Hi everyone,
I was really looking forward to Bambu Lab releasing an AMS with a built-in dryer. I own 7 AMS units across two printers and live in a very humid area, so drying all the spools and silica gels separately is a real hassle.
I would have gladly replaced all my current AMS units with the new AMS 2 PRO—if it weren’t for one major and frankly ridiculous limitation.
Bambu Lab designed these units to only dry when no filament is inserted into the inlet port, because they believe the spools must rotate (using the motors) during the drying process.
They could and should have implemented the option to dry with or without spool rotation from the beginning.
This limitation causes two really annoying issues:
You can’t dry filaments in the AMS if it’s currently being used or is about to be used for printing.
To dry, you have to open the lid, remove the filaments from the inlet ports, and reattach them to their respective spools so that they can “rotate” (like my **** do…).
I find these limitations both unnecessary and frustrating.
Bambu Lab can and must do more to improve the user experience.
Meanwhile, the competition is ahead of the game… it feels like Bambu Lab may have missed the train on this one.
Because of all these limitations, an independent filament dryer is much more practical at the moment. I would even add that all the spools are dried inside the AMS, which may not be the best solution—let’s remember that continuous drying can weaken the filament
For that exact reason I bought a 2nd AMS 2 Pro. Sure, that’s definitely not the way to go and plays into Bambu’s hand of selling more units, but it works in my case. From what I’ve heard it actually has to do with the fact that the filament might get too soft and get stuck in the AMS, perhaps that’s why they have added that limitation?
Their wiki states that you can dry in a static mode though:
It’s also stated somewhere that it’s currently not possible to dry and print, perhaps this will be added later (again since this was apparently possible during an early firmware version).
I have a single bay Sunlu S2+ filament dryer modified to purge with dry air. After drying, the spools either go into sealing poly containers with hygrometers and fresh silica gel or go into an AMS to print. Dried filament put into an AMS will even pull AMS humidity back down to a “1” if it managed to get to a 2 before. Drying filament separately also makes the AMS desiccant last a long time. Last change was after 4-5 months when dried filament wasn’t enough to pull AMS humidity back to a “1”.
The AMS being heated and used as a dryer has other limitations too. It takes time to dry filament. Doing the drying by putting filament in the AMS uses up one or more slots but the filament may not be useable for hours. With a separate dryer you don’t use up AMS slots, the printer doesn’t need to be on, etc.
With the expense and limitations that it won’t dry while printing, etc, I don’t see buying the AMS 2 Pro at all. The drying feature gets in the way for me. I’d never use it. But this is just my setup and experience here with my system.
Please note that our team is working on further optimizing the features available for the AMS 2 Pro, and more functionality will be added over time with new firmware updates.
You’re completely right! But I see ONE feature, that’s worth for me: “AMS 2 Pro compatibility with A1/A1 mini printers will be added through an OTA update in Q3 2025.”
From what i understand, while being heated for drying, it makes the filiment too soft to be loaded. If it is loaded, it will jam in the filiment pathway.
AFAIK you´ll need the printer to control the AMS. And that adapter is needed if you´ll use the AMS2 with a X1C or P1S just to power that thing. The H2D can drive it with its power over the 6Pin Cord.
I’ll start with, my Bambu X1C is the best item I’ve ever bought myself outside of a basketball court and a device called hoopfit… I’m a huge fan of bambu (only using their filament too bc the quality control is good vs others I tried and it’s no fuss for the most part).
Bambu’s new designs with the new products, they kinda stink. I’m not sure why anyone would buy the ams2 for drying purposes when you can spend $90 on Amazon for a small box style food dehydrator that is going to move more air, work better, and I’ve fit 5 wide bambu spools in it at a time and I don’t even have the largest model. More parts to break on the ams2. I can already see the little openings getting stuck after time or my ocd wondering if they are shut all the time (not for me). I just did work on my ams1 and it’s only 2 screws to undo. No way the tubes on top are saving anyone a *considerable amount of time (maybe 10minutes at best).
The printer - it seems an overwhelming majority of ppl have no interest in the laser. Even if you wanted to just dabble and get into it, no part about this is cheap and again (OCD) I’d worry about my prints coming out incorrectly from build up of fine silt in the internals. The internal volumes are also misleading which is a bummer they aren’t more forthcoming about that (no one likes deceptive marketing).
Here is my suggestion for V3 lol.
*AMS - 5 rolls at a time and make it work with soft filaments like 95tpu
*Printer - 2 heads it can change (picks 1 at a time) but allow it to print beyond horizontal :)…basically almost eliminating supports.
I can guarantee if either of the above were done everyone would be talking about revolutionary items Vs somewhat pointless items.
Right now I’m just waiting for a sale on x1’s and the old ams till something else comes out 1 day.
I just wish there was better documentation on how to use multiple ams2 pros on the h2d, since I plan on using 2 on each nozzle, so I ordered 2 4-1 filament cones and 2 ams hubs just to make sure I was covered for that operation when the h2d gets here. Still no clear answers, however the filament buffer per nozzle being inside the h2d wall almost gives you the idea you only need the cone.
I went with the ams2 pros because the improvements of clearing PTFE tubes, not so much the dryers, but would have preferred to use 4 ams lite setups as they have been bulletproof for me.
I didn’t even know that this product existed! I’d love to see it improved, per the suggestions (can dry with filament in the inlet port - maybe as an “expert” option, since the filament in the port could still embrittle due to moisture - and being able to dry with the printer off), and would be very happy to buy one for my home gamer setup once this is done! Not having extra filament dryers and not having to deal with drying out desiccant would be great!
appreciate the information on the drying function.
As I was thinking about buying the AMS 2 pro but if it doesn’t dry when filament installed to print. Seems like a real issue over looked
@BambuLabTeam – Please consider adding an option to dry without requiring spool rotation!
If anyone has found a workaround, I’d love to hear it.
