On the Amazon product page for the Sun S4 drier there is a photo of the drier with the AMS Lite on top. It seems to imply that one could print directly from the drier box, through the AMS Lite, to the A1/A1 Mini. Has anyone actually tried that yet or is that just propaganda that is misleading? (in the photo the filament comes out of the drier and into the AMS Lite feeder assembly, no spools attached)
I don’t think it will work. The spool holders in the S4 are not motorized. Therefore filament can not be loaded and unloaded automatically. You can only use printing from spools in the S4 dryer like you use an external spool.
I couldn’t find a picture but there’s a video of an A1 using the Sunlu S4 as an external spool. Click on the Amazon link then click the last video.
I have two of the Creality Space PI Filament driers and prefer them to the S4 or any multi-spool dryer. I can dry two different filament types at the same time.
I was thinking about that. I don’t believe the spools on the AMS Lite are powered. The gray and orange pieces in the middle seem to be where it is driven. I am making this conclusion based on several factors. First when you load filament you can feel it start pulling it away from you once it is recognized by the AMSL. Second if the spools were driven there would be now way to keep them from going all over the place instead of up the tube. Third if the spool was driven then it would have to adjust its feed rate based on the diameter of the spool which changes as the spool has less filament on it. Now perhaps this was already obvious, but given that I’m certain I am correct, then it doesn’t matter if the S4 is driven as long as it doesn’t add so much friction that the AMSL has trouble drawing in the filament. Based on the image it seems reasonable that it might be able to do it. The original intent of the post was to see if anyone actually had done it.
Yeah, it can’t work like that. Especially because there are no Teflon tubes at the exit either. But I’m sure with a little effort, some CAD design, and Teflon tubes at the entry and exit, it can be made to work.
I print from the Sunlu S4 using my A1 Mini and this mod for the Sunlu/AMS Lite (sorry I am unable to directly post the link): SUNBU LAB AMS LITE 1.0 by Mr.X3D
It was a pretty big project to print the entire model on my A1 Mini but it works great and I’m very happy with the end result. It retains all of the functionality of the AMS Lite while essentially acting as a dry box and providing the ability to print while drying.
Yes, it works fine for my A1. I’ve actually had better luck feeding spools out of the box into the AMS as it keeps the filament warm and more pliable. Along with it actually being easier to deal with filament getting stuck.
I have had it for about 3 months now and zero issues.
The Sunbu setup seems pretty nice, but I just wasn’t into investing that kinda time, and until recently there was not a pre-cut A1mini version anyways, so for the last 5 months 'm using a Sunlu S4, A1 mini with the AMS lite taken apart and attached to the printer itself. Two options depending on where you want to place the Sunlu in relation to your printer.
As mentioned the AMS lite has springs in the spool spindles so when the filament retracts (this occurs at the print head) that spring has been given tension feeding the filament into the printer and then the nudge of the filament moving backwards allows it to help wind the filament back onto the spool. With the S4 you will not have this which has on occasion caused a problem. On a full spool, the filament pushes back into the S4 and ends up going on the outisde of the spool rather than in the middle and will eventually get caught and cause a tangle. After it’s happened to you a few times it becomes second nature to check the filament at the end of a print job to be sure the filament didn’t go overboard.
Thank-you – indeed, you are required to set all filament from the device tab manually.
I’m so used to setting all my filaments manually at this point I kinda forgot about the RFID feature for Bambu filament.