R.I.P Printy McOldTimer
The Prusa XL is up and running, as is the H2D. The Prusa works as well as it ever has, which is to say - meh. The H2D has been put to use for the last few months making alignment jigs and various construction helpers. As I finally got them set up in the printer room, the X1C won’t power on.
I assumed power supply but the power supply’s internal check circuit seems to indicate it is good to go and I confirmed voltages with my MM even under a test load. Following the troubleshooter through the first time led me to an MC failure. Replaced it and now it looks like an AP failure. I put the old MC back in and it still points to an AP failure. AP boards aren’t currently in stock and appear to be going for $275 on secondary online sales.
As Bambu cranks out new printers at ever competitive prices, it really creates a value down pressure for these older units. At some point, they sold them factory refurbished for $650 (though I’m not sure if that was with AMS or without).
Is it worth spending $275 to revive my trusty and long-suffering X1C? Maybe but it isn’t a slam dunk. I really hate the idea of spending more than something is worth but then again resale value isn’t the same as utility value. If the AP boards come back in stock at $150, that is probably worthwhile but if the symptoms keep migrating to other troubleshooting loops we aren’t far from a sunk-cost-driven rebuild of the printer that doesn’t make a ton of sense.
I’m tempted to fix the X1C, donate it and put a different machine in its spot.
The X1C does seem more reliable than the H2D, though on the other hand there is the siren’s call of an H2C or the soon-to-be previewed H3C and all of the vortek goodness that comes with it. Ultimately, I just don’t really do that much in the way of full-color printing, so it is hard to justify the spend.
