Having the eight-color Mosaic Palette 3 Pro, i have been wondering how well would it play with the printer without the automatic material system module. Has anyone used the X-1 together with the Palette yet? Having 4 spools in a single AMS would be limited in comparison, so a second module is needed as well in that case – which really feels like an overkill for me. What benefits would the AMS bring over the Palette?
3 Likes
Accuracy, quality and ease of use. I’ve used the Palette 2 previously and was never able to get a decent result with it. I tried it on 3 different printers and did a lot of tests. I even helped them with trouble shooting some issues with the filament buffer and printing TPU. But using the Palette was without succes.
The X1 just prints fantastic in multi color, without any hassle.
2 Likes
I’m under the impression that Palette devices only really support Marlin printers, so I’m not sure you’d be able to get it to work well (unless it’s just feeding internally-patterned filament).
1 Like
That is precisely what it does. Palette-3, even officially, supports loads of printers, but official support isn’t even that important when what is fed is ready-spliced filament, making it pairable with virtually any printer.
The “ready-spliced” aspect, though, requires slicing the model alongside generating the “accessory mode” support file for the Palette. I’m not aware of a path that will do both. In other words, you’ll end up with the worse of both worlds since you’ll be slicing in something other than Bambu Studio. I may be wrong here, but this is based on this text from the FAQ page.
Yes, third-party slicers are supported but we currently only have profiles for single-color printing. Additionally, no 3rd-party slicers are currently compatible with some functions, such as first layer inspection and using the AMS. Therefore, we strongly suggest using Bambu Studio for now to get full functionality.
So, you can use the Palette 3 Pro by slicing in PrusaSlicer or Canvas, but you lose some X1 functionality.
(I may very well be wrong here. I’m just piecing things together as I plan my own mini-farm.)
Aye, very true. And that’s really the reason for this thread. In that does or does not the functionality loss in not using the automatic material system is compensated by not needing the humongous double AMS setup for printing with 8 colors à la Palette-3, which will be much more compact in comparison (both when used and especially when stored).
Interesting that the third party slicer profiles are mentioned, but when I asked for them I was flat out told that they wouldn’t release them.
Sorry for missing your reply from earlier. In response to the “humongous double AMS setup”, consider that with the Palette 3 Pro, you’ve got 8 spools of filament sitting somewhere. 
In my case, since I’ve got a couple X1Cs, by stacking the two AMSes on adjacent printers, I’ve got 2 @ 4-color or 1 @ 8-color with a relatively simple swap, and the AMS units don’t take any additional shelf or floor space.
2 Likes
Your 8 spools and associated gear are compact? I have two AMS units; put them next to an 8 spool Palette setup and let’s discuss which one is “humongous”.
The AMS is completely integrated with the printer. It’s a humidity-controlled drybox that leverages multiple sensors all the way up to the extruder to determine where filament is. It loads via a coordinated push-pull system between the rollers, AMS gearing, buffer, and printer extruder. It is fully integrated in to Bambu Studio and picking filament is as easy as clicking. It is far more valuable than just a multi-color/material solution. It is just flat out convenient to have filament swaps on tap like that.
Finally, the Palette 3 Pro is $800 USD. You can get 2 AMS units for $700 USD, less if you buy one as part of a combo with the printer. Given all this what possible reason could there be to use the Palette even if you could get it to work? That, if you aren’t using it, you can store it away more easily? That is as niche as it gets.
Even though double AMS is huge compared to the Palette – while also being in the same price range – the benefits of it as a designed integral part of the printer setup weights in its favor. The integration will become even better in time as the software improves. If more than 4 colors are to be used for printing, i would go for the double AMS setup.
1 Like
Just got my X1C with AMS yesterday and so far really pleased with the results.
Over the Palette I think the biggest advantages are the fact that you don’t have to worry about timing or filament length synchronisation and can be sure that a colour has changed at a specific point. Also with the P2P in particular you need to be quite careful about printing speeds (even on a relatively slow printer like the PRUSA MK3s) to ensure that the print does not get ahead of the filament splicing.
The AMS also seems to be way better than the MMU2s, in particular due to the tidy integrated spool holder design, the rewinding removing the need for complicated buffers and the filament cutting meaning no need to work about tip forming etc.
In combination with a single AMS I was wondering if I could find a way to allow my P2P to occasionally add 1 to 3 extra colours without needing to get a 2nd AMS unit.
I suppose I could use accessory mode to get the P2P to create some multi coloured filament (of the correct lengths) - and coil it up into one of the AMS slots.
Would probably need to use something like P2PP (or a variation of it) to work out the correct lengths and create the correct P2P input file.
I did a similar thing with PrusaSlicer and P2PP to allow the P2P to work on one nozzle of an IDEX printer (to allow for 5 colours of two different materials) - but suspect this will be more difficult with BambuStudio - as with Prusa Slicer you needed to create extra Virtual Extruders - which I expect will be pretty tricky with Bambu Studio due to the level of integration with he AMS etc.
Will probably not bother, and just get a 2nd AMS instead!
2 Likes