I don’t understand why they don’t just use garbage tape? Painters tape would surely provide enough hold power to keep it on the spool for winding , but weak enough to not leave reisdu or hold against the motors , this is kinda of crazy to me that it’s this complicated for them . also they WAY they’re taping it to the spool is a huge issue
I hope you’ve made support aware of that issue. In cases where any part of AMS/Printer gets damaged by it a refund is warranted. If it becomes enough of a problem I think they’ll address this finally to customers satisfaction.
2 Likes
It’s hard to say.
There’s also another factor involved - heat from drying. Since filament can arrive new with a range of moisture contents, it generally needs to be dried which involves a heat soak. That heat can help age tape and adhesive and may even increase the bond. My manual pulls on the cut tails of filament spools using the new tape method were actually quite hard to pull out and had tape adhesive residue all over where the tape had been in contact though the tape backing itself stayed stuck to the hub.
You also need tape that won’t tear out and get pulled through with filament. I think that’s why they went with a tape that has threads to increase strength. I don’t know but suspect masking/paper tapes might be too inclined to tear out and have small bits of tape get pulled through the filament path.
See posts 84 & 126.
In 126 @SupportAssistant state:
“Please note that the tape issue has happened for a small number of spools in a batch. The issue has been solved as described in the previous post, with the tape being correctly applied.”
I don’t know what number they class as “small” but I think we all know that is statement is totally incorrect, and looks like the problem is still persisting.
1 Like
Compare number of people who got the spool with the tape issue, then those who reached the end of the spool, then people who did encounter issue, then people who complained about it to support… I think the last number is significantly smaller than the first one and that’s the basis for “small” claim. That’s why once one encounters problem then should inform support about that, so Bambu has more accurate numbers.
I just had two separate failures with the tape and the filament not releasing at all. Multiple errors about pulling filament back, then failing to release the filament from the tape.
The ams (both of them) is worthless now, probably good that it’s on sale since it’s just a really expensive dry box.
Very sad to see good engineering with the printer plagued by such a dumb and ineffective solution.
I have had filament pulling tape all the way to the extruder. It is annoying but certainly possible to get it out of the filament path no matter where it is stuck. This may help when going through the AMS: PTFE Tube Wear in AMS and Maintenance Recommendations | Bambu Lab Wiki
It looks like the only way that this is going to get sorted by Bambu and for them to stop using tape, is for people to stop using their filaments. It’s a shame really.
3 Likes
I’d say it’s to have people complain to support about every issue with tape.
Moving through 1kg of filament is a lot of print so there’s no issue for say 99.99% of the filament, just the end and so I’d really recommend people to complain to support every single time they have even slightest issue with the tape.
2 Likes
This whole thread is giving me anxiety. I recently started purchasing Bambu filament to give it a try and to show appreciation for giving me some free rolls of filament. The more time I spend on Bambu’s Facebook, Reddit, and here in the forum, I’m seeing all kinds of people with some pretty gnarly stories of the tape pulling into their AMS and dorking it up. Between this and the probable demise of their ABS filament line, I’m really not happy with how they are handling their filament.
For those of you who burn through Bambu filament like crazy, like @Josh-3D and his crazy prints, how prevalent is this issue and should I be looking at ways to mitigate this taping issue?
I haven’t had a single taped Bambu ABS spool yet… Fingers crossed?
2 Likes
It hasn’t been a huge issue for me. It’s only jammed up a few times, but most of the time has released without issue. A number of times I’ve clipped it short at the AMS, but that’s partly being inpatient too because I want to swap the roll and be on my way. I don’t usually like load up 2-4 rolls of the same filament and do the automatic change that way, as I typically have a bunch of stuff crammed into my AMS units, so don’t usually have free slots and frankly, can’t be bothered to swap things around so I do.
The tape has been an issue, but I don’t think it’s so far wide spread. If you print with a variety of colors/materials, you’re less likely to come across it; even when doing automatic swaps on longer prints.
2 Likes
Thanks for sharing. I figure you’d probably have the largest sampling out of anyone with Bambu filaments and would have the most realistic real world experience. Glad to see that, while it’s definitely an issue, it’s not as serious as it is in my head 
1 Like
Does anyone know if this has been addressed by Bambu yet? Didn’t have time too read every post in this thread.
Just had this show up today on pla basic refill purchased in the last week. Luckily I saw it and removed tape before any jams occur but had I not been there it would have ruined my overnight print.
Are you saying that the tape came away from the spool and was still attached to the filament?
If so, then put in a ticket… Not that it will help, as they will probably do nothing, but it will inform them that they are still having problems.
Oh, Tell them the batch number of the spool.
1 Like
Maybe, seeing that Bambu Lab is reluctant to tell us the batch numbers of the spools that have the problem with the tapes, then please can the people on this post that have had problems, post the batch number of the spools.
There could be something new in the works not announced yet, but Bambu had a post above where they say the tape method had an issue but they fixed it. Bambu at least considered it addressed and done.
Not many of us agree though. Bambu is probably aware this is still an issue but what they do - if anything - will probably depend on us and if we keep buying Bambu filament or if this gets to be a big stink again.
More joys of filament in inventory. Dissatisfied users will grow in as they hit more and more tape problems and those problems will go on for months or even years as people work through existing inventories.
1 Like
Yes, I saw the tape and thought hey that is weird, let me see what happens anyway… Once the AMS pulled on the filament in that area, it ripped the tape off the cardboard. At that point I pulled the tape off the filament because I did not want to see what would happen after that. Image attached of the tape and spool.
Submitted a ticket. I agree not sure it will fix anything but have to start somewhere.
3 Likes
I am very sad to report that, more than a year after this topic started mentioning this issue, today I got a bambulab black pla spool with tape at the end of the filament… very concerning indeed…
2 Likes
I’ve purchased 38 refills of White PLA Basic from Bambu (five orders from 11/26/2023 - 5/10/2024), the first 28 rolls were flawless and taped correctly. The last order I purchased (on 5/10/2024) all ten of them were improperly taped (or used the wrong tape), and all ten eventually came undone and went through my AMS.
Bambu did eventually refund my entire order; however, that was after I had to return the first 10 rolls to them where two of the rolls failed, and they sent me another 10 rolls that were also all faulty, which they eventually just told me to keep the rolls and refunded my order.
It’s frustrating because their support wasn’t bad and I love their printers. I’ve dealt with far worse support over the years. You could tell they were aware of this issue though, and had zero issue refunding my money with no arguing, or really any tech support other than give us the serial numbers.
All serial numbers were the same: VE032J2221.
I am torn on this one, because part of me just wants to buy the spools and not the refills and see if that solves the problem, if perhaps just the refills are the problem.
3 Likes