Help! Removed the straps from a Bambu refill too soon 🤦‍♂️

Bambu Filament and Accesories
1

I made the stupid mistake of removing all the retaining straps from a Bambu filament refill before putting it onto the spool. Of course the whole thing immediately sprang out and expanded.

I’ve managed to wrestle it back into shape using some very tight cable ties (photo attached), so the filament is now pretty much contained within the cardboard core again.

The problem is the cable ties have to pass through the centre of the core, which means I can’t get the two halves of the Bambu spool together. If I remove the ties, the whole thing just springs apart again.

I’ve tried manually respooling it, but after a few turns it starts twisting/tangling and keeping tension on the whole thing is a nightmare.

Has anyone done this and found a clever way of rescuing it without respooling the entire roll? I feel like I’m 90% of the way there, but can’t work out that last 10%! :grinning_face_with_smiling_eyes:

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2

Depending on how that went, you may need to do a full respool just to remove tangles anyway.

There are desiccant holders on MakerWorld that go in a spool hub that may be able to clamp two spool halves enough to allow respooling.

And there are hubs you can use with a drill to make respooling easier.

You might be able to make new thin straps out of doubled-over cellophane tape so adhesive isn’t exposed. Get 3-4 in place and you could probably remove the zip ties and get that refill back in a spool.

Maybe?

3

If the two spool halves aaaaalmost reach each other, you can use something like this with a threaded flange to hold the spool halves together - don’t bother filling it with silica, center spool silica holders are largely BS.

4

Ahh - yes - nice idea - I’ll give that a go. I dont fancy the respooling route - 350m ish of filament to respool by hand doesn’t seem worth $15 - $20 ish to just dump it and buy more. Lesson learnt :slight_smile:

5

Thanks both ofr the dessicant holder idea. That may well work as yes, they ALMOST reach - about 5mm off…

6

Takes between 1 and 2h depending on practice and willingness to introduce intermediate cuts with the ends held down by painters tape.

Good “exercise” while sitting in front of the TV.
AMHIK :joy::rofl::joy:

7

Don’t dump it, just put it aside for now. Sooner or later, you will have a respooler. I don’t use mine often but it has let me salvage quite a few spools.

8

Could you replace the zip ties with fishing line until the spool is together? Fishing line is much thinner.

9

Don’t forget to put the RFID back on before you close the spool

10

Nice idea and I tried that but I cant’ pull it as tight as the zip ties so it doesn’t hold the filament away from the core as well.

11

Thank you - yes - I realised Id removed that as well. You live and learn :slight_smile:

12

What you can do is put the upper half spool in pushing on your refill as much as you can. It won’t connect because of the added thickness of your zip ties but it will prevent the filament to unspool, you then cut the zip ties and remove them while you keep pushing and you should be able to connect both halves and rotate to secure.