Bambu Labs AMS Active Heater Element Install
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 9 ก.ย. 2024
- UPDATE here!!
• Bambu Labs AMS Active ...
In this video, we install an active heater element to the Bambu labs AMS system. You can download the design here:
cults3d.com/en...
Materials needed (links provided to what I used):
QTY8 3inch #8 pan head screws
amzn.to/3yjXizx
High temperature filament
amzn.to/3LH7zsO
Fan/Heater
amzn.to/3SwcD73
Thermostat
amzn.to/3YjJwHU
Air filter
amzn.to/3StWjnb
Tools:
Hole Cutting Tool Kit (Need 54mm hole saw)
amzn.to/3Yqza8X
Drill Bit Set (Need the 3.5mm and 8mm bits)
amzn.to/3YpVbVs
Electrical Tape
amzn.to/46F7Tlp
Phillips screwdriver
amzn.to/3AasGBg
Hex Screwdriver (need 2mm)
amzn.to/3SD3IRs
*As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.
I believe if one warms up the air in a closed box, the humidity level will go down but the amount of water in the box is constante. That is because what is measured is the relative humidity (RH). Warmer air can contain higher levels of humidity. The reason filament drying works is because the air capacity to carry water is increased and the system works towards an equilibrium, the water in the filament moves to the warmer air. I believe that your system should have a way for the hot, more humid, air to escape, perhaps on the opposite side of the box.
edit: worst -> works
You appear to have missed a significant point. The moisture released from the filament is absorbed by the desiccant, probably silica gel. Adding a vent on the other side of the box might, cause warm moist air to escape resulting in even more electricity being used, or worse, allowing even more humid air in!
Adding sufficient desiccant to the AMS, (see my previous comment) is really all that’s required to ensure the filament is ready to use.
@@Jestey6 Thank you for taking the time to reply to my comment. I'm not entirely sure if the desiccant will effectively absorb moisture at 90°F, especially since heating silica is also how we typically recycle it. The experiment with a thermostat and desiccant, started at 74.3°F with 36% RH (about 10.42 g/m³ of water - absolute humidity) and ended at 89.9°F with 24% RH (around 11.53 g/m³ of water - absolute humidity). Based on this, the RH decreased, but the actual water content in the air increased. This unexpected result might be due to the instruments used, as those sensors aren't always well-calibrated and may perform worse at higher temperatures. Alternatively, it could be related to moisture within the desiccant itself. If you could help verify my calculations, that would be great!
@@measureonceprinttwice Please accept my apologies if I’m missing something. So back to basics:
Relative humidity is the ratio of how much water vapour is in the air, to how much water vapour the air could potentially contain at a given temperature. It varies with the temperature of the air, colder air can contain less vapour. Therefore changing the temperature of air changes the relative humidity, even when the ABSOLUTE HUMIDITY remains constant. At 100% relative humidity, the air is saturated. The silica gel will absorb the water and retain it. In order to release the water, it needs to be heated to 120 °C (248 °F)
As an aside, once saturated with water, the silica gel may be regenerated by heating it to 120 °C (248 °F) for 1 to 2 hours, or 15 minutes at low power in the microwave.
Therefore, if water is liberated from the filament, into the AMS, it will then be absorbed by the silica gel. The water retained in the silica gel, will not be released until the silica gel is heated to 120C/248 °F.
This is evident in my ‘sealed’ AMS, where the relative humidity remains at 10% If a reel of filament, which contains some moisture is introduced, the RH temporarily increases and then decreases again, due to the silica gel absorbing the moisture.
There is no need to heat the chamber, and there is even less need proved a vent, which might allow more humid air to be drawn into the AMS.
All that needs doing is to monitor the RH, and replace the silica gel with ‘regenerated’ silica gel, and then dry the removed silica gel.
this is actually correct, a proper climate control system also needs a cold surface that's below dewpoint in order to collect the accumulated moisture, the heater and the cooler has to balance itself in order to reach the desired humidity and temperature.
@@prinzrainerbuyo3234 Surely a “proper control system” is one that reduces relative humidity. Reducing RH can be achieved a number of ways, a cold surface could be employed to reduce the it. Alternately, Silica Gel, which absorbs moisture can be used to lower RH.
Excellent, thanks for sharing this excellent design. I was thinking if you running Home Assistant you could add a Automation to this to switch the heater on and off when the Humidity goes high. Using a Sonoff TH16 temp and Humidity sensor which will switch off the power. Fantastic project and well designed , thanks
@@vaughanza Wow, great suggestion, had not looked at a smart temperature and humidity sensor combo. I think it would work really well.
Thanks for the links to all the materials and tools. Very nice!
I'm going to do this project soon since I broke my ankle, and have some idle time. Only have a couple things in my print queue. Ill post my results as well and maybe some improvements I have in mind.
While neat, the reality is the heater dropped the humidity slightly faster than straight desiccant but not fast enough to honestly matter. What this really showed is the importance of keeping your entire room humidity under control. Just having a proper dehumidifier in the room is going to make a far larger impact, especially if you are changing filament often. That said, it also depends on what you are printing with. If you are primarily PLA then it takes a long long time to get "wet" filament and your starting humidity is honestly fine. If you were in an area where 60%+ is common, then sure you need to worry about it. My room averages around 30% and I have PLA that sits for months at a time and then prints just fine. The only materials I have to actively dry are PETG and PA6 and even the PETG will usually last a month before I start to notice any problems. The PA6 is just plain better printed straight out of a drying box. Don't get me wrong, I think what you did here is really creative, I just think it isn't effective enough to start drilling holes in your expensive equipment instead of just buying a dehumidifier.
Thank you for your comment. I do agree that the room humidity most definitively plays a factor, hence it is part of the data collected. Note that I only recoded an hour, most people that care about drying filament will leave the filament drying more than that. At which point, the difference in performance for heater vs beads would be even greater. I did state in my video that to me, it does make a difference, and you are absolutely entitled to your opinion as well. I know this project is not for everyone, but the fact that I don't have to worry about drying desiccant beads, makes it worth it to me. Also, the only part affected is the AMS Bottom Cover Unit, so if you wanted to reverse the mod after drilling holes, you don't have to buy a whole new unit, just the $59.99 Bottom Cover, which is likely less than a dehumidifier.
us.store.bambulab.com/collections/spare-parts-for-ams/products/ams-bottom-cover-unit
Desiccant cannot dry filament, only prevent it from getting more moist. If you need to dry filament you must have an active heater.
I live in a room where the humidity is always around 65%-75%...and we have a large door that we usually try to keep own. A dehumidifier is really not ideal as it would be immensely expensive to run
Great idea.
But I have 5 desiccant holders in the front of the AMS and the two built in back but I also added SPOOL desiccant holders inside each spool and my 2 AMS units each has a constant RH of 12% - 14%
Also when heating the air inside the AMS you need to be able to vent the air out of the AMS while the heater is running.
Thank you for your comment. I added vent holes in the U-Duct and I'm seeing 10% humidity now without messing around with beads. Check out the update where I show just 30 minutes after I made the holes.
You should go to 122F at least and have some way to vent humidity out while heater running. A small hole on top should do the trick, but it needs to be able to be closed when the heater is off. Great project!
Great idea, Thanks for the tip!
Awesome tutorial. However, I have to say this seems like one of those projects where the Jeff Goldbloom quote from Jurassic Park comes in: you spent so much time wondering if you could that you didn't stop to ask if you should.
I could see myself making this heater for a tropical terrarium where I want to keep the same moisture level but raise the temp above room temperature.
You aren't removing any moisture with this. Having *just* a fan that recirculates the air with the desiccant inside would have far better impact AND save energy (by not running a heater / adding more heat to your living space).
If I were you, I'd remove the heater and simply have a small fan.
I've been thinking of doing this as well. However, I have one difference in approach. From what I'm look at in your info at 18:35 you are saying it took "about" an hour to drop 12% and with heater on it took "about" an hour to drop 13% with heater off. I'm not sure how you got your apples to apples numbers. But HERE is the difference I'm looking at doing that I think you may have overlooked. You have a store bought dryer and you can check it for this too. In your design, you have air circulating but isolated to the AMS. IN the drier, The air is not isolated to the dryer. Air is brought in from the outside and heated, it then leaves the drier through vents. I have a dryer and it does the exact same thing. In your design, the air AND moisture in that air, is isolated and kept in the AMS. By heating the air, you make the air capable of holding MORE moisture. So you need to heat the outside air, so it can hold more moisture than it already is, then send it into the AMS to pick up moisture from the filament and then leave the opposite side of the AMS.
Very well done. wow.
This is some very nice work, but the testing and conclusions are very flawed. If you honestly think that just heating up the air in a closed space is going to make moisture somehow disappear you're mistaken. this setup just slightly speeds up the desiccant absorbing moisture, but the system will quickly reach equilibrium and nothing much will be achieved. There's a very good reason that every single food dehydrator ever made has an inlet for fresh air and an outlet for heated moisture containing air. simply recirculating the same air around, warm or room temp, does nothing.
I must say, I was very impressed with your video, and the quality of the build.
However, analysing your results, caused me to question the benefit obtained, which appears to be limited to reducing the time taken to lower the relative humidity, in the empty AMS, to an acceptable level. Lowering the relative humidity in an AMS, loaded with reels of filament will obviously take considerable longer.
Agreed, with the heater turned on, the moisture in the filament will probably evaporate faster, and the desiccant will absorb the moisture faster, but you have not demonstrated how effective your set up is in a real world situation.
I have an AMS, with 7 desiccant containers, 5 slot into the front of the case, and 2 slot into the existing slots..
I live in the south east of England. The temperature is currently 26 Centigrade, and the relative humidity is 60% . Inside the AMS the relative humidity is 10%, and the temperature 26C.
The cost, and time involved, fitting your heater, just to save 20 minutes appears questionable.
I keep my usual filaments in the four slots in the AMS. I keep other reels unpacked, and once opened, in sealed plastic boxes loaded with desiccant.
Doing this ensures the filament I need is always kept in an environment with a relative humidity of 10%, and ready to use.
Thank you for taking the time to watch the video and provide such detailed comment. I agree that with the setup and procedures you are currently using, my system is likely not necessary. To me, the biggest benefit of the active heater is that I don't have to worry about desiccant beads. As a bonus, you get to keep the filament at a constant temperature during prints (thank you atobit2765 for the comment). Working with 7 desiccant containers is not for me.
@@antonioalemar5406 Working with 7 desiccant containers, is a walk in the park, compared to the cost and effort expended in designing, sourcing, printing, assembling the heater and modifying the AMS. 15 minutes replacing the silica gel every couple of months is a no brainer.
Pioneer!
Good idea and good job.
Think this would work attached to the side of ps1, x1c, k1,svo8, ect
very nice ill do this on my ams unit thanks
@@etog143 Thank you! I’ve been running it non-stop at 90deg F and it’s been working great. Humidity has been 19% or less without having to worry about desiccant beads at all.
@@antonioalemar5406 If you place NEW filament into the sealed AMS it will stay dry, if it contains moisture, adding desiccant will remove it and ensure it remains dry. Keeping it at 90F will achieve nothing. Ipso facto.
Nice project, it’s to bully for me, but nice thinkering. Bud why only toy gasket on the outside. As the walls of the ams are open, that gasket had no point as the inside can attract moist true undead edges.
@@morphf-TH-cam Thank you for your comment. There is limited space inside and the concern is the humidity outside the box. Been getting constant 10% humidity without dealing with desiccant beads. I’m pretty happy with it.
That seems kind of complicated when you could have used a 12 inch gun safe plug in dehumidifier rod with a cheap humidity meter fromm amazon for 6 of them for 9 bucks. You would be in it around 20 bucks and not have to cut up your AMS case.
you have 42% in your room. in europe we have 60-80% all time and no drying is needed for pla/abs.
if you think pla doesn't need to be dried, especially in 60-80% humidity, you are just used to poor quality prints.
@@obie224 actualyl i only do high quality. some colors like red do get wet but most wont.
Any thoughts on the electronics long term exposure to elevated temperatures?
@@Mr.X3D Good question. Since 90 degF is ambient temperature in many places, I don’t expect to see any issues. So far the longest time the heater has been on is 7 days non-stop while printing. No issues were noted with the system. That said, if you are not printing with the roll next to the heater, I recommend not to have a roll there just stationary for hours. Two reasons, airflow is better and the direct heat on the stationary spool case, made the spool very hot, no damage, but very hot.
Hi, nice work! Have you compared with the AMS loaded with filaments? I think the desiccants packs does a good job drying quickly the AMS room…with no noise. And 20mins difference over a day printing is negligible IMO. However, I think the real value of your system is to keep the filaments with a constant temperature over the printing time. I’ll think implement the system on my equipment.
@@atobit2765 Could you explain why it might be important to keep the filament at 90F, a warm summer’s day in the UK. Printer manufacturers have established the correct temperature to heat the filament to, at least 204C/400F. And I seriously doubt ambient temperature has any significant effect.
А зачем всё это? Система и так нормально работает.