I still don’t understand why you would store empty spools AND boxed refills, but we all have our process. It needs drying when it shows up anyway, so why not just unbox and put it on the spool?
Depending on where you live, I would honestly be surprised if you didn’t have an electronic recycling option somewhere reasonably close to you. I have a box that slowly fills up with tech junk and I drop it off every few years. Tiny rfid tags aren’t exactly filling it up. Still, I think we’re on the same page, that the RFID tag is essentially a gimmick that doesn’t really justify its existence. I tolerate it because it does save me a bit of time, but it’s certainly not part of my reason to buy bambu filament.
I’m only aware of one outfit still selling PLA at those prices and while I have no problem with bulk orders, there’s a membership required and only one color available. Less than ideal. If you have more choice from cost-effective options, I’d be happy to hear them. Honestly, I’ve been considering building a “mega-python” AMS mod to run 3kg (cardboard) spools of Polyterra, just for the convenience factor, but if I can find something I like as much for a better price, I’d certainly be open to it.
If I may refer back to the original complaint. I too have had six refills create the splitting of a spool. I too thought it was “User Error” until I noticed that in the last several instances the filament became trapped on the side and wedged itself between the spool and the refill to the point of shutting down the AMS. After I released the wedge I found the filament was crossed under it self. Thereby creating a “half hitch” that gets tighter as the spool rotates back and forth in multi color prints. [see images.] This crossing also occurs in my refill between 20-60 % of the spool used. In other words some where well after the spool has loaded and been in use for sometime. This means that the cross over occurred during the creation of the refill. This is therefore a refill production problem. What I have not determined is whether this is a Bambu filament or Amazon filament supplier problem.
BTW I found this also on my mini as well.
All but the light blue are refill spools. Note the uneven shape of the filament in each spool except the light blue. The light blue was a on its own shipped spool. As you can see the gold spool is crossed. both the dark blue and white demonstrated the same problem. In each case I saw the cross over stopped [or paused] the print and unloaded, cleared the cross over and reinserted the filament to resume the prints. That crowning shape suggest that there is other anomalies under the remaining refills. Currently I have six other refills that I have removed the spools and placed in dry boxes that I will try to reclaim at a latter date.
Right now I am having “Dirty micro lidar” problems on 2 of my X1Cs and a mini with a repeating broken filament problem caused by… [You guessed it] a filament cross over jamming problem on the mini AMS. I am woking on 3 possible solutions including the old rewinder with one piece Bambu spools. Of course this relies on getting either of my X1Cs to work. But I am in luck because my old QIDI X-Plus just needs a little bed leveling…
This does sound unusual. I’ve used over 100 refills so far, and the only time I encountered tangling was due to user error—specifically, I dropped a spool and it unwound a few turns. Aside from that isolated incident, I haven’t had any issues with refills.
If you don’t properly spread the filament after closing your spool and removing the securing straps, you might end up with filament that crosses over itself, which can cause problems later.
If you notice that your spool has crossed filament, it’s best to either respool it or carefully unwind it until all overlaps are gone, then rewind it properly.
In my case, I had to unwind about 20 meters to fix my own mistake—not a major issue, just something to be aware of.
I appreciate your comments but, this is not a “user error.”
I failed to mention that this is a recent issue as I have burned through over $2500 in filaments just last year. And for me that was a slow year. This phenomena has become a refill problem in the last 6-8 months.
You seemed to missed my point about;
“In each case I saw the cross over, stopped [or paused] the print, and unloaded, cleared the cross over and reinserted the filament to resume the prints.”
Plus that all 3 the refilla started out with flat even spools and it was well after these refills were in production [200+ grams or 20% into the refill] that these “Cross overs” and buried loops occurred.
I also pointed out that all 3 of the refills in the AMS are showing rounded [uneven and a cross over layers] and yet the light blue was [not a refilled spool] still even on the spool after about 40% of the filament was used. The other 3 each had substantial filament used from the roll before a problem arose. Plus notice again the rounded uneven tops on the dark blue and orange filaments, that shows the filament was unevenly wound onto the refill.
I am documenting the problem, not speculating about a possible cause.
This is not a “User Error” caused by novice or inattentive handling. It is a production problem with the supplier of the refills.
It must be limited to just a few users, then — I’ve had no issues with refills and have never encountered a problem that wasn’t due to user error. We’re probably receiving different batches.
I gues this is the right topic to ask my question:
I just recently bought a Bambu Labs printer.
There are some refill filament deals, and I was wondering, how do the refill filaments arrive?
Is it just coiled up, or does it come on a spool?
Can I reuse my PLA Spool (with RFID chip) for the refill PLA I order?
And is there an easy way to rewind the refill filament onto the proper RFID spool?
They come wound on the cardboard core in the shape of a spool - just there is no spool. There are plastic strip ties that keep the filament in place on the hub and it’s vacuum packed in a bag that holds everything tidy until you are ready for it.
I like the refill concept. I have plenty of spools and don’t need any more. Plus refills save a few bucks.
Things to keep in mind with refills - don’t cut the keeper strips until the hub/filament is properly installed on a spool. Make sure the spool is locked before pulling the keeper strips. And don’t let the tail of the filament get loose and cross under other wraps or the filament can get tangled. Also, massage the filament to where it widens out to fill the width of the spool. You don’t want gaps at the sides for filament to pull down into and get stuck when feeding filament.
I was a little nervous when I did my first refill spool but now it’s no big deal. You might want to practice locking an empty spool and there are also locks you can print I think that keep spools from accidentally coming apart. I’ve never used them but YMMV.
Bambu refills come with RFID tags for that filament already attached to the hub the filament is wound on. If the Bambu settings work properly for other brand filament you can just tape the tags onto the other spools for automation convenience. There are also tag holders on MakerWorld for using them with other spools. No need to rewind onto a different spool unless you want to.
This is one of the biggest keys to success. Not all windings are the same, and so when putting it into a spool you really gotta massage it and get the filament towards the core to push out and fill the gap. It’s a deep massage for your filament, and you’ll both be happy for it.
