Multi-colour printing without an AMS
29 October 2026
Two-colour prints look far better than one: a white name on a red keyring, a gold star on a green bauble. You don't need a colour add-on like Bambu's AMS to print them. Most of our designs are made so that one printer and a pause button will do, and the designer tells you exactly where to pause.
1. Change colour at a height
This is the one you'll use most. Many of our designs are flat underneath and have their name or details standing up on top, so everything below a certain height is one colour and everything above it another. Print the base, pause, swap the filament, and carry on.
The designer works the heights out for you. Under the 3D view, the Colours line shows each colour in order, with the height to change at, for example "red → white at 2.4 mm". Tap the ⓘ beside it for the steps in words.
Then, in your slicer, open the preview and add a filament change (or a pause) on the first layer above that height:
- Bambu Studio and OrcaSlicer: drag the layer slider to the height, right-click and add a pause or filament change.
- PrusaSlicer: drag the layer slider to the height and click the + to add a colour change.
When the printer stops, swap the filament, push the new colour through until it runs clean, and resume. That's it: a minute's work for a two-colour print.
2. Print a batch: one change for the whole plate
Colour by height gets even better in a batch. Every name on the plate changes colour at the same layer, so twenty keyrings take one pause, just like one keyring. Our guide to printing a batch of names shows how to paste in a whole list.
3. Print each colour on its own plate
Some designs are made of separate pieces in different colours: a base and a rod, a box and its lid. For those, the designer offers Each colour on its own plate. Tick it and every colour gets a plate of its own, so there's no colour change at all. Print the red plate, then the white one, and put them together.
It saves filament too. A colour add-on purges a little plastic every time it swaps, and on a busy multi-colour print that adds up to more waste than the print itself. Separate plates waste none.
When you do need a colour add-on
A few designs mix colours within the same layers: a picture inlaid flush in a coaster, a face on a clicker. One filament at a time can't print those, and the designer says so under Colours. You can still print the differently coloured pieces separately where the design allows, or it's the moment a colour add-on earns its keep. If you're choosing a printer with one, our 3D printers page compares the ones we'd suggest.