I was just curious what everyone is doing with all their empty spools. My stack is starting to get a little out of control. The recycler in me keeps when thinking I’ll reuse em, but most of the filament/colors i’m after never seem to have a spool-less option and I end up with more lol. Really which I could find a way to repurpose them besides Christmas light organizers, i’m at capacity on that. The hoarder in me hasn’t yet brought myself to start throwing them out…
Also wish there was an option for like even a $5 credit when ordering an AMS to get it without the empty spools included
I’ve been struggling with this some. Haven’t figured a practical solution yet. Almost think we need some sort of spool pass it along program, so people aren’t printing new spools! Whenever I see printable spools on makerworld it makes a part of me ache as a stack of un-used bambu spools looms over me.
Empty Bambu spools are helpful, especially for those using the AMS and third-party brand filaments.
If the final price is appellative (incl. transport), I will acquire a few.
I dont swap colors enough mid spool to really need more spools than the AMS can hold at once. Like i’m usually running the spool till its gone, then swapping in a fresh one. So even if i get a filament with a cardboard spool, its not in the machine till theres an open spot which means I’d just be reusing one of the 4 already in there.
As for the market, i’ve seen people trying to sell em on eBay and stuff, but I just never really figured it would be worth the trouble vs what you’d get for them. Maybe local pick up, but thats far less an audience.
Bambu Lab should make something in their build kits that utilize empty spools
Would be a cool idea and side that split apart making different style “rims” that can just lock on to the back half or something lol. Yeah i’d be willing to donate, if it was picked up, but thats a much smaller demographic for me not around many people 3d printing
an rc w those wheels would be bigger than 1/5 scale, probably closer to 1/3, which needs proper wheels to support the loads. Cool idea but those spools are too fragile for rc cars unless you want a 1/8 scale mt/truggy w oversized wheels for a couple of seconds or minutes tops
eh, you have a printer, you can easily print something to sit inside and give you a support framework and a tpu tire or smth like that… and remember, they can hold up a kg worth of filament on the edges as they are. prolly more with some bracing.
Am I missing something. I have yet to see a broad selection of filament refill choices on Bambu website. Tossing out all those spools that were designed to be re-usable is wasteful.
A spool exchange would be great - but, like everything else, some would end up trying to abuse it. Users meeting users can occasionally lead to problems. It would need protections like any other online classifieds ads system and people would need to protect themselves.
But that said, there’s probably a few people in every major city now with spares. Keeping them out of the landfill while not wasting filament printing more would be a good thing.
I agree a user meeting isn’t a good idea unless the user organises it.
The simple way I can imagine is to make a DB limited to verified clients, where one can state spool in excess and needs. After that, relies on their national representatives. You can either go pick it up or pay for the transport.
Some countries would be left out, but the important is to start. With time, ideas will come to include more regions.
I believe the added cost for BL (db) would be quickly paid by the green initiative pub and likely incentives.
This is still a rough concept, but it can easily be polished.
I can tell I don’t print as much as you guys. I have 3 currently empty and I had to print them. I purchase a lot of refills. I have a lot of filament for me though. My wife gives me a dirty look when new arrives…like tomorrow.
I started printing mainly in ABS and PETG and I don’t use up the colors fast enough, and I usually have a refill on hand when I do.
Using filament to make spools to use more filament seems odd.
I had some spares until I got a number of different PETG HF rolls. They were all available as refills so was able to soak up my spares. Now no spares. Hope to keep it that way.
