5 Things to know before Buying a Bambu Labs AMS | Before You Buy #2
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- čas přidán 25. 06. 2024
- My 5 Things to know before buying the popular Automated Material System (AMS) from @BambuLab.
This coming from someone who Backed Bambu Labs when they were on Kickstarter so I’ve have plenty of time to mess with the AMS & learn of its Pro/Cons.
0:00 intro
0:06 Not all Spools work with the AMS
0:49 AMS isn’t a multi-material system
2:23 Lithophanes
3:39 Filament Waste
4:47 Cheaper with the Bundle
The AMS is a great tool which allows you to print with 4 colored filaments & can even be expanded to 16 colored filaments with the addition of the AMS Hub unit. But personally, I haven’t found a need for at this time though that could change in the future.
Even though Bambu Labs shook the 3D printing community with its high speed printer it even did it a 2nd time with the success of its AMS unit. Although it isn’t perfect, the AMS unit is nonetheless a huge innovation for the 3D printing community.
That said it wasn’t the first to try to automate filament swapping, but the AMS from Bambu Labs was the 1st to do so successfully as compared to other attempts.
#3dprinter #3dprinting #bambulab - Věda a technologie
you know what you are talking about - thank you - looking forward to future videos
Really Helpful. Thanks!
Although noteworthy, I was mainly going to get the AMS for the dehydration properties it has, not for multi-coloured printing. I will however note down that if i do multi-coloured printing, I can use the wasted materials in the support or infill, since those don't really matter.
Nice write up. One thing the purge in to infill is in addition to the flush in to object option. You can also flush in to supports. And as for it not being a multi material system. I think it's probably good for most people supporting: PLA, PETG, ABS, ASA, PET, PA, PC, PA, PP, POM, HIPS and Bambu PLA-CF/ PAHT-CF/ PETG-CF. And while the Prusa may it certainly doesn't support as many colors and comes at a hefty price tag with just 5 colors. Can't wait to see what they release tomorrow. I assume a multi color non-ams printer that can probably handle the materials that the AMS can't.
thinking about getting a p1s without ams... can always get the ams later if needed...
Actually while the AMS is not realy for multi-material, switching beteen PLA and PET-G to get easy to break away support interface layers work. This in my opinion is the great advantage of the AMS. Therefore it was a hard choice to me to decide which fast enclosured printer I want to buy. P1S (with AMS) or a Qidi Max 3 with bigger volume, more robust, open source klipper and activly heated chamber.
Actually I decided for the later one, because with just a few filament changes needed, I could do it manualy (I do so for quite some years now on other printers). Also while the AMS is comfortable to use, it's not the only Multi-Material Unit on the market. Esp. with Klipper you have the ERCF.
The biggest advantage of the AMS isn't even in the AMS, but in the printhead: The automatic filament cutter. There are some ways to add this afterwards to a printer (see the SMuFF project). However, this is only nessasary on high flow nozzles. On standard nozzles you can get a very nice filament tip on unload using ramping - and on a revo standard nozzle this works even better.
In my opinion Bambulabs trys to dance at two weddings at the same time: High-Speed printing and automatic filament change. Therefore they have a high flow hotend and need "cut&poo" producing an enourmous amount of waste. If you want automatic filament changes, you should use a standard nozzle, best with integrated bimetalic heatbreak (Revo or maybe Trianglelabs TUN). This reduces time and waste a lot (esp. if using same material in different colours, as you can wipe2infill or wipe2object).
So I already changed the hotend of my Qidi to Revo. The test is very promesing. With a RevoHF nozzle the printer is as fast as before, same quality, but the filament tip does not turn out nice on unload. With a Revo standard nozzle the filament tip turns out very nice. Nothing to stop me to add an ERCF (exept always having a lot of other things2do on my list)...
There is a very interesting approch on Cetus 2, with a special mixing nozzle with only sharing the very tip of the nozzle but further up the nozzle having two seperate meltzones (with seperate heaters). So only about 1-2 mm of filament to clean the tip. Barely any waste and insanly fast filament swap. In the video I saw, the printer had some quality controll issues, but if they are solved I am very tempted to buy it.
Of course, using a toolchanger is a nice alternative. There are open source solutions. If you do plan it in the future, be aware the printer should have a fixed xy-gantry and a bed moving in z. If z is fixed (like on the Voron 2.4), you have always to go to the very top to change the tool. But for Voron Trident, VCore 3.1, Mercury etc. adding a toolchanger is possible later much more easy on the fixed xy-gantrys level.
However, multicolour in 16 colours with a pure toolchanger might be dificult (even on the Tronxy VEHO 1000 you would only have 1m for storing the tools, so with maybe 10to12 cm needed, "only" 8 to 10 tools could fit). So even with a toolchanger, you might want something like the AMS if you realy want multi many colours. Or maybe you could build a combination: first two or three tools with a automatic filament changer attached (wouldn't solve the waste, but the time problem), doing the swap while in the dock. 4th and 5th tool for flexible filaments or other nozzle diameters...
i wondered if i could put tpu in the ams not to be switched for multi color just to run a single color print basically to acoid the manuel switching in the back of the machine
Bambu Labs says to not put TPU in the AMS because it will jam it, he also mentioned it in the video.
@@swifticy117 right but that's in reference to using it for an ams pulling it in and out. Switching. Just feeding tpu in one time and printing it works fine.
Oh it works in the AMS if you don't switch filaments but just use the single spool of TPU in the AMS? Asking because that would be great if I don't have to buy a filament dryer to hold the filament after drying it the the x1 carbon.@@dustinbailey1980
Also no wood filament. Ask me how I know. The hot end is ok, the nozzle and gears, on the X1C but not the AMS. I printed the adapters for the AMS and that works.
what adapter did you print?
Something I am confused about is the ending you say it isn't a multi-material system. specifically in the marketing it says it "Hassle-Free Support Removal
With AMS, Bambu Lab printers can use snap-away support material or dissolvable filament to minimize the pain of removing supports." which wouldn't that mean it can do multiple different materials at once?
It can do almost all materials, but a couple. Specifically, carbon fiber and TPU.
What do you mean no abrasive filaments? Bambu Labs sells CF filament for use with the AMS unit.
Bambu does sell SOME CF filaments that are AMS compatible but their PET-CF clearly states that it is not AMS compatible.
I even reached out to Bambu to ask what the difference was so I could know what 3rd party abrasive filaments would work with the AMS. As nearly all of the filaments I work with are abrasive in some way so I was hugely disappointed after hearing about the lack of abrasive filament support following their kickstarter.
However, Bambu responded to my email by not answering the questions and just saying to double check filament compatibility in their product description before purchasing...
This lead me to believe that Bambu is doing something different with their AMS compatible filaments which can't be done with other materials like PET.
So to say that the AMS is able to print with abrasive materials wouldn't entirely true as doing so with non-compatible abrasive filaments can cause damage to the unit which happened to me when I tried using a few materials as a test.
I should also mention that at the time of recording this video Bambu did not have any AMS compatible CF filaments.
From what I can gather it’s only the PTFE tube Bambu Lab uses to feed the filament that is a at risk of damage. Is that correct? I wonder if anyone has tried replacing the PTFE tubes with small diameter copper pipe. I know you can get at least as small as .6mm internal diameter.
Plugging the wires in the back when you take it apart are a pain.
You know, if it’s not tight it’s not right 😂
Thanks for terrible vertical video on my horizontal display which I see with my horizontally oriented eyes.
Quit being such a baby
if you buy as a combo you do NOT get the empty spools
So the money your saving is just because a feature is cutt out
Some of the thing he's saying is bullshit you can use it as a multi material system pla petg abs pva etc. you can use abrasives in it like bambus pa cf it may wear down faster, tho you can't use cardboard spools that's right you can use tou that's also right
Not entirely. Reached out to Bambu to see what makes their PA-CF & other CF filaments different from others which allows it to be “AMS compatible” & they refused to give me an clear answer other than “our Bambu brand cf filaments are compatible with the AMS unit.” No extra details 🤷♂️
I was a backer on their Kickstarter & have a dozen different materials containing carbon fiber, glass fiber, & metal which I tested the moment I got my AMS. Those failures actually helped me make tutorials videos on how to fix them when people were still skeptical of the Bambu’s high speed printing.
Reason I said this was because I noticed severe wear on the filament guide after just half a 500g spool of my CF-High temp PA (Nylon). It literally ate through half the guide so saying what I said was “bullshit” would be a bit much.
Reason why I reached out to Bambu was inquire to if they were using short strand or milled (powdered) carbon fiber rather than longer fibers like the ones I use in my CF filaments.
This matters because longer fibers are what give that extra rigidity which CF filaments are known for & although shorter fibers can help with rigidity it isn’t as good as longer ones. You also still get the same drawbacks when adding carbon fiber which is reduced layer adhesion all while getting less rigidity & warping resistance than what you could of gotten with longer strands.
Another possibility of why their CF filament is less abrasive is the addition of wear-reduction additives which makes printing easier but reduces the total amount of polymer you’re actually getting so physical properties drop in return for easier printing.
Everything comes with a compromise & seeing how Bambu avoided my question entirely along with reviewing some of the specs they provide for their filament like PA-CF it’s probably a good assumption that they’re using shorter strands or cheaper Low-Modulus CF given that their PA-CF has a lower Flexural Modulus (rigidity) than other PA-CF brands that do advertise & use longer Fiber length High-Modulus Carbon Fiber in their filament.
i used bambu labs own carbon fiber filament in ams no probs...so not true
This video was made when Bambu 1st released after their kickstarter. Bambu at that time even made a statement to Not use abrasive but has since softly retracted that it seems.
Also even Bambu’s PET-CF isn’t AMS compatible. Also not all abrasive filaments are equally abrasive as ones with lower CF % or ones using milled/powdered CF will be significantly less abrasive than those using longer Chopped fibers. For example, Bambu’s CF-PETG runs fine as you can literally feel that the filament is only slightly abrasive to the touch, but in comparison the CF-ASA from 3DxTech is significantly more abrasive to the touch & has destroyed a 1st-stage feeder along with the AMS’s filament guide after not even 500g passed through it.
The same thing occurred with several other Glow in the dark filaments & it even chewed threw the PTFE tube inside the AMS, so although I’m not entirely correct in saying abrasive filament don’t work with the AMS it is also incorrect to say that it works with abrasive filaments “just fine” without issues.
And given the potential problems that could arise from using a filament that’s too abrasive I just errored on the side of caution with my warning for those who, like me, may extensively use abrasive filaments.