1.6 Filament: what you may use, and where it lives
Module 1 · Part 2: The room's rules · Lesson 6 of 14 · about 5 min
With Module 1 you may print ordinary PLA and Bambu PLA Silk+, one spool at a time, on the four upper-row X2Ds. Nothing else.
Ordinary PLA is any PLA, in any colour or finish (basic, matte, glitter and so on), except three special kinds:
Silk PLA. The one exception is Bambu PLA Silk+, which is allowed with Module 1 (1.8 Build plates). Every other silk PLA needs Module 2.
Filled PLA, with fibres or particles mixed in, such as carbon fibre (PLA-CF), glass fibre, wood, stone or metal. Filled filaments are covered in Module 2.
Glow-in-the-dark filament of any kind. It is never allowed, on any printer, because the glow pigment is extremely abrasive.
If you do not know what kind of PLA you have, ask in Slack.
Other materials, other printers, support material and printing in several colours are all in Module 2.
The allow-list
✅ Hard rule. You may only print materials on the published allow-list, and each printer group has its own list. If a material is not on the list, it is not allowed yet. Not being listed never means it is allowed.
If you want to use something that is not on the list, ask the room developers in the Slack channel #3D-Skrivare and wait for an answer. They test the material first and then add it to the Allowed materials page on the wiki. You may use it only once it is published there. With Module 1 this simply means ordinary PLA and Bambu PLA Silk+, as described above. Module 2 covers the other lists.
The list is about the kind of material, not the brand. Ordinary PLA from any brand is fine (see What to buy below). Bambu PLA Silk+ is the one entry where the brand matters. If you are unsure whether your filament counts, ask in #3D-Skrivare before you print with it.
Spools
✅ Hard rule. Only moulded plastic spools may go into an AMS.
⛔ Hard rule. Never put cardboard spools, homemade or 3D-printed spools, or adapters that make them fit, into an AMS.
Cardboard sheds dust, which builds up inside the AMS and damages it.
Spool size. The AMS 2 Pro takes spools 50–68 mm wide and 197–202 mm in diameter: a standard 1 kg spool. Some brands' spools are wider or bigger. If you are not sure, measure before you buy.
✅ Hard rule. Put your member label on your spools before you use them in the room.
What to buy
You normally buy your own filament, from anywhere you like, as long as it follows the material and spool rules.
We strongly recommend Bambu Lab's own filament, especially while you are new. The AMS reads its RFID tag, so the brand, material and colour are set for you and cannot be wrong. Bambu Studio also has a profile for each Bambu filament on each Bambu printer, so the settings are tuned for that exact combination of filament and printer.
Other brands are allowed and work fine, but two things become your job. You have to tell the printer correctly what the filament is. And the settings you print with are general ones for that material, not tuned for that exact filament, so they may need a small adjustment. That makes it even more worth checking your print again once it is about a centimetre tall (1.11 Starting and watching the print). Problems with the settings usually show up in the first centimetre of height, not in the first layer.
The makerspace member shop sells a small selection of Bambu Lab PLA: https://medlem.makerspace.se/shop/#category13. You don't have to buy there.
Where your filament lives
Your filament lives in your personal member box. Filament takes up moisture from the air, PLA included, so it is worth keeping each spool in a sealed bag. IKEA ISTAD zip-lock bags in the 4.5 L or 6 L size fit a spool well, and there are also vacuum storage bags made for filament. A desiccant pack in the bag keeps it drier still, but that is up to you.
The filament shelves
The filament shelves are not storage. They hold two kinds of spool:
Parked spools, which someone had to take out of a printer. If you need to take another member's spool out of an AMS, put it in the shelf section marked "This week". That is all you need to do. The owner knows where to look.
Free filament, which anyone may print with.
Three spools on the member filament rail: one marked FREE, one marked ROOM DEV., and one with its owner's member number and name
Telling them apart. A spool is free only if a FREE sticker covers the owner's name. Any other spool belongs to someone, even if it is standing in the free section. Spools get put back in the wrong section, and the signs move every week, so where a spool stands doesn't tell you whose it is. The sticker does.
ROOM DEV. spools belong to the room developers, for work on the room. They are never free, even if one is standing in the free section, so leave them alone.
Using free filament. Print with it as much as you like, but it stays in the printing room. Don't take it to your member box.
The weekly shelf rotation. The shelf sections are marked by age, with signs. The spools stay where they are and the signs move, so spools age without anyone handling them. Every Sunday a reminder with the steps is posted in Slack. If you are at the makerspace when it comes, reply that you are doing it, so nobody else does, then follow the steps. One of them is marking the spools on the "2 weeks old" shelf as free, with FREE stickers over the owner's name. The stickers are in a small box on the pegboard.
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