To handle the case of filament taped to the spool, what you need is a tangle detector, not just a filament runout detector.
Since it’s a closed system, AFAIK, the only officially approved way to get that is in an AMS.
[Edit: There do exist designs though for cutters that will automatically cut the filament loose from the taped connection. You can find these referenced here in the forum or on makerworld, etc. This may be the DIY workaround for those who don’t have and don’t want an AMS, but obviously not an official solution. For various reasons I try to run stock, so I haven’t pursued this myself, but it does look as though it would work.]
The A1 and A1 mini has an integrated tangle detector in the filament hub / feeder section that works by a Hall sensor and a little magnet that is pulled towards the sensor by the extruder gears in case of a high resistance for the extruder. It should work with and without the AMS lite. Since tanglement never came across me until now, I cannot approve its functionality. Nevertheless you would have to clean the inlet of the AMS lite, if the “tanglement” is caused by the tape becoming stuck in the inlet… But if the tape “holds the filament safely” to the cardbord, the printer should just stop the printing and wait for user interaction.
The support told me the same thing that others already reported: “Problem already solved, sorry that you still got a taped spool, we will replace broken AMS lite systems…”
It’s way easier to modify your purchasing decisions away from bambu’s rolls, than it is to install some lunatic rube goldberg mechanical bladed thing in the already tightly packed AMS lol
3 more bambu rolls left on the shelf, actively being avoided because of the little tape monster lurking in them…
@pascal.schweitzer @pascal.schweitzer
Good question! It’s far more the exception than the rule. IIRC, I’ve only ever experienced it with Bambu filament. Not Sunlu, Elegoo, eSun, Kingroon, Prusa, Creality, Overture, Anycubic, Jayo, Hatchbox, Qidi, PolyMaker, 3DHojor, Sainsmart, or Siraya Tech, not to mention even more obscure brands I can’t even remember.
I started printing in July again after a pause for years. Bought a A1 during the sale, coming from a self built CTC Bizer CoreXY printer. I still have a few old spools from Sunlu and “Tianse” (an already dead brand I think). Both have folded ends. The only new spools I currently have are from Bambu Lab. Good to know that e.g. Sunlu typically doesnt do that anymore. Will give them a shot for my next order.
Hopefully many of you will skip to the end without having to read 529 posts to find an answer. It appears this has been a problem for more than a year.
I recently purchased two H2D printers and 4 AMS 2 Pros.
Luckily, I had stumbled onto this subject before my first roll of Bambu filament was empty. After seeing the problem and creating a ticket with Bambu, I received this reply from them:
"We have recently updated the way our filaments are secured. This new securing method greatly reduces the likelihood of the AMS Feeder Unit becoming stuck.
We are currently shipping random batches and are unable to distinguish between the new and old versions at this time."
Unsure if I had this problem, I decided to carefully disassemble my first spool with the label side facing UP and carefully cut one strand of the inner most layer while being careful to not let the entire spool unravel. This would ensure the filament would run out before reaching the tape, although it would obviously waste a few wraps of filament. Still better than jamming up the AMS and ruining a print. It turned out I was lucky and only lost 1 wrap of filament (about 10").
I still had my original boxes because I had sent photos to Bambu. It turns out that the boxes are easily identifiable as to which are new and old type of tape. The newer box is smaller and has different labeling.
The old black tape was applied to the outside of the cardboard and easily peeled off the cardboard with the filament. The new white tape starts on the inside of the spool and wraps over the edge to the outside so it’s not likely to peel with the filament. See photos. temp|375x500 IMG_3775|690x230
After one year, I see BL still doing their thing.
If you did not knew about this, you have a pass, but, if you knew about this issue and you STILL bought their rolls hoping something will change…no comment. You deserve it.
Just to rub it in: I used over 100 rolls so far from other vendors. No problem with ANY of them and none are using this crazy tape “solution”.
At this point I think BL is just testing how much ■■■■ their customers can take.
So…when the end of the roll is reached, does the filament detach cleanly from the white tape and go on its merry way, leaving the white tape behind, or does the end of the filament remain stuck to the spool via the white tape?
On the single spool I had so far with the thinner white tape, it released without issues.
But I did not dry that spool. Still, there’s less tape ↔ filament contact than with the prior black tapes so I am quite hopeful
Will also be interesting to see how much tape glue is left on the filament when its dried for 8/9/10 hours at 50/60/70 degrees… It seems that they keep overlooking this bit… After all we all love filament with tape glue on it being dragged through our AMS drives & PTFE tubes…
The long term solution is for all filament makers and 3D printer manufacturers to come together to standardize and spool and the process of winding. Then a solution can be found that solves this problem once and for all.
The standardization of the spool will also make the AMS design simpler since all spools will be the same size.
