I want to print some Carbon PETG, I assume that I shouldnt be using AMS for it. so then I need to bypass AMS, whats the best way to go about this. seems I need a spool holder
The easiest way is to simply unselect the AMS when you are sending to the printer. It will just use the filament that is loaded.
Get a spool drier and print right out of it (I’m using Sunlu S2 and it seems to work fine).
Regardless of whether you’re printing from a spool or a spool holder, all you need to do is detach to top PTFE tube and disconnect the cable below the filament buffer going to the AMS, then feed the filament through the tube until you encounter resistance, then move the extruder down one or two steps. Then just select the right filament in Bambu Studio as slot 1 and print with it. I recommend calibrating the filament on engineering plate (flow rate and pressure advance) to get the best results.
After you are finished, use the Unload button which will free the filament again. Spool it back, reconnect the PTFE tube and connector and wait until the AMS stops moving. I also recommend using a cleaning filament after printing with CF (feed it through directly to the extruder starting at high temperature and finish at a lower one, then do a cold pull by setting temperature of 90ºC, wait for it to cool and retract the cleaning filament, you’ll be amazed at the junk that remained in the nozzle).
Don’t you need to unplug the AMS when feeding filament directly?
FYI the beta testing version of Bambu Studio that was just released has support for specifying an external spool instead of the connected AMS when slicing.
AFAIK you’ll still need to disconnect the AMS hub/buffer’s PTFE tube and feed the filament in directly from a spool holder, but at least you won’t need to disconnect the data+power cable and can specify a separate preset for the material
I’ve only been printing from the AMS but to be able to print from a spool without the AMS seems like a good use case for a Y-splitter to join from the AMS hub/bufffer and from whereever that spare/test spool is hanging.
I did a search and of course our awesome community already has a solution… lol
Bambu Lab Over-Engineered Y-Splitter by Brandon Raineri | Download free STL model | Printables.com
You no longer need to unplug it. There is an option to not use the AMS in the slicer when you send the print to the printer.
The printer came with a spool holder, it’s that bent piece of black metal. I printed a couple different holders that had bearings and found that they caused more problems than they were worth. I went back to the plain metal one, mounted to the printer with version 1 of this holder since I don’t have room at the back of the printer.
This is the splitter I use. The work flow is as follows. Put the spool of PETG on the external holder. With the printer on and while watching the the extruder on the temperature/axis tab of the display, push the filament into the tube until it stops. “Unload” will appear under the extruder. That’s it. To unload, I tap the “unload” button and wait for it to tell me to pull the filament out. No need to do anything to the AMS but you must remember to tell the slicer to not use the AMS or it will get fussy.
Actually on Bambu’s product pages for the filaments, it lists [their] PETG-CF as AMS Compatible. (however they also list their PET-CF as not compatible)