I’ve had my P1s for a year and absolutely enjoy using it and learning all about the journey of printing. The time has come for me to dive into the world of AMS and multicolor prints.
I currently have a sunlu s4 which works extremely well. I never have to mess with desiccant and I have it plumbed into my printer via a 4:1 adapter. I call this setup a “manual” AMS as I have been unloading, retracting, and feeding the spool into the unit.
The AMS 2 has been released with some upgraded ceramic parts but the heating function leaves a lot to be desired. The power adapter and buffer must be purchased separately, there is no relative humidity maintenance mode, PLA has to be unloaded to dry, and you cannot dry while printing. This sucks.
The AMS 1 would be a pain dealing with desiccant unless I bought that and the sunlu AMS dryer, but then I’m stuck with my s4 which is less than a year old and would lose money on selling it.
I am really struggling to decide between the AMS 1 and AMS 2. I figured I could keep my s4 for use with PETG and ASA since it’s 70C max vs 65C for the AMS dryer. Then I could just keep PLA in the AMS 2, except you have to unload the spools to dry PLA which is a bad method since opening the top introduces lots of humidity.
I could also use PETG in the AMS 2 for multicolor prints which would allow drying without unloading, but I lose a bit of detail and color selection compared to PLA, and I still can’t dry while printing which I have always done with my S4.
For people with more experience, please weigh in with your opinion and why, it would be appreciated in helping me make a decision in the next few days since I want to take advantage of the Black Friday sales. Thanks all!
To be honest, I have difficulties to see the point in a dryer which holds 4 spools, be it AMS 2 or the S4 if you don’t have to dry several spools ar once. I typically dry each roll of filament once when I receive it or when I use it for the first time. For that I would have to unload all other rolls or at least all other types of material, which I find very inconvenient. I’m going to replace my two AMS1 by AMS2, but mainly for the better motors, easier accessibility of the tubes and the ceramic inlets. I also want to replace my external spool holder with an AMS HT, that I will use for drying instead of the air fryer, that I use currently, and for automatic loading of occasional spools, so I can keep the other AMSes closed.
I think I haven’t fully understood what is important for you, so just some ideas that might help you:
Keep your S4 for drying and add one AMS (1 or 2) for multicolor. Then you don’t need the power supply. Instead of the 4-way hub, you can put the cheap 4in1 PTFE Adapter after the filament buffer. That allows you to feed the AMS through the filament buffer and up to 3 ports from the S4.
You would need dessicant in the AMS, which you seem to dislike. I would find manual loading and unloading for every material much more deterring than changing some desiccant every few months. Maybe you can rethink that?
You could go a similar route as me: sell the S4 and buy an AMS2 + AMS HT. Then you would put the 4in1 adapter in front of the filament buffer. I think once you get used to the automatic loading, you don’t want to go back to manual loading. I added a second AMS not for printing more than 4 colors at once but only for having all regularly used filaments ready from Studio/ Orca.
In my opinion, i think you should get the AMS 2 because in can dry out the filament, and, overall, it seems like it would be nicer than the normal AMS.
