If you own a Bambu Lab 3D pinter, this SUNLU AMS upgrade is a must-buy

A recurring hot topic within the 3D printing industry right now is whether or not it's truly necessary to dry out spools of filament (material) prior to initiating a print. Some believe that wet filament is nothing more than a myth, but from my own experience in testing some of the best 3D printers on the market – I can confirm that working with damp filament is a very real issue that can result in poor print quality.

Thankfully, there are several solutions available to tackle damp filament, and I've been beta testing SUNLU's latest AMS Heater, which is an upgrade specifically designed for those who own Bambu Lab 3D printers with AMS (automated material system) units, like the X1 and P1 series. The heater is available to preorder now, with orders expected to ship out in October and November.

Recently, Bambu Lab has launched its AMS 2 Pro unit with built-in filament drying functions; however, this device is pretty costly (around £300), which is where SUNLU's upgrade comes in handy. For under £100, the SULU AMS Heater is essentially a lid that attaches to the original Bambu lab AMS (replacing the standard lid), and offers powerful filament drying with temperatures of up to 70 degrees Celsius.

I'll be running through my first impressions and experiences of using this upgrade with my Bambu Lab X1 Carbon 3D printer, but for those who don't own a Bambu Lab 3D printer yet still want to combat damp filament, see my guide to Should you buy a filament dryer? For more information.

First impressions

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• Nice design
• Very easy to install
• Simple touchscreen controls

The sample of the AMS Heater upgrade that I received from SUNLU appears to be a prototype, and the final product should look a little different to the one you see below. I think this heater looks pretty sleek, all things considered, although I do wish it were less rectangular and had a slight curve to it like the original lid for my Bambu Lab X1C has, and with more transparency to help it blend together better.

The unit arrived with a sort of dark sticky wrap applied around the entire casing, which would have been fine, had it been stuck on with a bit more care - there are several air bubbles around the casing as a result, which if I'm honest, is driving me a little loopy. I might need to completely strip off this wrap after I finish reviewing the heater to straighten these out, but like I said, this is just a prototype, and the finished unit should be more robust and opaque, I believe.

Assembling the AMS Upgrade couldn't have been easier, and involves a simple 4-screw process using a supplied Allen key and plastic adapters. Basically, I just had to flip my Bambu Lab AMS upside down, take out four small screws, remove the lid, attach the new heater upgrade in place of the original lid, and put the four screws back in place. Voila.

SUNLU sent me a US plug for the heater, but thankfully, I had a spare UK figure 8 cable to swap it out with. After plugging in the unit, there's a red on/off switch on the back to activate the heater, or you can use the button on the far right of the display screen to wake it up when switched on.

Performance

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• Max temps up to 70C
• Intuitive interface
• Affordable upgrade for Bambu owners

If you're already familiar with filament dryers, then there's not an awful lot of difference between the functionality of standalone machines compared with this AMS Heater upgrade. It works by blasting hot air into the AMS chamber via a double blower setup, able to reach all four spools with ease. It makes a bit of a low buzzing sound when drying, but I'm actually really impressed with how quiet this dryer is.

I've found after just a few days of use that this heater works exceptionally well at drying out filament, and can reach an impressive maximum temperature of 70 degrees Celsius, and can run for a drying time of up to 99 hours, should you choose. The only downside, if I'm nitpicking, is that you can't control each filament slot individually, so all four rolls will be dried at once, regardless of how many rolls you were hoping to dry out. Though I can't imagine this being a problem for many.

It uses a similar touchscreen control system that you'll find on other SUNLU filament dryers (such as the S2 and S4 models) for filtering through material temperature presets (PV) and adjusting the SV (set volume) temperature up to 70. It offers humidity control, shutting itself off once it falls below 20% (a great power-saving feature) and also has real-time temperature monitoring and will automatically activate if it detects humidity above 50% (how cool is that?).

There's also an air vent at the top of the heater, which can be opened or closed. I thought this was a great touch, allowing users to store filament inside the chamber even while drying is not active. The seal around the edge of the lid fits snugly with the original Bambu Lab AMS chamber for a secure seal, keeping out any outside moisture.

I think the SUNLU AMS Heater upgrade is an excellent option for Bambu customers who want to upgrade their existing AMS unit for a lower cost, but what's the damage? Right now, it retails for an early bird price of $109.99 / £99.99, though it will usually cost around $119.99 / £109.99 when it officially rolls out.

I think this price is a steal if I'm honest, considering that most standalone 3D filament dryers (excluding Creality's SpacePi X4) can only dry one or two spools of filament at a time for a similar price. This doesn't necessarily align with Bambu Lab's AMS, which is primarily needed for multicolour 3D printing. Being able to print and dry at the same time is a luxury that not all 3D printers offer, but this SUNLU upgrade makes it a possibility for a lot less than opting for Bambu Lab's AMS 2 Pro unit.