facebook js

Follow Planet-Soaring on Facebook

Thursday, June 4, 2020

Avoid BQ 3D printers !!!! ... No spare part available !


We often say that if you want a serious warranty and after sale service, including spare parts, don't buy in china, and prefer local and renown brand you won't be disappointed ...

When I decided to purchase my 3D printer end of 2015, I choose to follow this recommendation and bought a printer proudly "made in Europe", in Spain to be exact, the BQ Hephestos 2.  And I purchased from BQ directly, not from a re-seller.

875 hours of printing later, and especially lots of printing since mid march 2020, after joining the Covid-19 protective shield making initiative, I started to have some issue with the leveling, until I was totally unable to print anything, as the auto-leveling was failing randomly, making the printer to not print on the plate, but in the space (Video at the end).

I did some checking and found that the inductive sensor boar was probably faulty. The problem is that the led was not working since few month already so I couldn't do any manual leveling or adjustment. I started to search the spare part.

I quickly found that no re-seller was stocking or selling this part anymore, the part being "discontinued" or "out of stock" everywhere.





So I decided to contact BQ directly. First the commercial department redirected me to re-sellers, 2 in particular, that I contacted over the phone with no result. They don't have in stock and cannot help.

I recontacted BQ Commercial 3D department, and explained again the situation, begging them for help to order a new inductive sensor directly from them.

I then received a mail from BQ 3D Support Team, this time asking for more details such as serial number, invoice, pictures, video showing the problem, etc ... which I provided the same day, telling to myself that this time in few days, I will be able to order the spare part and receive it, repair and restart printing.

But unfortunately, I was totally wrong. Since I sent them all the data/details and the video, I didn't receive any answer and have been totally ignored despite my reminders to both commercial and support department twice.

This is really disappointing and frustrating !

This inductive sensor board being BQ specific, I have no idea if I can replace it with a generic inductive sensor without damaging the printer (voltage, pin layout, sensor sensitivity, etc ...).

Moral of this story:  I paid my BQ Hephestos 2 (Prusa i3) printer 5 times the price of a Chinese Prusa i3 printer, and I'm now blocked because I cannot get any assistance from the manufacturer itself.

The worse is that this sensor is common to the 2 printer models BQ is selling, the Hephestos 2 and the Witbox 2, and that these 2 printers are still available widely, and in stock everywhere. This should means they still have spare parts available.

In conclusion, BQ is not a serious company at all, as they have absolutely  no consideration for their customers.

So If you are looking for a 3D printer, just forget BQ, they don't deserve any interest and trust from us. There are many other alternatives on the market, much cheaper, and with better printing quality, and at least, you will be able to find spare part more easily.

As we often say: "Forewarned is forearmed !" so now you are aware !



19 comments:

  1. Did you check the cables and connections. My experience is that electronics are OK or not. Intermittent failures are mostly due to moving things: cables, connectors. Sometimes soldering points on the PCB can be the problem, especially in power circuits and/or stressed connections.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I can see that you are running the latest firmware with 9 measuring points. Are you sure the sensor is still on the plate when measuring those points? You can change the coordinates of those points. That's what I wanted to do, but at the end I swapped for the firmware before, as it works greatly for me. Did you try the penultimate firmware?
    Anyway I can only confirm the unavailability of spare parts as I needed a spare thermistor. They did not have it in stock, so I swapped for a Chinese hot end.
    Regarding the Z sensor you could swap it with a BL touch sensor, Which should even be better. I saw a video somewhere about this installation.
    Best regards,
    Ric

    ReplyDelete
  3. crap, i'm glad i choose the prusa mk2 at that time, the hesphetos was my other choice.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Generally I don't learn post on blogs, but I would like to say that this write-up very pressured me to try and do it!
    Your writing style has been surprised me. Thanks, very great post.
    we buy scrap cars
    we buy cars

    ReplyDelete
  5. The problem is, BQ is bankrupt and will therefor not response to your emails anymore.
    I have the Printer since 2016 and from my experience, the support was great. I had to contact the support a few times and got all the spare parts I needed, sometimes even for free.
    Sadly my induction sensor is faulty as well and does not work anymore.
    Did you find a good solution to use your printer again?
    I found a solution, but it is not ideal. You need an Arduino (or something similar) and that's it.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. hello, did you find a solution with an Arduino for replace the sensor ?
      Thkssss

      Delete
  6. As the time come closer to when the actual car is needed, the price of the rental is going to increase quite a bit. One reason for this is scarcity. araç kiralama

    ReplyDelete
  7. You can find replacement for hotend in this store:
    https://orballoprinting.com/es/extrusores-hotend/386-hotend-ddg-bq-witbox-2.html

    https://orballoprinting.com/es/extrusores-hotend/393-hotend-clasico-para-bq-prusa-i3-hephestos-y-witbox-1.html

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Ordered Hotend from Orballo in Jan fo 2022, never got anything (no product, no replies for my emails). Orballo == Scam

      Delete
  8. This is my first visit to your web journal! We are a group of volunteers and new activities in the same specialty. Website gave us helpful data to work. 3d printers for sale

    ReplyDelete
  9. I need to to thank you for ones time for this particularly fantastic read!! I definitely really liked every part of it and i also have you saved to fav to look at new information in your site. brochure printing discounts

    ReplyDelete
  10. This content is written very well. Your use of formatting when making your points makes your observations very clear and easy to understand. Thank you. 羅氏鮮是什麼

    ReplyDelete
  11. When your website or blog goes live for the first time, it is exciting. That is until you realize no one but you and your. CO2 laser cutter

    ReplyDelete
  12. China Hangzhou Tianmai mechanical jacquard is one of the leading Electronic jacquard attachment, Jacquard spare parts, mechanical jacquard manufacturers and suppliers in China, also supporting customized service. Be free to wholesale high quality products from our factory EAGLE M5 M6 Module

    ReplyDelete
  13. Thanks for sharing this blog Very useful Post. Acquista online La migliore qualitàErmanno Scervino Borsa Donna alle migliori tariffe. Desigual Pantaloni Donna

    ReplyDelete
  14. Great things you’ve always shared with us. Just keep writing this kind of posts.The time which was wasted in traveling for tuition now it can be used for studies.Thanks Printers

    ReplyDelete
  15. Thanks for sharing such a great information. To know more information about Additive Manufacturing & digital ware housing you can check here

    ReplyDelete
  16. The extruder for my Witbox 2 broke. Witbox does not sell spare p[arts, no one else sells them, no one even does clones of them. Solution, when your witbox printer breaks, bin it and buy something cheaper and better (pref open source hardware).

    ReplyDelete
  17. Extremely intriguing online journal. A lot of web journals I see nowadays don't generally give anything that I'm keen on, however I'm most definitely inspired by this one. Recently felt that I would post and let you know. embroidery digitizing services

    ReplyDelete

Jehnedi (CZ) F3G Eurotour final contest report

Text and photos:  Sebastian Haase (German version below) In my last and first report on the new, young and upcoming FAI class F3G, Pierre an...