E-Sun Filament - Cardboard spools

[mvdveer]

Don't know if anyone else has experienced this. On two seperate printers, I have had the Same problem. I use the e-Sun spool in an e-Sun filament dryer box (ABS), feeding from the top to the printer. Never had a problem with the plastic spools - fed very well. However have now had three failed prints - about 6 hours into the print (Two on one printer and another on a different printer). It seems the filament "catches/snags" This has happened when the spools are about 50% used.  This results in the filament boxes being pulled off their stands and obviously the extruder stops pushing filament.

Wondering if the cardboard spools has something to do with this. Changed back to plastic spool (50% used) as a control study and no issues at all - feeds well.

Just a thought.

[YaaJ]

Not sure I understand...

Had filament getting stuck, diving into the inner layers (poor, loosey winding). Happened two times, with plastic reels, on new spools (say first 10 meters), and doing this over and over : had to stay near the printer, for freeing the filament.
Also, due to the loose winding, loops going out of the spool on new spools and stuck around the spool holder. Too short flanges, or (inclusive) too large hub. Should have written the batch ID down...

Not in a filament dryer. On the classic V0 spool holder only. Maybe because of the PTFE making the spool too free ? (never used rollers or bearings, fearing such an issue...)

Only one cardboard spool a couple weeks back, no problems.

Never seen such inconsistent winding. I hate these spools. Plastic and cardboard. Seen much cheaper, noname filament with perfect spools and winding.

[mvdveer]

4 hours ago, YaaJ said:

I hate these spools. Plastic and cardboard

I am with you on that one - time to change brands I think. At the point where I need to order some filament. Don't think it will be e-Sun again

[claudermilk]

I doubt it's the spool. I've been printing Polymaker more than anything else lately and they use cardboard spools. No issues I can attribute to the spool material. I did have one spool that wasn't wound correctly that I had to babysit for half the darn thing because of a cross; I think it was on a plastic spool.

[Penatr8tor]

I've experienced feeding issues with < 1/2 full spools, both plastic and paper. Most of my printers just use a filament arm stuck to the side of the printer somewhere but for my enclosed printers (V2.4 & VZ330), I use a dryer box, mine is a 1st gen Sunlu that lets you feed from either the top or bottom. I used to orient the roll so that the filament would unwind counterclockwise with the filament coming off the top of the roll and exiting out of the top hole. As long as the roll was full or had adequate weight, the filament would unwind easily. Once the roll got below 50% the spool got light enough that the force to pull filament off the spool was greater than the weight of the spool and the spool would lift off of the rollers and jam, or at least create enough friction to cause print problems. Now I orient the roll so that the filament rolls off the spool from the bottom upwards to the top hole. That way even if the pull force becomes greater than the spool weight and the spool lifts... it doesn't jam. I don't know if this is your problem but it's something that I've come across.

[YaaJ]

A few years back, I made this. Works fine, solves all issues except at the hotend level, but didn't take time to adapt it to the new printers ; was able to use all the filament. Yesterday, the v0.2 filament sensor foot failed on me... this one never failed :

 

[Penatr8tor]

@YaaJ Is that you design? Looks really nice and good job if it is.

[mvdveer]

2 hours ago, Penatr8tor said:

Now I orient the roll so that the filament rolls off the spool from the bottom upwards to the top hole. That way even if the pull force becomes greater than the spool weight and the spool lifts... it doesn't jam. I don't know if this is your problem but it's something that I've come across.

Spot on! My setup has the dryer boxes top mounted and the filament is pulled down. I changed it by relocating the dryer box next to the printer (rolls off spool bottom upwards) and restarted the print last night. Glad to say it completed the print without any issues. (and the spool after print only has about 3 windings of filament left on the spool)

 

[YaaJ]

3 hours ago, Penatr8tor said:

Is that you design?

 

yes.

Very limited use : cannot be standalone, must be bolted to something.

Unusable if the filament is pulled down (my bed slinger is now pulled down)

 

 

[Penatr8tor]

16 hours ago, mvdveer said:

Spot on! My setup has the dryer boxes top mounted and the filament is pulled down. I changed it by relocating the dryer box next to the printer (rolls off spool bottom upwards) and restarted the print last night. Glad to say it completed the print without any issues. (and the spool after print only has about 3 windings of filament left on the spool)

Awesome! So glad it helped.

[Penatr8tor]

14 hours ago, YaaJ said:

yes.

Very limited use : cannot be standalone, must be bolted to something.

Unusable if the filament is pulled down (my bed slinger is now pulled down)

Cool, well the "needs to be attached to something" issue is easily remedied. Just needs a stand. Either way, it's a nice design.

[YaaJ]

Ok. If you make it, there's a second iteration, with minor diffrences. Only one hole for the counterweight effect, and it could have to be tuned by tightening the M8 screw in case of false positives.  It's here : https://github.com/yet-another-average-joe/The_Smart_Spool_Holder

I you need step's, let me know... But it will be exported as a volumic model with no functions (on my side I've no problems with that, as long as we get faces, holes, etc. I even sometime export reimport my own models when they get too messy : brute force refactorization !) (no real original files, because the software is not not very legal, and don't want to spread evidences showing what I'm doing)

(not sure it was updated on Thingiverse, haven't been visiting this website for ages)