My Bambu Lab X1C arrived last Wednesday and I've been digging into it as time's allowed. First off - I'm pleased with the machine so far. I haven't got much experience with it yet, but so far so good.
One thing that I really don't like about the printer is the proprietary nature of it. They are really pushing you into their ecosystem, which runs quite contrary to the spirit of the 3D printing "community". The most glaring form of this walled garden in my opinion is the dimensions of their filament spools and corresponding AMS unit. Although they are 1kg spools which is the industry standard, they made them dimensionally smaller than most (not all) filament manufacturers - including the 3D Fuel and Atomic spools that I use most. As such, my 3D Fuel spools would not fit in the AMS with the lid closed, and my Atomic spools had the same problem with the added issue that they are borderline too wide to work reliably.
Fortunately, the open source natured 3D printing world has already devised a solution for this annoyance -
The Hydra AMS. I chose to print
this version, which has some slight changes over the original. After following the advise of the original Printables description and dialing in the flow ratio with some calibration prints, I sliced and printed the modification. The prints went off without a hitch and looked quite good I might add, not as glossy as I'm used to seeing on my Prusas, but really nice wall finishes and dimensional accuracy. The webcam and phone app are really massive features of this machine, as I was able to monitor and confirm print status even from over 100 miles away when we were celebrating Easter at my in-law's (happy Easter by the way!). Another excellent feature of the AMS is the ability to seamlessly switch to a new spool of the same filament once the current one has been exhausted, which I tested on the last print in the middle of the night and happily woke up to an empty spool and a complete print with zero issues despite the filament change.
The mod allows for much wider spools now, and I can just barely shut the AMS lid with my 3D Fuel spools now (maybe a bit too close for comfort), although the Atomic spools still don't fit with the lid shut. I'm considering printing smaller diameter idler rollers to bring the spools down a hair, but if that doesn't work
this AMS lid wedge/spacer certainly will.
Overall, the mod was easy to do and allows me to stick it to the manufacturer who would prefer I be stuck buying their filament. I'll continue to update my experiences with this machine as I get more print hours on it.
The three parts printed:
The AMS disassembled and ready to reassemble with the new parts:
Comparing the old and new:
Installed:
I haven't performed a print since I completed the mod yesterday, but everything appears to be working as if it hadn't been modified.
.....yes it's expensive but I think it's a great value for the money. I don't expect it to stay priced this low in the future. We have a couple $6K Ultimakers at work, and this printer blows them away for speed while still maintaining a high degree of quality.
www.creality.com
