For as long as FDM/FFF 3D printers have existed, we’ve been trying to find ways to make our prints colorful. You can read all about the existing landscape of multicolor systems, but once you get a printer, there’s still a lot to consider.
While machines like the Bambu Labs printers with Automatic Material System (AMS) are pretty amazing, they waste a lot of material and time. Consider for a moment that every color change takes about a minute and spits out a “poop,” and this can happen several times per layer. Because of these issues, it may still be to your benefit to approach multicolor more like we used to in the old days, by basically ripping our models apart and printing the parts separately.
[The featured image presents four days of multicolor 3D printing, which failed at the very end, on the left. One day of single-color printing with multiple machines on the right, including some small failures. (The Mystery Machine by Dr. Operator.)]
Let’s look at one example to break down the pros and cons of using the Bambu AMS versus breaking apart your model. I printed this model in one go on a multicolor Bambu A1 Mini with v2 of the AMS. I also printed it using various single color printers to achieve the pieced-together approach.
AMS Method
Pros:
- Just hit print and walk away.
- Control where you want certain colors — you can determine them at the time of slicing.
- Tiny pieces can be easier, as you’re not printing a tiny thing on your bed (like the fog lights).
Cons:
- It’s slow. This print took almost 4 days. It makes experimenting and tweaking settings very frustrating and wasteful — as you’ll note, my support settings need adjustment but I didn’t know that until after 4 days of 3D color printing.
- Material waste. The poops and purge tower for this model were considerable.
- Lack of flexibility for orientation. Some parts could be crisper if printed separately at their own optimal orientations.
Old Method
Pros:
- It’s fast. Cumulatively these parts took roughly a day of print time. And I used four printers so I got it all done in only a few hours (that’s another pro, if you have multiple 3D printers).
- Can choose optimal orientation for each item.
Cons:
- Gluing the parts together can result in less than polished presentation.
- Tiny parts — let’s face it, even the nicest FDM printer doesn’t really like printing itty bitty objects. For example, on this model the fog lights are maybe 3mm by 2mm.
There is no clear winner here; both ways have their strong points. However, in many cases you simply won’t have the option of breaking your model apart unless you have the skills to do so. Some models are already broken apart, like this one, but as we move into the future of machines that can use multicolor systems like the AMS, we’ll see that less frequently.
I think it’s important to point out that a multi toolhead system like the Prusa XL is really the best solution to this problem, resulting in less waste, more material options, and faster print time. However, those systems are still very expensive and quite rare.
This article first appeared in Make: Volume 88. All photos by Caleb Kraft
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