AMS Lite - how do you use yours?
More a question for the hobbyist or occasional users rather than print farmers who use their printer constantly!
Do you install your 4 spools and leave them in place on the unit for whenever you print next?
Do you put your spools away after each print, and then load the colours you need as and when you need them for your next project?
How do you use yours???!
Put spools as needed and replace when needed, not take off spools during “downtime” because there’s very little need for that.
My wife told me lots of times that i should start using mine a little less. She says that it gets tiring having to always take 2 at a time and she prefers to leave the 4 there because it’s more pratical. The AMS Lite i mean 
That way my ams lite is always loaded with 4 spools, white and black always there and replacing the other 2 when needed. Since my wife is at home, she has to do all the heavy lifting when i send her a message about printing something with other colors. There is no need to put the spools away after each print at all unless you have the printer in a very, very humid place.
It’s about a six metre walk from my couch to the printer. So I just leave them on so I don’t have to walk all that distance if I want to start a print. But as long as you are using quality PLA or PetG, they’ll survive out in the open
If humidity (moisture in the filament) is a problem for you, then use, remove and bag.
If not, leave on.
I have an A1 mini with AMS lite in my ‘farm’. I have never had an issue leaving filaments on the AMS lite until I swapped them out.
I swap them when I wish to use a different one.
I have PETG, PLA & TPU (not on the AMS lite) on the machine at the same time sometimes purely due to the mix I had at the time due to swapping out
I have eight AMS units, those are an easy decision, because they are enclosed.
My ambient room humidity is at 60% at the moment. I only ever use Bambu PLA on my AMS Lite, which I leave loaded as I printed the AMS Lite enclosure, which currently reports internal humidity is at 35%.
I got a bit nervous leaving PLA out in 60% humidity! lol
Otherwise I’d probably unload and load colours as and when I needed them, considering I only print something every few days as and when I get some time!
I get a bit OCD about it! lol
My humidity devices show around 70% all the time and I’m fine.
I have around 70% humidity in my room. I initially dry all my filaments and only have the spools I currently need on my AMS. One spool I use daily (Sunlu pla+ 2.0) last about a week and seems not affected with humidity (considering it only lasts a week).
I own a filament dryer, I used it twice in 4 years, still works.
I recently bought a Sunlu S4, mostly because of the newer carbon and glass fibre filaments that seem to require it immediately after opening the packaging according to BL.
And you keep your spools out and they’ve been fine?
Yeah, I’m in the centre of the U.K., works fine.
I do zip lock bag and box (the one they come in) all my filaments that are not in or on an AMS/AMS lite.
Good question.
But as others mention, the humidity issue creeps into consideration.
I mostly use PETG and have problems with humidity if I leave it out. All of my reels get dried as needed then left in the AMS enclosure for the X1.
From that experience, adding the A1 mini, I started with the AMS lite enclosure but have been disappointed to see that it runs through desiccant in about 2 weeks. I keep 2 each of my most used PETG and PLA reels in the AMS lite. I keep the other PETG and TPU colors in dry boxes and manually load them as needed. They seem to stay dry for months that way.
PLA, sure just leave it in the open air. I’m still looking for the right PETG-AMS lite solution.
