven wipes where sold out and I was wondering if shop towels would work

[@Tombof3DPrintedHorrors]

Nope, they still produce lint. I've added an alternative link in the video description for another product.

[@lonerfamily5954]

@@Tombof3DPrintedHorrors thanks

[@RG-ul7yu]

Thank you!!! Perfect, the info I needed!! Appreciate it!

[@wileyphotography5027]

Great content! All the advice I needed!

[@apedullo]

Friend, can I use this oil and grease on the Bambu lab P1S model?

[@pterrydactyl]

Thanks for the excellent tutorial.

[@desmondmiles1066]

I'm not convinced on using qtips and nylon brush on the Z axis. Is there any other way to Clean it? TIA

[@Tombof3DPrintedHorrors]

I'm not using Q-Tips.

[@desmondmiles1066]

@@Tombof3DPrintedHorrors also tried nylon brush. but still not enough to remove black spots. any other way?

[@منايهالمسماري]

When is it oiled, is it when I hear a squeaking sound, or in a month, because my Android device is completely new

[@Thirdcast]

Hi Tom, good video. Ive just got my A1 and set it up. Its asking me to lubricate the y axis already, is this normal? Thanks

[@Tombof3DPrintedHorrors]

Yes, they don't ship with much lubricant on them.

[@LLJW4]

More great content :) I have your profiles for the A1 mini - do you have some for the regular A1?

[@Tombof3DPrintedHorrors]

Mi miniatures profile will work fine on the A1, and it can get very close to the quality of the A1 Mini for miniatures with Sunlu PLA META. :)

[@jessicaalvis7063]

It looks like Bambu lab has updated their recommendations since your video. Because now they only recommend using the grease for the lead screws and extruder wheels. I have no idea what that means, since I am completely new to the 3D printing world. I literally just ordered my A1 combo today :D Can you use a microfiber cloth or 100% cotton cloth?

[@Mattycoolj58]

Thank you video was very helpful I bought the right stuff thanks

[@TheRealFrostysaur]

Awesome. I just ordered my A1

[@funnyappl3]

Would i be able to use knife pivot lubricant?

[@BagaLagaGum]

I am still using your ender 3 nozle replace video as tutorial ) Thx for your materials, cheers

[@Tombof3DPrintedHorrors]

Thanks for watching! :)

[@bkkorner]

Good,instructional video. Thank you!

[@DougDorman06]

Nicely done!

[@Tombof3DPrintedHorrors]

Thanks!

[@sudoGetBrainInstall]

Thanks for this helpfull Video Sir. Just one think i want tu make clear. you do not need a spezial nylon brush set from amazon 😉.. every standard toothbrush does the same job.

[@kenspaceman3938]

How about using dry ptfe lube on the rails instead of oil?

[@Tombof3DPrintedHorrors]

Nope, scrapes off too fast. Use oil.

[@WaynesForge]

Thanks! Grease is the Word!