Regretting a bulk buy of PLA Basic refills

What you’re describing is the problems with loose refill rolls. There are two important steps to ensuring the refills function properly.

First one is not to let go of the end. If you let go of the end, a portion of the filament unwinds and gets loose. Once that happens there will be a loop or two that falls under the other loops when you pull it tight again. This causes a clove hitch type of knot that stops the AMS cold.

Second, once you load the refill onto the spool and remove the bands, anchor the end to a filament clip or tape it so you don’t accidentally let it go. Then use your thumbs to start pressing the filament from the center and work your way out to the edges of the spool. This spreads the winds out and eliminates the small gap between the sides of the refill and the spool walls. If you don’t eliminate that gap, the filament will drop down alongside the refill roll and bind up.

Hopefully I didn’t confuse you with all that info, if you practice these two steps your problems with refills will be gone.

You are spot on with the spreading out the filament practice. That is the number one problem when the filament gets pulled down between the refill and spool wall.

I think that color will always differ slightly between batches, no matter the manufacturer. . Even when cooking, you can follow the recipe exactly, yet the dinner won’t be exactly the same every time. Nothing reproduces perfectly I’m afraid.

Almost verbatim how I’ve always installed them since it’s kinda common sense… I’ve been using refills for over a year and none have had this problem but the whole order of this black is, so it’s not me, it’s the rolls.