Creality Filament System or CFS was released with the company’s K2 Plus 3D printer and appears to solve one of the biggest pain points of Bambu Lab’s AMS.
Creality Filament System
Earlier today, Creality’s AMS competitor hit the FCC, under the code name 2AXH6-CFS, giving us a look at the internals and externals of the upcoming multi-filament system.
Easy to fix clogs
The first noticeable upgrade of the CFS is that Creality has moved the filament guide tubes to the outside of the CFS’ bottom casing, opting to place them in accessible grooves. The whole motor/extruder assembly also looks to be removable as well making for easy repairs and modifications.
If you’ve used the Bambu Lab AMS before, then you know filament will sometimes snap off in the guide tubes, resulting in the AMS being taken apart to remove the filament. This approach should allow for tube with the filament stuck in it to be opened up without needing to take apart the whole device.
Circulation and heating
Another upgrade that Creality appears to have made is the addition of fans and heating elements. Taking a look at the mainboard for the CFS, we can see a group of four fan & heat connectors. Suggesting the CFS will be able to circulate the air inside the compartment while heating it up to ensure the filament isn’t too moist for printing.
NFC filament tracking
Just like the AMS from Bambu Lab, the CFS will feature NFC readers to tracking which filament is currently being used. This will automatically tell the printer what filaments are available and the printing parameters for each one. This could also be used for estimating the amount of filament remaining on a roll.
A potential downside
Looking at the extruder array, one for each roll of filament. It appears to come out as one complete unit, unlike the AMS which is modular, allowing you to remove them individually. This could make repairs harder, but as long as nothing is moulded into the plastic it shouldn’t be an issue.
Other features
Taking a look at the chamber of the CFS, we can see that it has two compartments for silica gel, adding to its moisture wicking capabilities. The rear of the device features two 6-pin connectors to connect to the K2 Plus and an additional CFS, the filament output, and what looks to be an external power connector.
The CFS also features a display, which we’ve seen in the marketing material before. This display will be used to show the current humidity in the chamber, the temperature, and which slot is currently being used in the print.
