The refill filament spools suck. They are too delicate and don’t lock properly. I’m 5 hours into a 9 hour print, do a refill and the spool comes apart. Fm. I attempted to lock the spool several times. The spool needs a redesign.
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You probably didnt clip it properly. After many 20+ refills and 10+ printed spools (sometimes more fragile than i’d like), I’ve never had any issues like this. I also recently printed some clips to squeeze in the spool to fully lock it in place.
I honeslty think it’s user error and you didn’t lock the spool properly.
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I had this happen once. Once.
First of all you never want to start to undo the safety straps on the refill until it is fully locked into the spool. This makes surer the refill stays thin enough to easily allow the spool to lock.
Then you need to make sure you get that final locking click without applying too much pressure and breaking the spool apart. Without the final locking click the spool can come apart in the AMS due to the stresses of winding and rewinding.
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The problem you are having either a defective spool, or the spool was not assembled correctly.
The vast majority does not have this problem. I admit that you may have a problematic spool but saying they all suck is not the case.
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The ‘user error’ is a result of poor design. The design is such that they are difficult to clip properly. The teeth should be longer with more angle so the spool halves can be further apart when they start to engage and the teeth big enough to help draw the halves together as the halves are rotated.
With the current design, it is difficult to get the halves seated when pushing against the filament because of the shallow teeth angle. It’s hard enough to do this the first time with the filament retainer strips in place but if the spool unclips midprint its very difficult to get the spool reclipped again.
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So you printed some clips to help lock it in place? If the refillable spool was designed properly would you needed to have done that?
This has happened to me once, the very first time I used a refill, I did not get a click when I put the two spool halves together, I learned that lesson quickly, never had another issue with refills - I’m on my 8th refill with no issues.
But maybe you do have a defective spool, however unlikely that may be.
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The clips were part of the models of the spools I printed off of MW and yeah they work. Never had to use one for the bambu spools.
Again, never had this issue. Just press, twist, and make sure it s secured…
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I’m gonna plug my own designer here! Hehe. Hopefully no one minds too much.
I handle a lot of refills. It hurts my wrist after awhile. The nature of a refill means it’s prone to various issues. They can be prevented with careful attention when putting the refill on the spool though.
I did design a 3d printable spool though with the aim of making the refills easier to deal with. It uses a screw design so it can be tightened/camped down on the refill better (I’ve found the width of a refill can vary just enough to cause problems with the fixed width spools). I have a lock ring mechanism on it too, to prevent the two halves from unscrewing while in use.
Check it out as an alternative!
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Hey folks, it was indeed user error. In going back over the instructions, I had missed lining up the slot in the refill with the tab on the spool. Also, my refill listed that I should peel back the self adhesive RFID and stick it to the side of the spool, but it seems this is no longer required as the refill had a strip with two RFIDs, which are not self adhesive.
Only 3h33m left of printing my GT 5M timing pulley.
Thanks all.
The sticker that comes with the refill is to attach to the reusable spool to show what name/type of filament you have in the spool, the sticker has a vague measurement of how much filament is left in the spool too. The actual RFID tags come already attached to the cardboard core of the refill.
The tab! Yep, this is exactly how I messed up my first refill. Haven’t had a problem since.
I have a sheet of silicone rubber that I keep on my desktop for holding build plates still while scraping things off. I’ll put that piece on the floor, then set the ready-to-clip-together spool on it. Then I put my weight on it, rotating it to lock. Then I shove a lock clip into the spool interface after it’s secured.
Never have a problem. At all. Of course, one does have to line up the cardboard spool’s slot with the plastic spool’s indexing tab.
I have a welding fixture table. I clamped the spool with the tab down on the fixture table. It allowed me to bare down while locking the upper spool without the tabbed spool turning. I know all you printing hotshots have 3D printed a jig to hold all these together. 
At least my GT 5M timing pulley turned out well.
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From an engineering and practial stand point , it’s insane that so many fan boys defend a product with so many “user errors”. But fan boys do what fan boys do
Bambu refills …
Take up more square footage than cardboard rolls
Less recyclable compared to carboard rolls
Crazy expensive compared to the competetion
And full of “user errors” due to completely unnecessary moving parts
Bambu labs potentially profits every time a “user error” occurs (assuming you buy another to replace it). The whole don’t use cardbaord rolls in a ams because of the dust is completely solved with a no moving part, reuseable $0.10 1 hr print.
There is no argument for them, the seconds you save from the rfid, are totally smotherd by the minute it takes to assemble them .
Even if your the guru of bambu refills, you use them long enough , your refill spools will all fail and break eventually…sometimes in the middle of print
I dont personally get why people defend them, but people defend $300+ 1-2kg rolls of asa for stratos machines, because there to lazy to dry their filament.
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So… not to “fanboy” in defense of Bambu, because I’m not and there is plenty to criticize them for at the moment, but I don’t know what you’re on about here.
I just compared a refill (still in box) with a full, sealed cardboard spool and short of submerging both in water to measure displacement, it’s a pretty close race, but I think the edge goes to the refill. Unboxed, but still sealed in plastic, the refill wins for sure. Unless you’re measuring the size of a refil PLUS the size of the empty refillable spool? I’m just not picking up what you’re putting down.
They both come sealed in plastic bags which are not ideal from a recycling standpoint, though the bag might be slightly smaller on a refill. The cardboard is recyclable on both.
I guess it depends on how you buy, but Bambu ran some pretty deep discounts on refills at the end of last year and for things like PETG and PLA, I am having trouble finding many companies that compete. Their non-sale prices for a single roll are definitely on the high side.
I had a problem with my very first roll, managed to correct the issue without losing the roll and have had no issues ever since. I’m sure one of my spools will break eventually, but they’ve been fine so far.
I’ve got nothing against cardboard rolls by any means. Anything that creates less garbage is a win as far as I’m concerned. The RFID tag is more of an annoyance than anything from that point of view, but it’s hardly a major source of e-waste. I’ve got no loyalty to Bambu, especially at this point, but I can’t make sense out of your arguments.
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They take more room as you need to store a spool and the filament roll, compared to just a roll
There is no place locally to recycle rfid chips. Making them less recyclable
Theyre more expensive to many other filaments, which is now exaterbayed with tarrifs. Simple google sewrch shows that.
Use them enough theyll break. Try it .
Hope that clears up any confusion on my statements.
There are more affordable , less hassle, less prone to falure alternatives everywhere.
Why would I buy and store a bunch of extra spools? I load them onto empty spools when I need them - generally because another spool has gone empty, but I don’t buy a spool for every refill. They’re reusable for a reason. Once they’re loaded, it takes up an identical amount of space to a cardboard roll.
I’m sorry you don’t have a local option to recycle electronics. Probably something to take up with your local recycling agency. As I said, I don’t need the RFID, but it’s hardly significant compared to the plastic bag.
Prices at the moment are a total 
show to a degree that I can’t address without getting political. Six months ago I was paying an average of around $15 a refill, shopping the sales. You could find cheaper options I’m sure, but that’s hardly extreme. For PLA, I actually prefer Polyterra, but I couldn’t get it that cheap. At the moment, everyone’s prices are just attempting to keep pace with the whims of a paranoid narcissist (whoops), so there’s not much hope of making useful generalizations about product pricing at the moment.
Again, my spools have not broken… I don’t know what else to tell you. It’s entirely possible that one will eventually, but I’m not sure what you consider to be a reasonable life cycle for an ABS snap fit part. Legos seem to last pretty well. 
Like I said, I like cardboard spools just fine, but your comparisons seem to require looking at things from a very particular set of circumstances that don’t really apply to everyone.
I apreciate you recognizing them taking up twice the space when not in use. For me thats a significant amount of space considering to fill all my ams lite and ams spots for strictly at home printers would be 32 spools.
Space, Cost, Recyclability, Failure seems pretty broad to me , but were all entitled to our opinions. And i respect yours. I coulld try and convince my local recycling company to take electronics , or i could save money and time.
No one cares about anyones political opinion on a 3d printer forum including mine. Before or after the tarrifs your spending 30-50% more for bambu lab pla. (Not 100% on their other filaments) . If 3d printing is anything but a hobby, your material cost are extremely important.
Admittingly the number of vendors is dwindling , but theres still places 9-12$ a key, if you would like a like i’d be happy to help. You just gotta buy 10+ spools as a minimum .
Legos are a different design . I personally hope every single time you use one , it doesnt break, and you have success . As far as consumer grade machines im bambu all the way and want as many people as possible in bambu sphere. I recomend them weekly, i just dont recomend their filament if you have options .