So, I'm a cheapskate. If I smell a bargain I will grab it, and when I saw this BMCU 370C AMS Lite kit on Ali Express, I just had to get it. Apart from anything else, it would be an interesting project to tackle.
What you see in the cover image, is the second iteration, because I was too eager and couldn't wait the time it took for the kit, and the link to the STL files to arrive. Below is the first iteration, which is a completely different design, same-ish on the outside but nothing fit on the inside.
I was a bit disappointed as I really liked the colour scheme, your disgust may vary, but I ran out of the flouro green filament. When I asked my son his opinion on a replacement colour for the green, he suggested the Sky Blue. Now, here's where the cheapskate part comes in again, the blue filament is JAYO HS Matte PETG, also from Ali Express. The marble is CC3D Marble PETG, also a cheap brand purchased on Amazon. At first I was a bit dubious about the JAYO filament, but I must say it has become a fave among the PETG's I have at hand. I think my son's colour choice was a good one.
But, I digress, back to the AMS kit. A few days before the kit arrived in the mail, BLV sent me a link to the STL's, so I immediately headed over to the Google Drive link they sent and got those sweet STL files, oh and the instructions as well. After investigating the models, this is where I realised that my first load of prints were not right, so I loaded them in to the slicer and sent them on their merry way to the printer. Again eagerness overtook me, I wasn't disappointed, the design and fit of all the parts was impeccable, they did a really good job designing this thing.
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The whole thing is made up of 4 feeder modules, a base (where the mainboard is located) and a mount for the top beam (Bambu A1) or the post (Bambu A1 Mini).
The first feeder module took me about an hour and a half to put together, mainly because I kept questioning the choice of the designer about where parts should and shouldn't go, and pulling it apart numerous times because I forgot a bit. ‘Follow the instructions Steve’. After that each one took about half an hour. The final assembly, mounting the mainboard and modules to the base, was pretty quick, but I also found this the most difficult part of the build. The wiring from the main board to each modules daughterboard had to snake through some rather tight slots and the wires were prone to getting pinched between where the module and the base met. Eventually it all came together.
I took the unit out to the printer, powered down the printer, and plugged the cable into it and the unit. Turned the printer back on and… nothing. Great I've just bricked my printer and the AMS #facepalm1, then remembered I had turned it off at the wall #facepalm2, in Australia we can turn the power on and off at the wall. So I turned the power back on and all the lights, printer and AMS came on, Woohoo!!
Next was the testing phase, I followed all the instructions in the guide, make sure that the AMS shows up on the printer display, check. Pull the feeder out on each module, light turns red, check. Push the feeder in, light turns blue, check. I then loaded up some filament in each unit, and it went the correct way, check. Ok, turn off the printer and unplug, the AMS. So far that is as far as I've got. In the next part of this story, I will add in a few videos of the unit working, and final thoughts. If you've read this to the end, thanks for sticking with me, and I will catch you in part 2.
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