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Tangling Filament

Discussion in 'Printing Filament' started by Randy Merrell, Oct 4, 2014.

  1. Randy Merrell

    Randy Merrell Member

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    My printer would be start and walk away if not for the filament tangling on the spool. Can anyone help me with this problem?
     
    #1 Randy Merrell, Oct 4, 2014
  2. 1d1

    1d1 Active Member

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    Not sure what you are saying, Randy. Tangled filament can be a problem where the tangle causes the x carriage to lift and "walk" up the filament. Or, it can get tight enough to cause the filament to break, or not extrude enough to make a decent print. In each case you have to find the problem which is most often a "cross over". If you have had filament spill off of the spool and tried to wind it back on, the thread can get rewound on top of itself and cause this problem. You have to follow it to the cross over and push the free end under to clear the pathway. Once, on a new spool where the filament just launched itself every which way when I opened it, it took several tries to find all of the cross over spots.
    Now then, if you are talking about the movement of the printer on the table while it is printing, you may have an earlier version of the software that set an acceleration rate of 3000. That causes the printer to move too violently when making those moves. Updating to the latest code will set the acceleration rate to 1300 for a much smoother movement process. Also, printing at lower speeds overall will settle the printer some and give you a cleaner print in the process.
    Good luck!
     
    #2 1d1, Oct 4, 2014
  3. Printed Solid

    Printed Solid Volunteer Admin
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    Hi Randy!
    If you check the toybuilderlabs youtube, they have a little video with tips on finding tangles.

    Just to add to 1D1, it is theoretically physically impossible for new filament to be tangled. You might have an awkward payoff path, but outright crossovers can only be due to the filament crossing over at some point. I say theoretically impossible, because if you're dealing with a supply house with poor quality standards, you could still have a spool that was dropped on the floor and then tangled when they wrapped it back up or even just a disgruntled employee doing it on purpose.

    The other issue I've had is with paper/cardboard spools. Sometimes the edges aren't stiff enough and the filament will fall down between the laid up layers and the cardboard wall, which acts about the same as a tangle.

    That LCD that is now working correctly for you also allows you to change acceleration and XY jerk, both of which will help the issue. Note that it will reset to firmware defaults ever time you cycle power on your printer.
     
    #3 Printed Solid, Oct 5, 2014
  4. Galaxius

    Galaxius Well-Known Member

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    Can you post a photo of how you have the spool setup with the printer please. if it's to the side and the filament falls off the side of the spool it can cause tangles and kinks which will cause issues.


    Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
     
    #4 Galaxius, Oct 6, 2014
  5. Mike Kelly

    Mike Kelly Volunteer

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    Do you have the clear acrylic spool holder?
     
    #5 Mike Kelly, Oct 6, 2014
  6. Randy Merrell

    Randy Merrell Member

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    I printed the top mount spool holder. I think after a little research that it's my fault for creating slack in the filament.
     
    #6 Randy Merrell, Oct 7, 2014
  7. Randy Merrell

    Randy Merrell Member

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    Speaking of my controller is there a guide to all the settings?
     
    #7 Randy Merrell, Oct 7, 2014
  8. Printed Solid

    Printed Solid Volunteer Admin
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    Not that I know of. I'm sure if you dig around on reprap.org, you will find most of them.
    I'll put that on my to-do list.
     
    #8 Printed Solid, Oct 9, 2014
  9. mark tomlinson

    mark tomlinson ༼ つ ◕_ ◕ ༽つ
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    Only once I had a tangle and it was my fault not paying attention when I fed the filament off the spool. I learned from that ☺
     
    #9 mark tomlinson, Oct 10, 2014
  10. Peter Krska

    Peter Krska Active Member

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    I have had tangles on 2 spools. I changed supplier and the problem went away.

    I questioned why would a new spool have a tangle? Doesn't make sense if it was wound on, it should be good. But it wasn't and I cannot explain why.

    Changing suppliers I do not have that problem anymore.


    Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk in Canada
     
    #10 Peter Krska, Oct 14, 2014

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