Filament tangling on spool?

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jcspball13
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Filament tangling on spool?

Post by jcspball13 » Sun Sep 13, 2015 6:43 pm

After about 6 weeks of usage, I am really getting all my settings down, and get a successful print 9/10 times

But the main failure reason I am having seems like it should never happen at all: the filament is getting tangled on the spool

I have 2 spools that do this; one is an off brand, so I understand it may not be wrapped well. But one is genuine Makergear brand; it has done this since I first started. In the beginning I thought it was my inexperience; but i have 10 other spools and never had an issue with any of those!

My question is this: if a spool keeps tangling, what can I do? Is there a proven way to make it stop happening? I contacted makergear directly with this question, but got no response.

There is way too much left on these spools to just throw them away, so I am really hoping for a solution!

Thanks as always!

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insta
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Re: Filament tangling on spool?

Post by insta » Sun Sep 13, 2015 8:11 pm

You are doing this, by the way. The filament cannot tangle while it's being wound on the spool.

When you take the filament out of the drive, never let go of it, and wind it back into the little holes around the perimeter of the spool to hold it in place.
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sthone
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Re: Filament tangling on spool?

Post by sthone » Sun Sep 13, 2015 11:34 pm

Watch this video on how to easily untangle the spool https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lE9LchCtKL4

Then print some filament clips or use the spare bed clips to secure the end when not in use.

-Steve
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jcspball13
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Re: Filament tangling on spool?

Post by jcspball13 » Mon Sep 14, 2015 12:51 am

I would agree that it was my fault, but I never even took the white off; it was the first spool i put on, git a few prints, set it up over night and came down to a tangled spool; actually same thing happened to my green spool (generic brand) tangled on 2nd or third print, before I took it off!

I will do my best to try the video!


Thanks

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Jules
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Re: Filament tangling on spool?

Post by Jules » Mon Sep 14, 2015 2:07 am

You have it unspooling to the rear?

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SouthSideofdaSky
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Re: Filament tangling on spool?

Post by SouthSideofdaSky » Fri Sep 18, 2015 7:20 pm

I have had the same thing happen on a couple of occasions (including just now). The filament gets tangled/knotted on the spool to the point where the extruder motor can't feed it into the nozzle...thus causing extrusion to stop. A couple of the times I'm willing to chalk up to user error with me letting go of it when changing the filament, but there have been other times (like today) when it got knotted hours into a print. I'm surprised that I could unintentionally produce a line cross that deep into the reel.

I'm not sure this is something that is really preventable, other than being careful when changing the filament like insta said and maybe checking in on the print every once in awhile and making sure the filament isn't getting knotted. 1 out of every 10 prints is a lot more often than I experience it though.

And I definitely wouldn't throw away the whole roll if it happens. Odds are you only made one knot so the rest of the roll is good to go. I don't think I've ever had the problem twice with one reel.

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sthone
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Re: Filament tangling on spool?

Post by sthone » Fri Sep 18, 2015 8:16 pm

SouthSideofdaSky wrote:I'm surprised that I could unintentionally produce a line cross that deep into the reel.
I pretty sure that line cross didn't start that deep in the spool... it just continues for hours because the wraps on the spool can still be loose enough not to affect anything. Once the roll does start tightening up (could be minutes, could be hours) then it actually knots up (so to speak) and won't allow the extruder to pull any more.
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Jules
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Re: Filament tangling on spool?

Post by Jules » Fri Sep 18, 2015 8:25 pm

Don't know if this would help....I recently modified a little set of pocket spool rollers that i found on Thingiverse, to fit the MakerGear spools, (as well as eSun & HB, which aren't as wide,) and I'm using that now. I like it a lot better than hanging the spool off the holder on the side of the machine. It's perfectly smooth and silent while it unrolls, it doesn't do that "twanging" sound anymore when the filament gets pulled tight and crosses over itself, and you can let it unspool to the front, so that (in theory) you could see a knot coming before it nails you.

(If you happen to be looking in the right direction when it happens.....ehhh! Never mind. Probably not worth the effort, and i haven't hit a knot yet so i can't tell if it actually works.)

What the heck - here's the link if you want to try it:

http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:1019044

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sthone
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Re: Filament tangling on spool?

Post by sthone » Sat Sep 19, 2015 1:21 am

Clips-001.jpg
Clips-001.jpg (72.37 KiB) Viewed 17670 times
Simple tip of the day...... If you want to stop the tangles from happening at all, buy a bag of these small Binder Clips. ($4 at Staples)
Clips-002.jpg
Clips-002.jpg (38.89 KiB) Viewed 17670 times
Cut a piece of cloth or paper towel in a 2" square (meduim gun cleaning patches work perfect if you have them :D) Fold the square over once, then once more, and then wrap it around your filament and clip on the binder as shown. (now you have a filament wiper too.)
Clips-003.jpg
Clips-003.jpg (45.75 KiB) Viewed 17670 times
When you're done printing with that spool, retract the filament and clip the binder right to the spool (without removing it from the filament) and you never have to worry about it getting the crossed over again.

Simple as that..... ;)

-Steve
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insta
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Re: Filament tangling on spool?

Post by insta » Sat Sep 19, 2015 6:33 pm

Thank you for finally taking pictures of how I run my printers.

Guncloths are an amazing idea -- of to Amazon to check for them!
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