Bambu Lab AMS Compatible Filaments
Bambu Lab AMS Compatible Filaments
The Bamboo AMS (Automated Material System) has been making waves in the 3D printing community since it was introduced in 2022. Its revolutionary 3D printing technology allows you to print with 4 different filaments and colours in one go. It’s even possible to have up to 16 colours with multiple units. It utilizes the power of Bamboo Lab’s P1P and X1 3D printers to produce highly detailed, multi-colour prints. With this innovative technology, you can switch materials as many times as you want during a print, even during the same layer. The Bamboo AMS offers users an unprecedented level of control over their 3D printing projects, allowing them to create unique pieces that stand out from the crowd.
How does the AMS work?
The AMS unit can sit on top of the printer and be secured by two side rails. It comprises three main parts that play a crucial role in enhancing your 3D printing experience.
The first component is the four spool holders, which hold individual filaments on separate rollers. This design reduces the force required by the printer to pull the material, ensuring smoother operations.
Once the filament leaves the spool holder, it passes through a corresponding hub. This hub serves as the point where the material is pulled from and fed into the next part, known as the buffer zone.
The buffer zone is responsible for maintaining consistent material flow and ensuring seamless transitions between colours. It prevents gaps from forming during material changes, guaranteeing a smoother printing process. Along the filament’s path, ten sensors monitor its movement to ensure the loading and unloading of different filaments occur as intended.
To achieve multicoloured prints, the filament feeding order and transition are preconfigured in the Bambu Studio slicer software. This software analyzes the 3D file, identifying different colours and calculating the necessary amount of each filament per layer. The resulting code is then read by the machine, and the AMS unit precisely feeds the required filaments, enabling the creation of vibrant multicoloured 3D prints. Additionally, the AMS unit incorporates automatic retraction to remove the previous material efficiently, ensuring a smoother and uninterrupted printing experience.
Compatible Materials
Bamboo lab recommends their own filaments as they have been tested to work with the AMS, however, you can still use many of your favourite brands and materials. There are still some restrictions, TPUs may bend and block the system, abrasive filaments like Carbon & Glass fibre can wear down the internals and brittle filaments could break and block the internals. As such, they are not recommended. There is also a size restriction that comes with the unit, supporting spools with a width of 50-68 mm and a diameter of 197-202 mm. We’ll save you the trouble and recommend a few top materials that are confirmed to work in the unit:
All Polymaker 1kg spools fit in the AMS however their newer cardboard spools will require a spool adapter. This stops the cardboard from wearing down on the rollers. Polymaker offers a wide range of premium materials with superb printing quality. We have a large selection of Polymaker stock including various types of PLA, PETG, ABS and more. One of their more notable ranges is PolyTerra PLA, a matte-style PLA for which Polymaker plants a tree for every spool sold.
All 1kg eSUN spools also fit in the AMS, most of thier spools are made of plastics so there is no need for an adapter. for those. However, some of thier new ranges do come on cardboard spool and require an adapter. eSUN produces cost-effective materials whilst maintaining good quality, including PLA, ABS, PETG and more. Their signature range is PLA+, which has excellent quality and printability for it’s low-cost. They also supply refills which fit on their eSpool, which does fit in the AMS.
Fillamentum, a well-known brand in the world of 3D printing, offers a wide range of 750gms spools that fit perfectly with the AMS system. This brand is well-known for their high-quality PLA filaments that come in a wide variety of colours. They also offer a selection of other regular materials such as ABS, PETG, and more. With Fillamentum, you can print and create any 3D model you desire with ease and confidence, knowing that each spool is produced with the utmost care and attention to detail.
Fiberlogy, a renowned brand in the 3D printing industry, offers a diverse selection of top-notch materials such as PLA, ABS, and PETG, as well as many more. These high-quality spools can be used in the AMS. However, it should be noted that in order to fit these spools, they must be placed in the slightly larger, outer rollers of the AMS. Additionally, the cover of the spool must be removed prior to use. They are currently phasing out these spools for newer, slimmer spools that fit effortlessly. With Fiberlogy’s broad range of materials, your 3D printing projects will come to life with ease. So, whether you’re looking to create unique designs using colourful filaments or harden objects with robust material, Fiberlogy spools are an excellent choice. Fiberlogy refills can also be used with eSUN espools.
Azurefilm spools are a bit hit or miss as only the newer spools fit in the AMS. These are black spools with lots of holes on the side. The old spools will unfortunately not fit. Azurefilm are a great supplier for standard PLA and ASA with their stand-out materials being pearl and glitter PLAs.
Incompatible Materials
Many flexible such as NinjaTek, PolyFlex, eTPU and more are not recommended as they can bend and block the AMS. 3DXTech 750gms and 500gms spools fit in the AMS, just remember that any abrasive or brittle materials are also not recommended for use in the AMS.
If you’re unsure if the spool will fit, check the spool measurements, which are provided by most manufacturers and suppliers or contact us for more information.
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Comments (2)
What about 2.8mm, I have that filament but its not wanting to fit, but even bambu filaments that came with it i had to force in when loading, I can’t find anything about this
Hi Zachariah,
We are not aware of any official support for 2.85mm with Bambu Lab printers. Typically printers only support 1.75mm or 2.85mm. Even with 1.75mm we found you still have to push the filament with your fingertips when first loading into the AMS, you should still have less trouble with 1.75mm.