A Bambu Lab A1 printer with a lock on top of it.
A1 picture taken from Bambu Lab's website.

We have all been there; we start a print only to realize we messed up something. It is always possible to pause the print to fix it before it starts. That’s what happened to Shebaghdad, over on Reddit, with their A1 printer, only to realize their printer locked them out completely.

The printer had set a flag on their system, completely locking them out of their printer with the only provided solution to contact the after-sale support.

The official Bambu Lab account replied to explain why this had happened. They start by explaining this is not a “printer lock” but an extra safety measure for the A1 printer. We can then assume that this doesn’t apply to the other models.

As for the explanation, this is what Bambu Lab said:

The heatbed temperature is carefully monitored and if there’s any change in temperature which is not as expected, a software fuse is triggered to avoid any danger for the user.
This is not a way to lock the printer, it just stops the heatbed from heating, temporarily.

They continue by saying:

The heatbed can be enabled again with a simple file that is run by the printer, but we strongly recommend against using this file if the software fuse is triggered.
We will share a detailed Wiki article shortly where everything will be explained in detail.

At the moment of this writing, we are unable to find anything on their Wiki explaining how to fix this “issue”. We’ll make sure to update this article when we are made aware of such a page. Still, Bambu Lab strongly recommends its users stop using their A1 printers and redirect their users towards the recall article.

If this happens to you, there are two options:

  • The safest but the longest is to contact the support, hoping they’ll provide you with the file to unlock your printer.
  • The “not so safe” option is provided by Shebaghdad in their Reddit post. They mention downgrading their printer with the help of the Bamby Handy app solved the issue for them. Please note that this is not recommended. The software fuse is a safety measure that has been implemented for your safety. By bypassing the safety measure, you acknowledge and take full responsibility for the problems and damages this could cause.