First Post - considering X1 Carbon Combo with few questions

Bambu Lab X1 Series
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Hello All,

I am considering the X1 Carbon combo and have a few questions. I am currently using an Ender 5 plus that is heavily modified but looking to get into printing with dissolvable supports or easier to remove supports as well as other options. I was looking for an Idex machine but this machine has me intrigued. Also looking to print faster for some production items I make.

Does the multi Filament chamber have any sort of heating to keep filament dry? I am using an in line drier on my Ender 5+ and it works well is it possible to have one inline after the AMS but before the printhead?

How fast can regular PETG print? How about Nylon and PC?

I have a few parts I print pretty much continuously that I sell and often need to switch materials and colors as people can specify those options. I see this as a great option to load with the top 4 colors or materials and just switch back and forth instead of reloading my ender 5+. Anyone doing this? If I load 2 bays with the same color and one runs out is it smart enough to just switch to the other same color and material in another bay mid print? Anyone running multiple AMS with the hub and how well does that setup work?

While I can always use my Ender 5+ for larger prints any idea if a larger printer is in works or about to be released before I buy this one that seems just a bit small?

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I am a newbie to 3D Printing and have only had my X1 Carbon Combo for about a month, but I will try and answer some of your questions.

The AMS unit (multi-filament chamber) does not have a built-in heating unit but it does have built-in desiccant trays along with multiple add-on/replacement models on Printables, etc.

Based on MQTT sensor readings, my AMS floats between 13-23% humidity in it. Generally hovers around the 16% range and I am not doing anything additional at this point.

You could use a filament dryer that supports spooling out of it, but then you would have to disconnect the AMS and use the manual filament feed for that use case.

In terms of other filament types/print speeds, I just started playing with Bambu Labs PETG-CF (carbon fiber) composite filament which they rate for <200mm/s. Their PLA-CF they rate for <250mm/s. Other brands/types may vary.

Depending on the size of the prints that you sell, you could for example print multiple of the same item on a plate, each one being a single solid color (or multi-color).

The X1C does have a run-out sensor which is used in conjunction with the AMS. If you loaded say 1 Blue, 1 Red, and 2 Black filaments in the AMS and ran out of black #1, it would switch to black #2 as long as they were the same material type (i.e. both PLA) and color (ie. black). When you load filaments into the AMS, you manually set the filament type & color. If they are Bambu Lab brand filaments, then they will auto-configure themselves (filament type, color, temperature profiles, etc.) via an embedded RFID chip in the roll.

You can run up to 4 AMS units in total for 16 filament roll capability (either all different colors or some duplicates for runout, etc.). When you go past the 1st AMS unit in the combo, you need to switch out the AMS hub for the 4-port version and then can scale from 2-4 AMS units in whatever timeframe you choose.

I only have a single AMS right now, but maybe this summer will add a 2nd one as have a few 5-color prints I would love to be able to do.

In terms of a larger plate (>250mm) BBL printer, I haven’t heard any rumors of one, but I wouldn’t be surprised if they didn’t come out with one eventually. Right now they are trying to keep up with the demand for their existing models along-side growing their supply chain and support network as well.

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Thanks for the awesome reply Paul.

I am pretty set on buying the X1 combo and have one other question.

It shows what’s in the box and shows the AMS and then also says Bambu Filament. Any chance you now what build plates and filaments are included when the combo is purchased?

Id like to get dome CF-PET and some CF-PC as well. I noticed some filaments say not compatible with the AMS. Can I still load it in the AMS if I never use that filament for multi color or with supports or are filaments that are not compatible placed in the side spool? Can the side spool and the AMS both be used when needed or by adding the AMS does that mean you can never use the side spool location?

Thanks again,

Marc

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Hello,

I will try to answer some questions too.

The AMS is not heaten, but it is kept airtight with a rubber sealing and PTFE tubes for all filament pathways. There are two desicent bays and you can upgrade 3 more by printing them yourself. I so far did not have any trouble with keeping filament dry, but the AMS won’t dry wet filament for you. You can either use the printer for that (has a drying function for the heatbed in the chamber) or any other external drying method.

The questions about spool changes have already been answered, so I skip these parts.

About the build plates, my printer came with an engineering + cold plate (one plate with two sides) and two replacement stickers for the cold plate side. Depending on what you plan to print, I would highly recomment investing in a High temp. plate. It has a smooth surface, works like PEI and supports a wide range of materials including PLA, PETG and ABS/ASA. If kept clean even PLA sticks well without any glue and comes off easy.

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Thanks Thrawn,

Do you know wht filament comes with the Carbon Combo. What’s in box just says Filament… How much, what colors, what type?

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My X1CC in the US shipped early February came with 3 rolls partially filled with 250g each of Orange Basic PLA, Support W, and I think a now discontinued PA-CF

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Hi Marc,

I see @Thrawn has answered some of your questions so I won’t repeat much.

Besides the cool+engineering plate I picked up the Bambu High-Temp PEI plate and use that for probably 90+ % of my prints at this point. I mostly print PLA so not really a big deal.

Only issue you may have with it is that it is a textured surface vs. smooth…. To each their own.

As for starter filaments that came with mine (received Valentine’s Day), I got the Orange PLA, Support-W (white support material), and PAHT-CF (Carbon Fiber Reinforced High Temperature Nylon). I have used the Orange PLA & Support-W. I haven’t opened the PAHT-CF yet.

For filaments not compatible with the AMS, I would store them in airtight cereal “boxes” from Amazon w/desiccant.

If you have the AMS, you can also install the spool holder, but you either have to print out a small stand-off for it (to clear the AMS hub) or a side-mount for it (both found on printable).

You also will want to print a Y adapter (also on printable) so that you can easily feed from either the AMS or Spool holder without having to constantly unhook PTFE tubing from the X1C connected on the back.

Again if you very rarely are using the spool holder, not that big of a headache, but just one less things to have to move the printer for.

Since both the side spool and AMS feed via the same PTFE entry path, you have to unload any AMS filament from the extruded/hot-end before you can feed the spool holder filament into it.

Hopefully that all makes sense.

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Hi Marc,

It is a bit of a jackpot what filament you will exactly receive with your X1C combo.
I got 1 Basic PLA in Green, 1 Support W and 1 PLA-CF.

Everyone seems to get a bit of a different combination of filament in their package, but so far everyone I heard of got 1 basic PLA and 1 Support W. and 1 carbon reinforced filament. Colors and type of the carbon reinforced material may vary though.
And its only 250g each, so you will run out of the basic stuff very quickly, so you should consider buying a few rolls PLA as a starterpack anyways. PLA is a good and forgiving material and good to learn the machine before you use harder to print with stuff, so its always a good start.

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Thanks again for the great reply Paul,

Ok this seems odd… PET-CF says not AMS compatible but there is support for PET-CF that is… How would it be possible to use the PET support if the PET-CF can not be used with the AMS?

My main need for this machine is to run pretty much continuously some parts I sell that need to be made of high temperature resistant materials. Best guess is I will mostly print PC but the PET is likely one i want to try as well. At the moment my design does not require supports, but I am sure I will need it eventually. Right now one part takes 5 hours in my ender 5plus running CFPC very slowly. I get good parts but I need speed which Is why I am considering this.

So when they say not compatible is it since it cant be bonded to other filaments prior to extrusion? TPU is also not compatible so I imagine that needs to be on the side as well?

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You can set manual pauses in the g-code to switch the filament, but that is not really a great solution if there are filament switches more then once or twice.

Edit: Also, notice that the support material is also compatible with PA, which is supported by the AMS

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One thing to consider as your main aim is to gain speed - If you have already specific brands of filament considered I would suggest sharing those and seeing if others have experience related to printing the material.
A thing to consider (and I have fallen into this trap when I ordered it)… not all prints will be a lot faster. It really depends on filament (volumetric flow, temp, adhesion) and the presets of your current printer.
E.g. I printed before using a MK3S - heavily tuned for my purpose and I reach at max a double speed on the X1 depending what I require to sacrifice. And for this I had to tune in the X1 already again for my purpose (not stock profils).
Not that it is nothing :slight_smile: But I was thinking (and didn’t to calcs) that it would be faster :slight_smile:

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As others have replied all AMS compatibility means is whether the filament can be run through the AMS for automated loading/unloading.

So if for example, PET-CF may not be AMS compatible but you can still print with it via the manual feed spool holder. It doesn’t that you can’t use it at all.

In the Orca Slicer (Bambu Studio Fork), SoftFever has incorporated several calibration enhancements (temp towers, volumetric flow test, etc.) to help with fine-tuning your specific filament profiles/performance. Most people with the basic included profiles and then finetune from there if they are not using the BBL filaments.

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@Thrawn I realize this is off topic but I found no answer anywhere else: What filament is the “basic green pla” you got with your printer? I received the same and absolutely love the color but when I look at the “green” basic pla in the Bambu Lab shop it looks way different and the one I received looks closer to the matte green pla.

Did you reorder already? I really want to buy this exact filament.

Thanks in advance!