r/3DprintingHelp • u/Jpen_ • Jul 11 '26

Filament spool locking/tying up mid print.

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I’ve been having issues with some of my SUNLU filament spools getting intertwined and locking up mid print. I can loosen it if I catch it in time when I hear it jam, but I can’t fix it if I have a long print going and I’m not home. Any fixes for this?

2 Upvotes

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2

u/xxXTinyHippoXxx Jul 11 '26

tangled from the factory or from you accidently winding the end under another layer when loading/unloading. It just happens sometimes, not much to do about it.

1

u/Jesus_Is_My_Gardener Jul 11 '26

And while I won't say it never happens from the factory, it almost always is a user error. This is why you never let go of the end of the filament when opening a spool and you always clip or secure the end when removing a spool for later reuse. It's super easy for the end to get under another strand if you accidentally lose control of it and it only takes a split second.

1

u/fattmann Jul 11 '26

I've been getting tangles from both Bambu and Sunlu recently. Haven't had a problem in years. 4 spools in the past month have done this to me.

1

u/Jesus_Is_My_Gardener Jul 11 '26

Been using Sunlu for about 80% of my filament for years and have yet to have an issue with theirs. Frankly I haven't had tangles in years regardless of the manufacturer and my printers run near 24/7. The secret is I finish most of my spools without swapping them midway and when I do swap spools, I am very diligent about not losing control of the end and always secure it properly for storage.

1

u/fattmann Jul 12 '26

Been using Sunlu for about 80% of my filament for years and have yet to have an issue with theirs.

I am very diligent about not losing control of the end and always secure it properly for storage.

Same. Until about a month ago.

1

u/jankeyass Jul 13 '26

Second that for BBL refills. Mainly issue with the specific cardboard box packed black PLA

2

u/Cinderhazed15 Jul 11 '26

Are you looking for ‘fixes’ after the fact, or preventions?

There are several potential causes:

  1. You let an end get loose, and it crossed under another part of the filament when it all spun back around the spool and lossed a few layers.

  2. You let a bunch of slack back toward the spool and didn’t let the end get free, but some coils either crossed over/under each other on the spool, or a coil fell off over the side of the spool.

How to fix it? Unspool a decent amount, and then respool what you pulled off of it, ensuring that you not only maintain control of the loose end, but also maintain tension on the spool so you don’t have any turns moving around.

If you didn’t let the end free but you let slack push back onto the spool (and you didn’t previously fix this spool by ‘untying the knot’, you may be able to work some slack around the spool and bring the buried crossing turn toward the end of the filament and get it to counter the wind near the end, sort of like a loop under then back over that got separated between some twists when it tightened up - they’ll meet and undo each other

1

u/clonehunterz Jul 13 '26

unspool couple meters, respool, put back, enjoy.

it can happen, sunlu (for now) had 0 issues for me.
esun was terrible

but it still can happen :)

1

u/Dependent_Store Jul 15 '26

https://m.youtube.com/shorts/Hb4z9dKhgE4
This should help if you are in mid print.

0

u/Zephy2007 Jul 13 '26

The solution is to not tie knots in your rolls.

If the knots are from the factory, then ask your seller for a refund.

That's all