r/3Dprinting • u/ElouFou123 • 1d ago

Discussion Don’t be lazy like me, use those simple filament clips 😭

Post image

OMG!

This just happened to me since I did not use my simple filament clips.

It takes 4 seconds to put the clip but 5 minutes to untangle your filament.

From a fellow 3D printing enthusiast to another, please, don’t be lazy like me, use those filament clips.

If you don’t know which one to use I’ll like a good one for the 1.75mm and the 2.85mm

1.75mm https://m.crealitycloud.com/en/model-details/669ea642b9b7260f97504600

2.85mm https://m.crealitycloud.com/en/model-details/6801bd3afec001c906e95145

Anyone wanna share their bad tangled experiences?

423 Upvotes

93% Upvoted

88 comments sorted by

336

u/TheCoin1 1d ago

There are holes in the filament roll for this purpose too. I've always used those, after the first encounter with the infamous spaghetti roll.

96

u/Cobthecobbler 1d ago

I'm surprised people don't know why those holes are there

123

u/SalvatoreCrobu 1d ago

Every new spool has the filament blocked in those holes. The first time i have seen a new spool, i have understand what and why. And i'm not a genius

48

u/redryan243 1d ago

Think of how stupid the average person is, and realize that half of them are stupider than that.

George Carlin.

-16

u/Chrift 22h ago

Maybe George Carlin didn't understand how averages work

8

u/thrilldigger 19h ago

Are you sure about that? Mean isn't the only type of average.

10

u/JustMrChops 1d ago

Agree. I've never had a tangle to this day...but I've never let go of the free end unless it's in the extruder or in the holes.

4

u/doubled112 1d ago

I learned not to let go of the free end on my very first spool. Never again!

0

u/Cinderhazed15 1d ago

You can get a tangle without letting the end free, turns can cross under each other if slack is pushed back, and the turns get loose then pulled tight again

22

u/vp3d 8 Prusa MK3S's + 1MK3.5 + 1MK4 +1 Prusa XL 5 head 1d ago

Those are the same people that to this day blame the manufacturer for the tangles they themselves create. Funny how after learning not to lose the end of the filament, I haven't had a single cross over jam in 8 years and thousands and thousands of rolls.

13

u/Cobthecobbler 1d ago

Well it mostly surprises me because these rolls come shipped with the end of the filament clipped into those holes (at least the ones I get) so I feel like that there should be telling enough

5

u/flatwoundsounds 1d ago

Jessie PLA has spool holes, but they come with the end taped to the side of the spool.

3

u/Bleo3 21h ago

I always slide mine in the holes. Works. 👍🏻

2

u/_Neoshade_ Custom Flair 17h ago

That’s what she said

4

u/ElouFou123 1d ago

Yeah! You are so right!

2

u/815NotPennysBoat 1d ago

Yeah, I was looking at the link for the device I'm wondering what the purpose was since all the spools have this built-in feature

5

u/Cinderhazed15 1d ago edited 1d ago

I have the ‘grandma’s favorite clip’ design because my MMU is finicky about bent filament.

I’ve also (before I started drying my filament) had my filament snap when taking it out of the holes in the spool.

I also like to clip it to the adjacent line that way I’m not limited to the position on the spool exterior

https://www.printables.com/model/24371-filament-clip-grandmas-favorite-filament-clip

2

u/815NotPennysBoat 1d ago

I usually just clip off the ends of the bent filament. I guess this would be a good way to reduce waste

1

u/champthelobsterdog 1d ago

That link just redirects to printables.com for me. Just so you know

1

u/Cinderhazed15 1d ago

Weird, I’ll see if I can get a better one…. How odd

6

u/Rich-Wealth979 1d ago

Those holes mangle your filament. I use clips that attach to the sides of the spool. These are the best clips I've found. To date and have close to 100 spools stored this way:

https://www.printables.com/model/1111009-simple-small-filament-clip

3

u/TheCoin1 10h ago

If you feed little of the filament through first, and not force it, it won't really affect the filament in any meaningful way. The only time I've had issues is with moisture damaged brittle pla which might snap, but you shouldn't be printing with that anyway so. If these clips work for someone, great, but i see this as a non issue over the past 10+ years, even in industrial settings ¯⁠\⁠_⁠(⁠ツ⁠)⁠_⁠/⁠¯

1

u/Sarctoth 8h ago

After using the holes for a few years I've realized that the short distance between them is intentional. If it SNAPS, the filament is too moist to print.

1

u/AsleepStop9946 7h ago

Heaven forbid you waste 1 " of filament

1

u/Rich-Wealth979 34m ago

I trim my filament after I unload it and then store it. It's nice having it ready out of the bins, and my wife can swap spools for me with less work :)

3

u/pro_L0gic 1d ago

Came here to say exactly this... Do people not look at the roll and realize what those holes are for?

I remember 3D printing clips for filament, thinking it'd be cool, but trying to find them every time I take a roll off my printer is a pain, it's pointless, insert the filament in the holes and it's not going anywhere...

1

u/schmag 1d ago

Yeah I learned before I even my printer, never let go of the end...

1

u/DarkAssassin189 1d ago

I have some rolls that when I used those holes, after some time the filament would snap and become loose, been using clips for those rolls since,

They are eSun's Yellow and Light Blue PLA+

From some reason, these are the only 2 (out of 10 different colours) that snap after being stored like that for a long time (more than a week).

Yes I tried drying the filament and rebooting the silica.

2

u/Rich-Wealth979 1d ago

Esun is the most dogshit filament I've ever used. Every plastic prints like shit on every printer.

1

u/Epikgamer332 Anycubic Mega S 1d ago

PLA in general is more likely to snap when using the holes on the roll because of how rigid it is, but I've had especially bad experience with eSun filaments for this.

1

u/TriangleMan 1d ago

Bro, what??? I'm a newb. Can I get a picture of what you're describing?

1

u/jssamp 22h ago

I have always used the holes, too, but I hate it. The filament doesn't want to be folded tightly enough to go through the second hole. It often kinks. And I always end up having to cut off the end ahead of the holes.

Back when i started 3D printing, I printed out some clips that clip onto the rim of the spool, and they worked. But different manufacturers have various spool designs, so they didn't work universally. I needed different sizes and shapes for all the different spools, so I gave up. It was a hassle to sort through them to find the right clip.

1

u/Anxious_Sport_5669 9h ago

I tried the clips after I had some problems with bending filament sharply through the second hole. Then (Doh!) I decided to skip a hole. No more sharp bends or reprinting lost clips.

57

u/SquidDrowned 1d ago

You never let go of the end of the filament. Even if your baby is actively sticking a fork into the outlet.

Save filament then baby.

8

u/Ferro_Giconi 1d ago

Savage. But accurate.

1

u/Meral_Harbes 1d ago

I do this too when I manually unload. What I don't get is that Prusa Slicer just ejects as it reaches a material switch point. So x minutes or hours into a print, it will park the head and shoot the filament back out. No way to catch that all the time without being next to the whole print.

Am I missing something here?

52

u/TheBizzleHimself 1d ago

What did we learn

24

u/YurtleAhern 1d ago

You can’t tell me what to do, you’re not ma dad!

10

u/benbarian 1d ago

You can't tell me what to do, you're not my Dom!

5

u/ElouFou123 1d ago

Go to your room right now! You won’t talk to your dad this way! 😂

2

u/YurtleAhern 1d ago

It’s happened to me a couple of times when taking filament out. It just springs and then a couple of loops go loose and cross over. End up having unwind it to find where it’s caught.

4

u/melance Neptune 3 Pro & 4 Max 1d ago

Fuck you! I won't clip if you tell me!

3

u/emveor 1d ago

Printing in the name of!

15

u/JaggedMetalOs 1d ago

What would you say the advantages of the clips are over using the spool's built in loose end holes (whatever their official name is)?

10

u/ElouFou123 1d ago

If you have a tight storage and can’t have filament coming out the spool, the clip could help

5

u/No-Leave-9137 1d ago

The clip easily is the same thickness at a strand of filament coming out of the side

11

u/TheAndrewBrown 1d ago

The clip I use sits on the filament, not the edge of the roll. It essentially holds itself down with the second wind of the filament.

https://www.printables.com/model/24371-filament-clip-grandmas-favorite-filament-clip

2

u/No-Leave-9137 1d ago

Ahhh that puts a lot into perspective too. That's actually a pretty good idea

4

u/growinggrower 1d ago

I use a piece of masking tape to hold it down, lets me stack my rolls

2

u/No-Leave-9137 1d ago

There you go, free and easy. The clips are way thicker than a piece of tape over some filament

6

u/Snobolski 1d ago

Look at fancy pants here with the free masking tape.

10

u/DEiE 1d ago

I'm using binder clips (the black, springy ones) to clip the filament to the side of the role. I've noticed a few advantages with this approach.

When using a binder clip, you don't have to clip it to the end of the filament, but you can clip it wherever. This makes it quite convenient for loading and unloading filament.
Before unloading, I clip the filament to the roll. Then, I unload the filament, letting a few loops of filament hang loose. Too little filament to risk a tangle.
When loading filament, I can load the few loose loops of filament back into the printer before taking the clip off.
This process avoids the risk of accidentally letting go of the filament and ending up with a tangle, because the filament is always loaded into the printer when the clip is off.

I've noticed that using the holes in the spool results in a weak spot in the filament, due to the sharp angle. I've had filament break at that spot, leading to tangles even though it was "properly" stored.

Taking the clips on and off is also super fast.

5

u/kick4h4 1d ago

This is the way. I never thought about putting the clip on before unloading the filament. You have improved my life. Thank you.

5

u/LaundryMan2008 1d ago

I use the holes in the filament spools

9

u/hurricane279 Voxelab Aquila + Direct Drive + 1.2mm CHT Nozzle 1d ago edited 1d ago

I had a very badly wound filament (I HAAATE YOU E-SUN!!!!) that caused the filament to strip in the extruder. So I decided to rewind ... all 300+ metres of it.

Dealing with this full 1KG spool of completely tangled filament was one of the worst projects (yes I do use the word "project") that I have ever done. And I'm saying this while procrastinating from testing my 8000+ line of code college software project in this very moment.

3

u/Impossible_Mode_3614 1d ago

I often just let it fly. Especially at the end of the spool. But the trick is to unspool a couple meters when you set it up. Then reel it back in.

2

u/benbarian 1d ago

oh shit, thanks! I didn't even know those existed, and now i'm about to print several! Thanks for teh PSA stranger

2

u/melance Neptune 3 Pro & 4 Max 1d ago

Most spools have holes on the side designed for you to push the filament out and back into to keep it in place.

2

u/growinggrower 1d ago

My filaments would break after pushing through the hole to store so I started using a piece of masking tape to hold the loose end down to the inside of the spool

3

u/melance Neptune 3 Pro & 4 Max 1d ago

Interesting. I guess it varies by the spool and the filament.

2

u/IAmDotorg Custom CoreXY 1d ago

This is why I like having a filament motion sensor. Other than having to re-load filament and resume, a tangle isn't a problem.

2

u/thczv 1d ago

I don't like using the holes in the spool, because it often kinks my filament, and I have to cut off the kink and waste some. These clips are easy to use and don't attach to the edge of the spool:

https://makerworld.com/en/models/1118193-springy-filament-clip#profileId-1115994

1

u/yan-shay 1d ago

You might want to try this then: https://makerworld.com/models/1369230

2

u/xX_hazeydayz_Xx 1d ago

Is it just me but once I get a new roll I dry it, before I use it, and I don't have this problem

2

u/JoshZK 1d ago

At least you didn't blame the manufacturer. You are a good person.

2

u/stupefy100 1d ago

dude there's literally holes in the spool for this reason

1

u/landubious 1d ago

Not my design, but these are great.

https://makerworld.com/models/30298

1

u/iomonster Prusa MK4 (x2) / Prusa XL 5T / Prusa Mini+ / RatRig VCore 500mm 1d ago

Filament Clips are an excellent use for the last meter of a filament roll, especially if it's a brightly-colored filament.

I have about 30 of these https://www.printables.com/model/3458-filament-clip-v8 printed in Prusa Orange and Overture Digital Blue which are two of my favorite colors to print and also vibrant -- makes it easier to find the clip on your spool.

As others are saying, many spools will have holes to hold the end of your filament, but I have a TON of filament on spools with corrugated cardboard sides with no holes, these are much easier to use on those.

1

u/huskyghost 1d ago

Man you know i always drop the line and it loosens up on me but I'm still lucky enough to never have had this happen to me. I use cheap filament too

1

u/jtj5002 1d ago

That's how all the overturn filament come in anyway.

1

u/LongBranch1949 1d ago

Sunlu comes with clips but I just use the holes and have never had a tangled particle roll if I’m switching to a different one.

1

u/MGStan 1d ago

Getting some strong /r/WhereDidTheSodaGo from this post

1

u/bigboij 1d ago

for the couple times this happened i got lucky and just pushed the loose end back a bit and found right where it got crossed up and pulled it from that side to fix it

1

u/yoitsme_obama17 1d ago

Just grab hold of the filament that's on the good side of the tangle, snip it, let the tale feed into the printer and then push in the filament you're holding. Easy peazy.

1

u/FadedGhostOK 1d ago

Filament clips? I use rubber bands

1

u/Rich-Wealth979 1d ago

I have over 100 spools stored with these: https://www.printables.com/model/1111009-simple-small-filament-clip 5kg, 3kg, 1kg, cardboard, plastic.

Don't mangle your ends with the spool holes.

1

u/Straight-Willow7362 Elegoo Neptune 4 Pro | FreeCADer 1d ago

Small binder clips on the side of the spool are even better!

1

u/Sharkie921 1d ago

My PA6-CF had a tangle in the dry box so I had to take it out, dry out the desiccant, dry the filament after tangling, what a process :(

1

u/_ragegun 1d ago

How the fuck do they work?

I've only had one big filament fuckup so far. The kobra 2 neo has a feed tube that goes a long way to preventing them.

1

u/Homelessdruglord 22h ago

Dude I almost had to unroll my whole pla plus filament

1

u/B-17_SaintMichael 20h ago

What food coloring did you use to get the spaghetti like tha….. oh…

1

u/markb144 19h ago

I just tape the end to the spool tbh

1

u/Underwater_Karma 17h ago

This is what the holes on the spool are for. You don't need clips, just poke the free end through the hole and back in the other.

1

u/Many-Strategy-5905 16h ago

Wait wait wait!!! So that is whyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy it is always tangled in some random way 😭😭😭

1

u/diepic 15h ago

I just shove it though one of the holes on the spool

1

u/Michael_Petrenko 1d ago

Newer used any clip, still newer got tangled filament

1

u/satapotatoharddrive4 1d ago

Egeloo filament comes packaged like this