5
votes
Help me untangle my 3d printer filament
I have probably a 1/4 of a roll of filament that slid off a roll when I swapped it between a Bambu reusable spool holder. It's been on my floor for a couple months and I have not found any way of getting this back onto a spool, either by trial and error or by finding a good resource online.
All the videos I see are people with tangles on spools, and this would be nice if I was in this situation but I am not.
Any time I try to do this it's just so challenging to get any sort of rhythm or easy process with our ruining the entire thing.
Any advice?
Yeah, don't do it again. :P
In all seriousness, though, I'd print some mini spools and cut at places where it gets tangled. It's still inconvenient to need to change spools often, but it gets rid of a lot of frustration now.
I'm thinking of doing this for some small prints :(
Given the volume of loose filament, you probably aren't going to be able to fix it by hand. I haven't personally used one yet, but I imagine you're probably going to need a filament respooler. E.g. https://makerworld.com/en/search/models?keyword=respooler&orderBy=boosts
See also, this reddit post with a few specific respooler recommendations:
https://www.reddit.com/r/BambuLab/comments/1fia5mo/which_respooler_have_you_had_the_best_luck_with/
I did look into respoolers but the problem I have is I only make it 10inches before I hit a tangled mess. I'm wondering if I need a respooler and a drill to spin the filament as it goes on.
Like I said, I haven't used one yet, so I could be wrong... But can you not just totally detach the filament from the original spool before respooling the now totally loose filament in order to avoid that tangling issue?
The filament is detached and laying in a tangle on the floor, in a sad mess.
I guess I'm failing to see the problem then. If filament is totally loose already then respooling it all should be pretty easy, shouldn't it? Unless you have a bunch of crazy complicated knots in it that require serious work to get undone you can just find the other end of the filament and straighten it all out while respooling it to prevent further tangles.
When it fell off the spool it essentially was like a bound up spring, and created a bunch of knots within knots. I might take a video to demonstrate.
Ah, damn, that sucks. I've thankfully only encountered one knotted spool so far, and managed to fix it by following this video, but unfortunately I don't think that will help your case. :(
How about 3D printing an adapter for an egg beater to a filament spool? Then you can hook one end of the filament in, maybe keep tension with your other hand or foot and spool it in that way.
Would that work?
I'm thinking something like this. I put one end in a drill and it kind of worked for some areas but the twisted different in other areas.
I haven't handled filament before, but I've untangled a lot of yarn and rope. Is it a lot stiffer than that?
It has a lot more twist in it than rope. It spins up into little clumps that require sending the filament through a maze. The problem I find is once I thread a section through a "knot" it just keeps repeating for the rest of the clump.
Try the respoolers others have suggested, but also make peace with the loss of filament in case it doesn’t work. A brand new roll fell off my desk a few weeks back and despite my best effort I ended up having to toss the whole thing. Complete waste of $18 :( but in the upside I now have a spooling attachment for my drill!
This is (almost) completely unrelated but your post about the tangled spool reminded me of it.
https://www.reddit.com/r/Whatcouldgowrong/comments/1reb5nr/wcgw_drive_into_a_car_wash_with_a_roll_of_wire_on/
How much is your time worth? 1/4 of a spool is like $3-5 for most common filaments.
Yeah I know I know. I don't like to waste things, it's just me. I'll do what I can and cut my losses.
Untangling horrifying snarls like this is, weirdly, one of my great personal pleasures. It's like a meditative puzzle. I wish I could come help!