About every other shipment i get from Bambulabs has issues with tangle. I believe the problem is a simple fix. Bambu is now shipping their filament by placing the loose boxes of filament in a large shipping container with zero protection. The filament boxes are loose and bang together during shipping. When i opened the shipping container on my last order two rolls of filament were loose (in their vacuum bags) in the shipping container. They found their way out of the folded flaps from their cardboard box.. I had tangle problems with both of the loose filament rolls when printing. I complained to Bambu but they feel the filament vacuum bags solve the tangle issue during shipping. Well, they are dead wrong all they have to do is add some packing material to stop the filaments from being tangled during shipping.. Filaments are getting expensive and i’m getting very frustrated with something that can be fixed cheap and easy.
It simply isn’t possible for a new roll of filament to become tangled when it’s sitting in a vacuum bag. Both ends of the filament are fixed, one end can’t just find a way to get under a preceding loop of filament on a coil.
The only way you’d have an argument is if the taped end of the filament is loose on the spool, in which case yes, absolutely you have a problem with your rolls of filament, and should put in a request to have them replaced - and that isn’t Bambu’s fault, it’s the shipping company delivering your filament.
I suspect this is either a case of inadvertent tangling you’re handling the spools, or more likely, the filament is just binding on the spool sides. It’s always a good idea to massage or flex the filament on a new roll just to relax it - regardless of the manufacturer.
Feel free to disagree, but we’re gonna need to see pictures of the issue.
Was the vacuum still intact (plastic sucked against the spools) or did the bags apear to have air in them? If the seal is broke I can see the “potential” if the spools bounced enough for the sides to flex and allow filament from the top layers to migrate down the sides if there is no other banding around the filament.
Try to have your finger on the filament end at all times while it is unrestrained, until it is restrained again. You will have way less knots. It’s human error 99% of the time. The “refill” type spools might be more susceptible to factory mishandling, and getting the noodle wrapped in too tight of a spot, but its really hard for those machines to actually create knots - thats us doing it ![]()
100% this.
I had a few “oh no” moments when handling spools when the end slips out of my fingers, especially with some filament clips that require the filament to be inserted into a hole. So I came up with a press-style clip to reduce that kind of fiddling around.
Folks, i’ve been handling filament for 7 years. No dummy.. Some of these Bambu spools are loose to the point they are difficult to compress them to fit in the spool. The last shipment i got, i find it interesting the two spools found loose in the shipping container both had tangle issues. I’ll just go back to Atomic where not once ever had issues..
In 99% of cases, this is due to the filament being handled improperly. That’s why filament clips exist - and for good reason! As soon as you fail to maintain tension, for example when loading the spool, this can happen. Even experienced users can make mistakes from time to time - it only takes a momentary lapse of attention.
Yes, theoretically, it could happen once in a million - like being struck by lightning - and the manufacturer would be to blame, even though it’s almost physically impossible. But if it happens to you multiple times: No, the problem would lie somewhere else entirely.
I’ll just say: photo or it didn’t happen.
Take a picture of the spools, as well as the clips you’re using. What kind of clips do you use?
What?
The refills all have plastic bands on them. They aren’t stretchy in the least, they do a very good job of keeping the filament contained and to within the width of their cardboard center spool until you put them on a spool, then you rip off and remove the plastic bands.
Are you saying the plastic bands on your refills are arriving broken? That would be a good cause for Bambu to replace the filament.
Or are you cutting the bands and then trying to put your refills on the spool?