While a print is paused, let me unload/retract the active filament from the extruder via the printer screen, Handy, or Studio, then reload and resume.
Why: several spool tangles on my X2D. When AMS detects the tangle it cuts, retracts, and Retry works. When it classifies the stop as runout or “busy”, filament stays clamped in the extruder and Unload is unavailable. Only options: shake the spool until slack appears, or cancel and waste hours plus material.
Proposal: every pause state exposes Unload for the loaded slot; then Load + “Resume (problem solved)” continues, same as the existing tangle-recovery flow.
Normally, you can do that on the printer. Some people actually do this on purpose to switch filaments to change colours without using AMS. This only works right at the printer display, which makes sense, since you have to pick up the spool anyway.
Which brings us to the actual problem:
You can also refill the filament when it runs out or gets tangled. But you don’t need to unload the filament when it runs out. The nozzle will empty itself. Then load the new filament, and you can continue printing. Here’s how it works:
If your filament gets tangled, just cut it, click “Continue Printing”, let the nozzle run empty automatically, and load the filament again. It wouldn’t make sense if the filament ran out and you couldn’t refill it.
I would start by trying to work out why your spools are getting tangled. That’s not normal. There are many possible reasons for it.
There just isn’t an option for that in the software or the app, but you’d have to go to the printer anyway to fix the problem, so an option like that in the software doesn’t make much sense. It’s not a good idea to ignore errors and work around them using the software; someone will have to take a look at the device.
I could have used that or something similar today. I had a deep tangle in the last third of a factory spool that had never been out of the AMS. Once I cleared that jam I could see that it was going to happen again so I actually took the spool out of the AMS, unwound about 6 feet while it was still feeding until I could get the reversed loop off the side of the spool and resolved and then all wound back on. That was sure fun. I know I should have just cut it but the frustration took over, lol.
Appreciate the detail, but it argues past the request. “You can cut the filament and let the nozzle run dry” is a workaround, not a reason the printer should refuse a retract while paused. The firmware already retracts on its own in the tangle-detect flow; I’m asking for that same button when the printer misclassifies the stop. And this isn’t a tangle problem I need to hunt down: hundreds of hours on this machine, two tangles, both factory-wound spools. When it does happen I want a 10-second recovery, not a diagnostic project.
You say unload normally works from the display while paused. In my case it was not an option where it would normally be. Which menu are you using? If there’s a path I missed, that’s useful.
Yes! That video is exactly what I ended up doing, just with more swearing. Would have saved me 20 minutes of guessing if it existed on the pause screen.
Please post a photo of the error message - maybe we’re talking about different events. If I add them all up now from your comments, we’re at: runout - busy - pause - stop - tangled.
These are all different error codes and printer statuses. Which one applies to your printer?
runout - Allows the filament to be loaded - Unload is not required in the event of a runout
pause - Allows the filament to be loaded and unloaded
stop - Allows the filament to be loaded and unloaded
tangled - Allows the filament to be loaded and unloaded => Clear the error and switch to print and then pause immediately - or use the workaround I described
busy - While the printer is printing?
We need to start by discussing the same error message, and it seems we haven’t gotten there yet. Unloading and loading should always be possible; we now need to figure out why that isn’t the case for you, but it’s difficult without a photo of the error message.
Maybe it’s just a bug in the current firmware, but to check that on GitHub, we’d need to have at least a rough idea of what the error message is.
Actual messages from Handy’s task history, one print, three pauses:
**•** 13:24 ‘The AMS assist motor is overloaded. This could be due to entangled filament or a stuck spool.’
**•** 13:59 ‘Failed to extrude the filament. Please check Assistant for more details.’
**•** 15:53 AMS assist motor overloaded again.
The two AMS overload pauses were fine: the printer reeled the filament back and Retry worked. The one that stuck me was 13:59. Same tangle, but the AMS didn’t catch it this time; the extruder just couldn’t pull, so the printer classified it as ‘Failed to extrude’ and that screen offers no Unload. Filament stayed clamped and I had to work slack into the spool by hand.
So the ask, more precisely: Unload should be available on the failed-to-extrude pause too, since a spool bind is one of its common causes. Your clear-resume-pause-Unload path is what I’ll try next time, but I’d still like the printer to always have an unload option during errors.
