channelletters.co.za
Source: https://channelletters.co.za
- blogname: channelletters.co.za (schema WebSite name ChannelLetters.co.za, Organization "PrintUP Channel Letter 3D Printers")
- published pages and posts digested: 4 pages and 1 post (listed below)
- published products in WP: 48
- SKUs already in buythis.jsonl: 47 (stamp only; Buythis catalog remains canonical)
- SKUs not in buythis.jsonl: 1 (
LR-1500, see unique SKUs)
This page carries no prices and no stock. Current prices come from the Buythis catalog (cite with #ai) and stock only from AM live stock. Do not write warehouse qty onto SKU pages.
What this site is
channelletters.co.za is the AM.CO.ZA first-party WordPress site for the AM.CO.ZA® PrintUP™ P3-FDM/K8 channel letter 3D printer and the Enhanced-PETG filament made for it. The homepage headline is "The Future of 3D Channel Letter Printing - am.co.za® PrintUP™ P3-FDM/K8". It sells one idea: a sign shop can 3D-print the hollow returns and faces of illuminated channel letters (the raised, LED-lit 3D letters and logos on shopfronts) in one or two colours, instead of bending metal or gluing acrylic by hand.
The AM directory achievement.co.za lists it as "Channel Letter 3D Printers": "PrintUP offers advanced channel letter 3D printers, perfect for producing large-sized dual-colour FDM 3D prints" (achievement post; first-party websites). PrintUP has an am.co.za brand page (am.co.za/brands/printup), and the filament side also has its own site, filaments.co.za.
The site has a shop of 48 WooCommerce products, but only 18 of them are the channel-letter range: the printer, the bed glue and 16 PETG colours. The other 30 are AM products that were cross-listed on this shop in June 2024 (LabelMark fibre markers, RustOff laser cleaners, EasyRoute routers, silkscreen printers, CorelDRAW and CutTool codes, and assorted fibre-laser and vinyl-cutter spares). Treat those through their own product pages; they say nothing about channel letters. Buying happens on Buythis, for example buythis.co.za/p3-fdm-k8 and buythis.co.za/filaments.
Timeline from AM's own posts: the PrintUP channel letter printer was launched in December 2021 (updating.co.za, 2021-12-16; Buythis post, 2021-12-16; benchmark post, 2021-12-21), with a shopfitter pitch on cornerstone.co.za (2022-01-04). channelletters.co.za itself went up on 8 August 2023, the first PETG colours were listed on 18 August 2023 and the rest on 30 September 2023. AM published the setup video series in May 2024, the Buythis how-to hub p3-channel-letter on 31 May 2024, and the 2025 heating upgrade kit in January 2025.
How AI and staff should treat it
| Question | Answer |
|---|---|
| Does AM sell a channel letter 3D printer today? | Yes. The P3-FDM/K8 and its spares and filaments are in the Buythis dump (rows dated 2026-10-18). Quote from Buythis, never from this page or old site tables. |
| What size can it print? | The build area is 800 × 800 × 80 mm in the SKU name and current am.im description. Older site copy and the am.im text say 800 × 800 × 85 mm, and one 2021 post title says 800 × 850 mm. Quote 800 × 800 × 80 mm. It is built for wide, flat, low items such as letters, logos and plaques, not tall objects. |
| Two colours from one nozzle? | Yes. Two filaments feed one 0.8 mm nozzle ("two-in, one-out"), so a letter can switch between two colours (for example a coloured face over a white return). It is not two independent nozzles printing at once. |
| Which filament? | 1.75 mm PETG. The hotbed is set up for PETG and the printer ships without filament. AM's own Enhanced-PETG spools (1 kg, about 350 m, nozzle 200–250 °C, bed 40–60 °C) are the recommended match; the setup video says "I highly recommend that you buy the material for the machine because it just works well". |
| Semi-transparent, clear or solid? | Semi-transparent and clear PETG let LED light glow through, so they suit lit faces. Solid (opaque) colours suit returns, backs and unlit logos. Ask whether the sign will be lit before picking colours. |
| Power and install? | 220 V, 800 W, normal household power (AM's "in stock" video). am.im lists installation and on-site training with the printer; travel and call-out costs may apply, and the machine comes by freight before a technician visits. The am.im shipping measurements are about 130 × 122 × 60 cm and about 96 kg. |
| Software? | The free PrintUP 2-Colour Channel Letter G-Code Generator on cncu.co.za, and Cura for slicing in the AM videos (designs from Tinkercad, Autodesk Fusion or any STL). Free training is the 3D channel letter mini-series on softwaretraining.co.za. |
| Warranty? | The printer has a 1 year quality warranty on parts (faulty materials or workmanship, not wear and tear or misuse), with AM's barcode warranty record. Spares carry their own terms: the motherboard, touchscreen and base plate show 6 months and the driver modules 3 months on am.im; filament and glue are consumables. |
| Price? | Forex-linked (am.im "Forex Linked Pricing", adjusted weekly or bi-weekly). Give the Buythis link with #ai. The homepage tables once showed rand prices and the hero says "nationwide free shipping"; neither is a current quote. |
| Contact routes | Sales WhatsApp 060 600 6000, support WhatsApp 060 600 7000. The site header still prints older 072/076/087 numbers; prefer the 060 routes. |
| Not to confuse with | PioCreat G5-PRO pellet printer (P3-PELLET/G5) and the resin LCD printer (P3-LCD4K/DJ89), which are other P3 printers in the 3D printer catalog; routed or laser-cut channel letters (AM's CNC routers and CO₂ lasers, as in the RedLetter and TruCUT videos); and InkRIP "spot channel" printing software, which is about ink channels, not letters. |
The printer
| SKU | What it is | 8i pages |
|---|---|---|
| P3-FDM/K8 | AM.CO.ZA PrintUP 800 × 800 × 80 mm channel letter 3D printer: one 0.8 mm nozzle with a two-in, one-out extruder, hotbed for PETG, 1.75 mm filament (none included), 220 V 800 W | product |
What the site and posts say it offers: a large flat bed for whole letters without splitting them, dual-colour output, a frame "solidly built for high speed", auto bed levelling with a touch probe, a filament run-out sensor on each feed, and printing from USB stick or SD card. The box includes a tool kit with side cutters, a nozzle tool, a spare 0.8 mm nozzle, a glue stick plus liquid glue, and a spare levelling-probe tip (unboxing video). Nozzles from 0.4 mm to 1 mm can be fitted: smaller gives finer detail, larger prints faster with less detail.
Enhanced-PETG filaments
All 16 colours are in the Buythis dump and on this site's shop. Every spool is 1.75 mm, 1 kg, about 350 m, printed at nozzle 200–250 °C, bed 40–60 °C (am.im names and descriptions read 2026-10-19). No prices, no stock.
| SKU | Type | Colour | 8i page |
|---|---|---|---|
| P3F-PETG-S175/AZURE | Semi-transparent | Azure | p3f-petg-s175-azure |
| P3F-PETG-S175/BLUE | Semi-transparent | Blue | p3f-petg-s175-blue |
| P3F-PETG-S175/CYAN | Semi-transparent | Cyan | p3f-petg-s175-cyan |
| P3F-PETG-S175/GOLD | Semi-transparent | Gold | p3f-petg-s175-gold |
| P3F-PETG-S175/GREEN | Semi-transparent | Green | p3f-petg-s175-green |
| P3F-PETG-S175/ORANGE | Semi-transparent | Orange | p3f-petg-s175-orange |
| P3F-PETG-S175/PINK | Semi-transparent | Pink | p3f-petg-s175-pink |
| P3F-PETG-S175/PURPLE | Semi-transparent | Purple | p3f-petg-s175-purple |
| P3F-PETG-S175/RED | Semi-transparent | Red | p3f-petg-s175-red |
| P3F-PETG-S175/WHITE | Semi-transparent | White | p3f-petg-s175-white |
| P3F-PETG-S175/YELLOW | Semi-transparent | Yellow | p3f-petg-s175-yellow |
| P3F-PETG-C175 | Clear | Clear | p3f-petg-c175 |
| P3F-PETG-D175/BLACK | Solid (opaque) | Black | p3f-petg-d175-black |
| P3F-PETG-D175/SILVER | Solid (opaque) | Silver | p3f-petg-d175-silver |
| P3F-PETG-D175/WHITE | Solid (opaque) | White | p3f-petg-d175-white |
| P3F-PETG-D175/YELLOW | Solid (opaque) | Yellow | p3f-petg-d175-yellow |
The site groups them as "PETG Filaments - Semi Transparent" and "PETG Filaments - Solid Colour". The S in the SKU means semi-transparent, D means solid and C means clear. The filament post on this site (enhanced PETG filaments) explains why PETG suits outdoor signs: it resists weather, sticks well to the bed and warps less.
Spares and upgrades for the K8
These are not all on this site's shop, but they are the parts AM lists for the P3-FDM/K8 in the Buythis dump (rows dated 2026-10-18). Descriptions are from am.im.
| SKU | What it is | 8i page |
|---|---|---|
| P3-K8/UPGRADE/2025 | 2025 printhead heating upgrade kit (longer nozzle, larger heat break and heat block) for steadier temperature against wind | p3-k8-upgrade-2025 |
| P3-HEAD/K8 | Complete printing-head assembly (heatsink, element, sensor, nozzle) | p3-head-k8 |
| P3-BLOCK/HEAT/K8 | Nozzle heating housing, about 50 × 20 mm | p3-block-heat-k8 |
| P3-ELEMENT/K8 | Nozzle heating element, about 360 mm lead | p3-element-k8 |
| P3-THERMISTOR/K8 | Nozzle thermistor (temperature sensor), about 320 mm lead | p3-thermistor-k8 |
| P3-HEATSINK/K8 | Dual-filament routing heat sink for the two-in, one-out head | p3-heatsink-k8 |
| P3-FAN/BLOCK/K8 | Cooling-fan mounting bracket for the head | p3-fan-block-k8 |
| P3-BASE/K8 | Printing-head base plate | p3-base-k8 |
| P3-FDM/SOCK/4 | Four silicone heat-block socks that hold nozzle temperature against draughts | p3-fdm-sock-4 |
| P3-SENSOR/LEVEL/K8 | Levelling-sensor tip (needle) replacement | p3-sensor-level-k8 |
| P3-SENSOR/LEVEL | Levelling sensor with cable | p3-sensor-level |
| P3-SENSOR/175 | 1.75 mm filament run-out sensor (NO/NC signal) | p3-sensor-175 |
| P3-MB/K8 | K8 motherboard (MKS Robin Nano based, 2 × TMC2209 and 3 × A4988 drivers, customised firmware) | p3-mb-k8 |
| P3-MB/TMC2209 | TMC2209 stepper driver module for the K8 board | p3-mb-tmc2209 |
| P3-MB/A4988 | A4988 stepper driver module for the K8 board | p3-mb-a4988 |
| P3-TS35 | Replacement touchscreen; needs two AE-CABLE/RAINBOW/10 ribbon cables | p3-ts35 |
| P3-GLUE/500 | 500 ml bed adhesive for the glass print bed | p3-glue-500 |
The 2025 upgrade kit can be bought as a kit or part by part on Buythis, as the upgrade video says. AM also showed the K8 printing its own filament guard and holder (repair by printing spare parts, 2025-01-14).
Other products cross-listed on this shop
These 30 products sit on the channelletters.co.za shop but belong to other AM ranges. Answer about them from their own pages.
| SKUs | What they are | 8i page |
|---|---|---|
| LR-1500 | RustOff 1500W handheld fibre laser cleaner (the one shop SKU not in the Buythis dump; see the unique-SKU page) | unique SKUs |
| LR-2000, LR-UPGRADE/3000 | RustOff handheld fibre laser cleaning | lr-2000 |
| LLM-F20, -F30, -F50 and /R, /MOPA variants (8 SKUs) | LabelMark fibre laser markers | llm-f20 |
| LC-1816/G2/150 | MorCUT-Cyclops camera contour laser cutter | lc-1816-g2-150 |
| R-1325K/90, /90V, /90L | EasyRoute 1300 × 2500 mm CNC routers | r-1325k-90 |
| SP-3550, SP-4560 | Automatic flat silkscreen printers | sp-3550 |
| S-CORELDRAW/ESS, S-CUTTOOL/BLADE, S-CUTTOOL/LABEL | CorelDRAW Essentials code and CutTool plugins | s-coreldraw-ess |
| LF-50, L-COMBINER/1064/20/2, L-LENS-QUARTZ/18/2, LM-CONTROL/KEY | Fibre laser spares | lf-50 |
| AE-COUNT/JDM11-5H, AE-CONNECTOR/GX9-3/F, AE-CONNECTOR/GX12-3/M | Electrical counter relay and aviation connectors | ae-count-jdm11-5h |
| V4-CAR/S720, V4-CAR/H720, V4-S/MOTOR/X/CABLE | Vinyl4 cutter cables | v4-car-s720 |
How a channel letter job runs
AM's video and post series lays out the workflow (basics, 2024-06-03; dual colour; design to print, 2024-06-24):
- Remove the transport locks, load each filament through its run-out sensor into the left and right feeds, and run auto level before touching temperatures or speed.
- Coat the glass bed with the supplied glue stick or liquid glue (or P3-GLUE/500). The glass is too smooth for PETG to hold on its own.
- Design the letter or logo in Tinkercad, Fusion, CorelDRAW or similar, export STL, then slice in Cura using the AM PrintUP profile, choosing extruder 1, extruder 2 or both colours.
- For dual colour, set where each colour starts in the slicer (for example a coloured face on a white body).
- Print, then fit LEDs, and optionally a Perspex face or resin seal, to finish the letter (Perspex face; sealed resin).
Tips from the setup video: the presenter ran the nozzle at about 240 °C in a cool warehouse and says to go lower in a warm, humid room; keep the extruder fans at 100 % for PETG; and use a low infill (he used 5 %) for wide flat parts so they do not warp.
Common problems and answers
| Problem | What to check |
|---|---|
| Print lifts off or shifts on the bed | Re-run auto level, clean the glass and re-apply glue, and check the first-layer height in Cura. AM's video suggests a slightly thicker first layer if adhesion is poor. |
| Temperature drifts or the extrusion goes uneven in a draughty shop | This is what the 2025 upgrade kit and the silicone socks were made for: a longer nozzle and bigger heat block hold heat against wind. |
| Bed heats but the nozzle does not | A real support case. Check the nozzle heating element, thermistor and heat housing (P3-ELEMENT/K8, P3-THERMISTOR/K8, P3-BLOCK/HEAT/K8); AM support handled it with a Johannesburg drop-off. |
| Nozzle needs changing | Only screw a nozzle in or out while the head is hot and at temperature. The upgrade video warns that doing it cold "will break something". |
| Printer stops mid-job | The run-out sensor may have tripped because a spool ran out or the filament snagged (P3-SENSOR/175). |
| Auto level fails or the probe tip broke | Fit the spare probe tip from the tool kit, or order P3-SENSOR/LEVEL/K8. Without the probe the printer will not level. |
| Screen dead or damaged | P3-TS35, which needs two AE-CABLE/RAINBOW/10 cables. |
| Light does not glow through the letter | The face was printed in solid PETG. Use semi-transparent or clear PETG for lit faces. |
Videos
Newest first, from AM's YouTube channels (titles and dates from the YouTube dump).
The homepage playlist also shows a "Computer Stand Brackets" video and a TruCUT laser letter video; those are other AM machines.
FAQ
Can it print things other than letters? Yes. AM's videos print logos, keyrings, a mould insert for a concrete-pot customer and the printer's own spare parts. It is a general large-bed FDM printer, but it is low (80 mm), so tall objects do not fit.
Can I use PLA or ABS? The printer's preset menu has ABS and PLA temperatures, and the walkthrough calls PLA "a softer weaker plastic" fine for models. AM sells and recommends PETG for signs because it stands up to heat and weather.
Is filament included? No. Order PETG separately; most sign jobs need at least one semi-transparent or clear colour plus white or a solid colour.
Is training free? Yes. The site says "Expert Channel Letter 3D Printer Software Training at No Cost", delivered through softwaretraining.co.za and AM's YouTube videos.
Can I see one? AM's "in stock" video invites clients to come in for a demo; route them to sales on 060 600 6000.
Digested pages
| Page | Type | Published | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Home | page | 2023-08-08 | Hero, P3-FDM/K8 features, shop tables, videos, FAQ (boxed extract) |
| Channel Letter News & Media | page | 2023-08-14 | News listing (builder layout, no body text) |
| Channel Letter Media | page | 2023-10-11 | Media page (short text only) |
| Channel Letter Shop | page | 2023-10-12 | WooCommerce shop, 48 products |
| Using Enhanced PETG Channel Letter 3D Printing Filaments | post | 2024-05-31 | PETG benefits, P3-FDM/K8 key features, colour list (digest) |
Read next
- P3-FDM/K8 product page and 3D printers catalog
- PrintUP channel letter how-to hub on Buythis
- filaments.co.za and its channel letter posts: lighting technology, material evolution, signage evolution
- Channel letters by 3D printing for shopfitters (cornerstone.co.za)
- 3D channel letter printer review and RedLetter Media's Sunnyrock HQ sign
- Channel letter printer machine gallery
- Unique SKUs on this site