Hydra PRO - Advanced Bambu Lab AMS

Buy Hydra PRO

I've teamed up with a few different stores around the world offering the printed parts and everything you need for the build so you won't need anything outside of the kit:

• VOXELPLA (United States)

Hydra PRO has a strict non-commercial license, it can only be sold with licensing through Hume Beam Engineering Solutions.

Update April 18, 2024

I've updated the list of Hydra PRO supporters, sorry it took a while to assign the serial numbers. If I've missed someone please send me a PM. I've been incredibly busy designing and refining a very exciting new design coming soon. More details will be shared soon. 

Thanks for your support!

Update February 19, 2024

Hydra PRO version 1.01 is released. I have listened to your feedback and it has a number of improvements, mainly to printability but some other improvements as well. It now has optional but recommended “built-in” spine support for the main middle piece as well as support blocks for the left and right pieces between the two main walls, this will ensure a warp free print for even ABS and ASA prints.

Changes from 1.00:

• Built in (optional) supports for the left, middle and right main pieces. The supports are recommended but adds to the print time and uses some more material, although they're low infill and 1 wall only in the Print Profiles. In total, a full Hydra PRO set is now around 700 g give or take. If you manually skip the supports by removing these support blocks it will be less but I would highly recommend you keep them enabled.
• New rear rollers, self-centering style similar to the Improved Rear Rollers for Hydra AMS. An optional rear roller without a guide is available as well for those not using RFID spools.
• Left and right pieces have thicker and also an extra support wall below the curved surface. 
• Hex cutouts were removed from all areas except where they are required, which is around the RFID boards. The hex cutouts were also made smaller in size for printability but increased in numbers.
• RFID slots widened clearance by 0.10 mm.
• Rear fastening slots increased range so the whole Hydra PRO inlay can adjusted front and back if required.
• Optional alignment tool optimized.
• An extra slot for the rear rollers for even smaller spools.
• Increased fillets and chambers for printability.
• Closed the gaps near the top near the front feeder mount for printability as well as redesigned feeder mount, strengthened and feeder cable cutout. 

Version 1.01 is backwards compatible with the printed parts from 1.00 should you need to update just some parts.

Update January 23, 2024

Hydra PRO is now available to order from VOXELPLA (United States).

Update January 20, 2024

I've re-organized the files a bit and the front roller sleeve adapters are now 0.5 mm wider and the 4.90 mm one is default instead of 4.85 mm. Also, I've added some "extra wide" front roller sleeve adapters for those wanting to widen the front track even more (if you use very slim spools). It's 0.5 mm wider than the normal sleeve adapters.

Update January 8, 2024

I've added a section of Troubleshooting a bit down on the page with common issues and solutions. Most issues are quite easy to fix.

Update December 23, 2023

Updated the Print Profiles and added one for PC/PC Blend (Polycarbonate). Also, I made a “Quick Guide” for modifying the front rollers, it's basically the only difficult part of getting Hydra PRO up and running:

Update December 22, 2023

For those with access to extra large printers (+300 mm bed), a single piece version of Hydra PRO has been uploaded:

Hydra PRO - Advanced Bambu Lab AMS (Single Piece - For Large Printers)

Update December 21, 2023

Thanks for the feedback so far! There have been a few people having troubles printing the main parts, in particular the middle part failing at about 80%. 

The reason for this is likely that there is (was) less material there and when you print at high speed there is not enough time for it to cool until the next layer is laid down, in particular when printing filaments not using full parts cooling. Therefore I have added some more material near the top and uploaded the files again, you don't have to reprint if you did already and the updated parts are 100% compatible with the older ones. I will also update the print profiles. It's also very important that bed adhesion is perfect, the parts are tall and thin.

The other question that has popped is a little confusion regarding the rear rollers. The bearings are pressed fully into the printed rollers then you slide in an M3 socket head on each side, you don't actually place the bearing in the slots (where they would not fit). 

Please see below:

Happy printing!

Update December 20, 2023

Hydra PRO 1.00 is released. Thank you for your patience and happy holidays! The assembly guide has been updated as well.

About 

Download the files then follow the assembly guide a bit down on this page. 

Optional but recommended files to print:

• Hydra AMS - Silica Dry Boxes / Serial Number Tags
• PTFE Load Buttons to both save the funnels and improve ergonomics.
• Adjustable Spool Holder for Silica Gel / Spool Weight - Compatible with both Hydra AMS, Hydra PRO and Bambu Lab AMS. 

If you download the individual 3MF files in the files section, they are design files only and can be easily printed on any printer / slicer. If you get a warning that they do not come from Bambu Lab just ignore the warning, they were exported directly from my design software.

Special thanks to my friends Kevin Pereira and GuyH for feedback and bouncing heads about this and my designs in general.

Leave feedback in the comments. Thanks!

The main changes / improvements over the standard AMS and Hydra AMS are:

• Requires modification of the front rollers and the use of custom rear rollers (included).
• Perfect track width of both rear and front rollers, no space for spools to jam!
• Increased spool widths, up to 79 mm, meaning almost all 1 Kg spools will fit.
• Increased spool diameters, up to 205 mm diameter spools fit with the lid closed.
• Adjustable spool rollers in 9 positions for 120 mm to 205 mm diameter spools.
• AMS feeder angled five degrees backwards (Same as Hydra AMS) to allow printing of full spools.
• PTFE Load Buttons to both save the funnels and improve ergonomics (optional, it's a separate download)

Support

All my designs and mods on Printables are free to use and remix. They have a non-commercial license. If you enjoy this or any of my other designs you can send me a small donation using the link below. Thanks :)

https://www.paypal.me/humebeamengineering

If you prefer Crypto/BTC you can send me a message.

If you send a donation be sure to mention Hydra PRO in the comments box and you will be added to the list below.

Official Supporters

If you have donated $5 or more you will be added to this list as an official thank you from me and you will also be assigned a serial number, the list will be updated as often as possible.

Already an official Hydra AMS Supporter and “upgrading” to Hydra PRO? Just let me know your name and serial number and I will assign you one for Hydra PRO as well for free and you will be added to the list.

You can request a custom serial number if you send a $20 donation or more but please be aware it may take a couple of days before your custom silica box is uploaded as I need to make these manually. 

If you've bought Hydra from one of the authorized resellers you can also request a serial number by submitting a proof of purchase.

Cheers!

• Hume Beam #0001, Hume Beam #9999, Marc Schauber #0095, Lex Hanna #0229, Markus Rychlik #0574, Drexel Montgomery #0614, Katherine Jones #0666, Sean Stoube #0926, Binary Blaze #1010, Jordan Newman #1111, Dominik Popp #1312, Sven Hausherr #1313, Aaron Gray #1337, John Hicks #1349, Paul Haanen #1369, FireBall #1725, Benjamin Achtenberg #2345, Bernhard Birkfellner #3101, David Rouleau #6969, Kazu #9001
• Michael Müller #0002, Jerome Grimminck #0003, kirikugo #0004, Markus Lohmann #0005, Stefan Zuegg #0006, Thomas Kotowski #0007, Dwizzle Roasting #0008, James Majors #0009
• James Hunt #0010, Kenneth Ostromek #0011, Jakub Kanhäuser #0012, Bearded Bucket #0013, Ants-3D #0014, Ronny Stiffel #0015, John Cooley #0016, Christian Noack #0017, Christian Menz #0018, David Bernabeu #0019
• Christopher Mallery #0020, Ralf Ehleiter #0021, Andrew Wickham #0022, Bruce Milyko #0023, Peter Biegel #0024, Zach Hansen #0025, @3dprintkings #0026, samwiseg0 #0027, Susan Alvarez #0028, Thomas Jameson #0029
• Stephen McComas #0030, Joseph Palicke #0031, Volker Alkemper #0032, Joseph Wittig #0033, Daniel Pomierski #0034, Hagen Weigel #0035, Robert Schwinn #0036, Boris Ott #0037, Eliot Heflin #0038, Eliot Heflin #0039
• Dannel Albert #0040, Bruce Pickett #0042, Andreas Triemer #0043, Michael Stott #0044, Jeremy Birdwell #0045, Jeremy Birdwell #0046, Jeremy Birdwell #0047, Jeremy Birdwell #0048, Markus Wachovius #0049
• Frederick Masanek #0050, Kenneth Shock #0051, Talasarian #0052, Elmis Abel Beauchamp #0053, Todd Candee #0054, Mark Snow #0055, Doug Acker #0056, Craig Barber #0057, Joseph VonDohlen Jr #0058, CraigWBar #0059
• D.Tillfabworks #0060, Torsten Steckenreiter #0061

Get a Silica Dry Box with your serial number here:

Hydra AMS - Silica Dry Boxes / Serial Number Tags

Thanks again!

If you want to remain anonymous, leave a note with your donation. If I've missed your donation let me know.

Hydra PRO? What's the story?

Hydra PRO is the big brother of Hydra AMS, although it's a completely new design. It has been in development for more than 8 months and in its current form, in final testing for about a month. It's intended for experienced users wanting to take it to the next level or for those who use even wider spools than normal Hydra AMS can support, for example Printed Solid Jessie, 3DJake ecoPLA and some Amazon Basic and FormFutura ones, to name a few popular ones. 

At first, I never planned on releasing it at all as it involved some basic hardware modification and I just used it personally for one of my AMS units for extra wide spools. But after I while I picked up the project again as I kept getting requests for support for even wider spools but had to tell people it's impossible with the limited traction width of the stock front rollers so these would have to be modified.

As Hydra PRO is a bit more advanced and I have spent countless of hours testing, refining as well many, many spools in prototype material I thought maybe I could sell it for a small fee and get something in return. 

As the name suggests, Hydra PRO was meant to be a “paid” model but I changed my mind and I still haven't released any paid / subscription / patreon designs to date and probably never will so Hydra PRO is also free.

If you do enjoy it, a donation is highly encouraging though! (see above). 

About - Continued

Hydra PRO is an advanced drop-in main body replacement for the Bambu Lab AMS, a multi filament companion to the Bambu Lab X1 and P1 printers. The Bambu Lab AMS internals are used.

The name Hydra is inspired by the mythological creature which grew two new heads as one was cut off, similar to how the AMS's tend to duplicate if you don't keep a firm grip of your wallet. I have other designs with names from Greek mythology (Icarus / Hercules) so I thought it was fitting.

Hydra PRO prints completely without supports and no extra parts are required for assembly, it uses dovetail joints for assembly and utilizes the standard AMS outer casing as well as maintains RFID compatibility. 4 x 20 mm cap head M3 bolts is recommended to ensure the three parts interlock and won't slide apart and some extra cap head M3 bolts (total of 14) are required for the middle bar and the rear rollers. 

I also recommend four new front rollers (search Bambu Lab store for “AMS Active Support Shaft Assembly”) for modifying. You could modify the ones that came with your AMS but once they are modified the rubber sleeves expand a little and would be difficult to bring back to stock should you wish to and warranty for those parts would be lost.

Hydra PRO probably should not be the first mod you print. It's not difficult but a bit more advanced than normal Hydra AMS to build.

BOM - Bill of Materials

You can print Hydra PRO in just about any filament you like. However, if you plan on keeping the AMS directly on top of the printer it's best to print it in PETG as the heat from the printer can soften the printed Hydra parts if they are printed in PLA for example. 

Around 650-750 g of filament is required at the recommended print settings. 

I've printed most of the test builds in Prusament ASA, PLA and eSUN PLA+ and ABS+, both brands and filament types work great. PETG is also a great option.

Filament

• eSUN PLA+
• eSUN PETG
• Prusament Galaxy Black

Fasteners

You need some M3 hex bolts (socket head), I recommend 20 mm but just about anything between 15 and 25 mm should work. If you don't have any at home it's best to grab the kit below, it will have everything you need for this build and many more. 

In total you need 14 x M3 hex bolts (socket head). 20 mm length everywhere will work except for the middle support bar where you need a shorter one (around 12-16 mm is optimal here). 

So to summarize, I would recommend going with 12 x 20 mm ones and 2 x 12 mm M3 socket heads:

• 1100 pcs M3 Hex Socket Head Cap Kit

You need 8 x 693-ZZ bearings for the custom Hydra PRO rear rollers. The standard rollers are not compatible. You could use the bearings that came with your AMS (for the rear rollers, pull them off) but a set of 10 bearings is cheap and you don't need to pull them off, possibly damaging them.

• 693-ZZ bearings

Optional

I highly recommend these Nano Coated Helical Extruder Gears from FYSETC, I use them for all my Bambu printers, they're inexpensive and offer a number of improvements of the stock gears:

• Extruder Gear for Bambu X1/P1P/P1S CNC Nano Coating
• Extruder Gear for Bambu X1/P1P/P1S CNC Nano Coating (Alternative Source)

I've also heard great things of the new BigTreeTech Panda Extruder but I've not tried it personally yet, you can get it including the Revo hotend as well:

• BigTreeTech Panda Extruder

Although not required these PEO/PEI/PEY bed sheets are great, I have most options myself, it gives a quite cool look on the first layer. There are a few shops offering different plates:

• Build Plate PEO/PEI/PEY Spring Steel Sheet (Super 3D)
• Build Plate PEO/PEI/PEY Spring Steel Sheet (IdeaFormer)

The Hex Tools are superb for any 3D printer, I've had mine for years. They are particulary useful for the Hydra assembly.

• Hex Tools (1.5 mm - 3.0 mm) 

Hydra PRO does not void your AMS warranty, however, modifying the front rollers (AMS Active Support Shaft Assembly) will likely void the warranty for those so I recommend getting four new rollers, they're not expensive:

• AMS Active Support Shaft Assembly

You could of course modify your existing ones if you prefer but keep in mind what I wrote above.

Before Printing Hydra PRO

Make sure you dial in flow correctly before you start, we've seen a few Hydra prints that were overextruded so avoid that. The problem then is you can't join the dovetail joints and assembly properly and the rollers can bind. Printed correctly, everything works just as stock but support for larger spools (among other advantages).

The Bambu Lab printers usually do a pretty good with automatic flow calibration but it's best to confirm flow anyway, sometimes it is inaccurate.

Once you have done that, print the Hydra AMS roller and dovetail test joints, more info here:

• Hydra AMS  - Test Pieces

(The are intented for normal Hydra AMS but will work just as well for Hydra PRO).

Print Settings

There are individual 3mf files posted or you can download one of the full sets:

• hydra-pro-1.01-full-set-abs.3mf
• hydra-pro-1.01-full-set-asa.3mf
• hydra-pro-1.01-full-set-petg.3mf
• hydra-pro-1.01-full-set-pla.3mf
• hydra-pro-1.01-full-set-pc.3mf

Variable settings depending on object:

• Main pieces (left, middle, right): Classic wall generator, 3 walls, 15% gyroid infill. 10 mm outer brim as the parts are tall and thin. 
• Supports: 1 wall, 10% gyroid infill, 10 mm outer brim.
• Middle bar, front roller tool and optional alignment tool: Classic wall generator, 3 walls, 15% gyroid infill, 10 mm brim.
• Feeder Sleeve adapters: Arachne wall generator, 10 mm brim.
• Rear Rollers with guides: 6 walls (100% infill), classic wall generator, 10 mm brim.

All parts: Aligned seam position, slowdown for overhangs.

NOTICE! Do not click “arrange” as the supports are placed as close as possible to the left, middle and right parts in order for them to be effective. You will see a warning message about possible collisions but this should be ignored.

These can be loaded in Bambu Studio or you can print them directly from Bambu Handy.

For individual print settings, I recommend using a minimum of 3 walls, top and bottom and an infill of 15% or higher for all parts. Print all parts in the direction I have set them. Supports apart from the built in ones are not needed, it was designed so they're not required. Printing is pretty straight forward but I have broken it down below:

Main parts:

• hydra-pro-left-1.01.3mf
• hydra-pro-middle-1.01.3mf
• hydra-pro-right-1.01.3mf

I recommend using a wide brim for improved bed adhesion and Nano Polymer if you have some. The parts are tall and quite narrow. 

Sleeve adapter:

• feeder-sleeve-adapter-print-8pcs-4.90mm-1.01.3mf

For this part, please use “Arachne Wall Generator” in the slicer else it will not work and you get gaps in the sleeve adapter!

If you're having issues getting them installed and they are too tight, make sure all residual glue is removed. If they sit a bit too loose, use the 4.85 mm version instead. Also, there is an optional version that is 0.5 mm wider.

Middle bar:

• middle-bar-threaded-1.01.3mf

This part prints on its side. There is text embossed on the side.

Rear rollers:

• rear-roller-with-guides-print-4pcs-1.01.3mf

You need four of these, use 4 walls so it's solid.

If you prefer, you can use the version without spool guides, it's marked as an optional print. 

Front roller tool:

• front-roller-tool-1.01.3mf

Just print it.

Use dry filament.

Removing Supports

Removing the supports for the left and right pieces is easy, they will easily break off. For the middle piece you must be careful. The front of that support piece is wrapped around the front to lock it in place so you need to bend it out a little at the edge and pull straight back at the same time. Go slow and it will release.

Warranty

Hydra PRO does not void your warranty but be careful, especially with the AMS main board, use an antistatic wrist band. Although the mod is completely reversible and you can't tell the parts have been installed in Hydra PRO (apart from the front rollers, see below), I take no responsibility and you're on your own. Be careful and take it slow, read this page twice before you start.

However, modifying the front rollers (AMS Active Support Shaft Assembly) will likely void the warranty for those so I recommend getting four new rollers, they're not expensive:

• AMS Active Support Shaft Assembly

Version History

1.01:

• Built in (optional) supports for the left, middle and right main pieces. The supports are recommended but adds to the print time and uses some more material, although they're low infill and 1 wall only in the Print Profiles. In total, a full Hydra PRO set is now around 700 g give or take. If you manually skip the supports by removing these support blocks it will be less but I would highly recommend you keep them enabled.
• New rear rollers, self-centering style similar to the Improved Rear Rollers for Hydra AMS. An optional rear roller without a guide is available as well for those not using RFID spools.
• Left and right pieces have thicker and also an extra support wall below the curved surface. 
• Hex cutouts were removed from all areas except where they are required which is around the RFID boards. The hex cutout were also made smaller in size for printability but increased in numbers.
• RFID slots widened clearance by 0.10 mm.
• Rear fastening slots increased range so the whole Hydra PRO inlay can adjusted front and back if required.
• Optional alignment tool optimized.
• A extra slot for the rear rollers for even smaller spools.
• Increased fillets and chambers for printability.
• Closed the gaps near the top near the front feeder mount for printability as well as redesigned feeder mount, strengthened and feeder cable cutout. 

1.00 - First Release

• First release, no changes.

Troubleshooting - Common User Issues

“The lid won't close.”

• You CANNOT use any third part PTFE load buttons or AMS savers, they are unlikely to fit as they are too thick or bulky. Use these.
• Use the Dry Boxes to ensure the front is fully pushed down. 

“The filament touches the lid.”

• Align the Hydra parts a little more towards the rear, unscrew the two rear screws a little and push it back and tighten again, there is a slot so adjustments can be made.

“The front roller sleeves are too thin and fragile.”

• Use “Arachne Wall Generator” in the slicer, it's a MUST.

“One feeder does not engage / disengage the front roller.”

• This is almost always due to a misalignment of the feeder. Unscrew, make sure you see the holes of the feeder and then tighten. There is tolerances built in so you can adjust it.

"I can't get the sleeve adapter onto the front rollers."

• Make sure you remove all residual glue, clean the grooves. If they still don't fit you can scale it a little or use the optional 4.90 mm version which is a little larger.

“I can't get the front rubber onto the sleeve adapters. ”

• Use a mix of soap and water and drench the rubber. It will be much easier to slide on.

“The RFID doesn't work anymore.”

• Flip the rear roller over so the spool guides on the roller face the RFID card. Then put the Bambu spool in the slot closest to the RFID card. 

“There is too much friction on the rear rollers.”

• Use a shorter M3 socket head, 8 mm is enough.
• Make sure the bearing is fully pressed into the slot. If it is and the friction is still too high, reprint the rear roller but scale it to 98% on Z only.

Assembly Instructions

If you've used the normal Hydra AMS before you should be familiar, it's very similar.

Remove the Bambu Lab AMS internals from the standard AMS, follow this guide, it's not difficult:

https://wiki.bambulab.com/en/x1/maintenance/replace-the-ams-main-frame

Be sure to mark all cables and connectors before you remove them. I recommend marking each connector on the board and corresponding cable with a thin permanent marker pen as pictured below:

Precaution: Always wear an antistatic wrist band when working with electronics. 

The RFID boards are secured with hot glue so pull that off before removing them, the same goes for the ferrite core on the cables between the AMS main board and the small board in the rear of the AMS. A user suggested some IPA to resolve the glue but I have not tested this myself.

Once that is done, you should have all the parts as pictured below. If you are unsure on how to remove the parts, just follow the assembly instructions in reverse. 

Here are all the parts just before assembly: AMS box, all printed parts, all screws, rear rollers with bearings pressed in, modified front rollers, AMS main board, power and signal cable for AMS, RFID (2) boards, AMS rear motor (filaments hub), front feeders (4), tools and optional silica boxes.

You need the following hex tools. The 1.5 and 2.0 mm are needed for the AMS parts and the 2.5 mm is needed for joining the three printed parts with the 20 mm cap head screws. 

You can find these tools on AliExpress and I like to use them for my 3D printers but of course any hex tools will do.

Slide the printed parts together and secure them with four M3 cap head (socket head) screws. I've used 20 mm ones myself.

Flip it over and install the motor. It uses the same screws that were used with the stock AMS. 

Here you use the 2.0 mm hex tool to install the four screws in each corner of the motor assembly (Filaments Hub). Press the flat PTFE release button (very bottom of this picture) and ensure it engages / disengages.

For the bottom two screws (closest to the rear of the AMS), if you overtighten them they will peek out, it's no worry though as they will not obstruct the rear rollers as Hydra PRO use quite slim custom rollers.

However, the screws are tightened on a silicone pillar and does not require full tension.

Next, install the middle support bar. Guide the cables from the motor below the middle slot. Use two 14 mm M3 hex bolts (socket head), included in the kit I linked in the BOM to attach it, one from each side. 

The main function of the bar is to ensure the PTFE tubes are guided straight into the rear motor and also to stabilize and ensure the three main Hydra PRO parts are aligned and seated properly. The support bar is optional but recommended. 

Now we install the AMS main board. There are two tabs on each side it goes under and it is fastened with two small screws in the middle (use 1.5 mm hex tool).

Be careful with the capacitors on the board, they are located on the other side of the board in the pic below, these are guided through the holes in the printed part (see the picture just above).

Connect the cables from the motor to the main board. Please take notice of where they are connected, it's possible to damage the board by connecting these wrong! See the diagram below if you're unsure or haven't marked everything properly.

Picture Source: Bambu Lab Wiki

Install the RFID boards. The connector should face to the right, see the picture below. They are friction fit. Be careful when you slide them in, find the correct angle and they will slide all the way in. Then connect to the main board.

Once done you should see the RFID boards cover most hex cutouts fully and Hydra should sit flat on the floor.

Now do the front feeders next. If you've not sorted and marked your feeders (step one), the outside feeders use a little longer PTFE, otherwise they are identical.

Insert the PTFE tube in the middle and the connector and cable in the right slot then push it all the way down to align with the screw holes. Secure the four small screws with the 1.5 mm hex tool.

Align the screw holes of the feeder before tightening so don't just push down the feeder and hope for the best, there is an intentional tolerance built in so small tilt adjustments can be made if the printed parts has small defects for example.

Tighten fully but do not overtighten. Connect it to the main board.

Guide the PTFE tube through the cutouts in the middle bar for a perfect alignment into the motor.

Do the same for the other three feeders and also connect the power and signal cable to the AMS Power Board (rear of the AMS casing). Push the ferrite core into the slot in the middle to hold it in place and connect the two cables to the board.

The cables for the AMS Power Board should be free and not secured below the middle support bar with the other cables else they will be more difficult to install when installing Hydra PRO in the AMS casing.

Now we need to modify the front rollers. Start by sticking in a thin pin between the rubber sleeve and the plastic casing then rotate and it will eventually pull straight out and off, it's glued on. I used my 1.27 mm hex tool to remove it and clean the grooves.

Remove as much glue as you can by carefully scraping the grooves. 

Nice and clean. 

Next, slide the rubber sleeves onto the sleeve adapters. There is a raised edge of the sleeve adapter, this edge is facing the center of the front roller. As for the rubber sleeve, the side with a thicker edge is facing outwards.

Now before you press on the sleeve adapters with the rubber sleeves already installed, put the roller in the front roller tool to ensure the plastic groove housing does not de-attach from the steel pin on which it is pressed *. The tool sits in between so that the plastic groove housing cannot move.

You may need to use some glue between the plastic groove casing and sleeve adapter. I used some (non-permanent) silicone clue but super glue should work as well but you may not get them off if you need to. :)

* If it does come off or if you notice one of your front rollers are already loose you can super glue it back in place by dripping some super glue between the steel shaft and plastic groove casing and letting it set.

If you're having trouble getting the sleeve adapter installed, try cleaning the grooves another round and if you still can't, there is a slightly enlarged sleeve adapter in named optional-hydra-pro-feeder-sleeve-adapter-print-8pcs-4.90mm-1.00.3mf you can print instead. 

It will take some force getting the sleeve on, it's normal.

One front roller modified.

Here you can see the sleeve adapter with the rubber sleeve outside. There is a gap between the sleeve adapter and the bearing. The weight of a full 1 Kg spool does not obstruct the friction of the bearing as the sleeve is just at the very edge so the sleeve and bearing does not touch even under load.

Here is a short “Quick Guide” showing the procedure above:

Time to install the modified front rollers. What I like to do is get one side of the roller then twist it in place as pictured. Give it a few spins and see that it rolls freely, if not you can adjust the front feeders a little but they are normally good to go.

Next, time to do the rear rollers. These are custom and the stock AMS rollers will not fit. Instead, the bearings are pressed into the printed roller with an M3 socket head as the stationary shaft. The length of the socket head you use doesn't really matter, 20 mm is fine.

For keeping the roll resistance at a minimum, the M3 socket heads slip out quite easily as they are only resting on the narrow and slippery bearing and not the printed roller at all. Don't worry about that though, once installed in Hydra PRO they will not slip off due to the slotted rear roller system.

To install, simply press down the bearing and drop in the socket head.

Time to install Hydra in the Bambu Lab AMS enclosure. Stand it on its side and connect the two cables.

You can then fold it into the AMS box.

Fasten it with the two main frame screws. 2.0 mm hex tool is used. 

If you want to you can use the optional tool to align the AMS inside the box perfectly, it's usually not really needed though (optional-alignment-tool-1.00.3mf) but for some very large spools (204-205 mm diameter), perfect alignment is required to avoid rubbing against the lid.

Install the rear rollers. Insert a M3 socket head on each side and place it in the next to rearmost slot (default position, read more further down).

Make sure they spin freely. If they don't, try pressing in the bearings fully again. If you're still having issues, print another set of four but scaled a little lower on the Z only, this should very rarely be required but if you have M3 socket heads with slightly larger socket than specs this would be possible.

Almost done! Next, install the optional Hydra AMS PTFE buttons and Silica Boxes. I use a longer piece of PTFE guide to help near empty spools rotating, the downside is it's more difficult swapping spools. You can use shorter if you like or no button at all. 

Install the PTFE into the button before sliding it on. Press the feeder forward then install the button. 

The latest version of the button does not come off if you knock it over.

With the buttons installed, the lid closes but there is very little margin, this is normal.

I recommend using the Hydra AMS buttons, there are other designs but most might not fit under the lid when using Hydra.

The Silica Boxes are useful to keep the front of the AMS locked down as well as keeping the humidity low.

All done! With the lid closed, Hydra PRO accepts pretty much all common 1 Kg spools with a width of up to 79 mm and a diameter up to 205 mm.

Take a look at the huge amount of space of the Hydra PRO slots. Here with a Prusament PLA spool installed, big spools like Printed Solid Jessie and 3DJake ecoPLA easily fit.

Prelude, Precaution and some more tips

Make sure the front feeders are fully inserted and tightened. Also make sure the bearings on the front rollers are fully inserted over the shaft. If you use cardboard spools, add some electrical tape to the lip to get better grip. You can also use the Hydra AMS - Universal Spool Adapters for cardboard spools or if you have small sample spools.

Which position for the rear rollers?

This is the default position for the rear rollers, it's the second to rearmost. It works with probably 95% of all 1 Kg spools, for spools between 195 and 201 mm.

Take notice that the rearmost position is only for very large diameter spools, if you use a smaller spool there it will rub the bottom.

Next, this is the rearmost position. It's for spools between 201 and 205 mm diameter, with other words, extra large diameter spools.

This is the third position. It's for slightly smaller than standard spools, between around 185 and 195 mm. These spools are pretty rare. Using these spools at the default or rearmost position would cause them to rub the bottom.

The rest of the positions are for a variety of smaller spools.

You can of course position each roller independently.

Rear rollers in the default position.

Hydra PRO test unit number two, here in Army Green with optional rear rollers without spool guides.

Renders

Some renders because why not.

Now with RFID support: