this post was submitted on 08 Feb 2026
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23
Clever trick to Un tangle a spool (old.reddit.com)
submitted 2 weeks ago by GrayBackgroundMusic@lemmy.zip to c/3dprinting@lemmy.world
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[–] mechanismatic@lemmy.world 5 points 2 weeks ago

I do this probably once a day at my makerspace. Sometimes it is the manufacturer's fault and sometimes it's just that the roll has gotten a tangle while being moved from machine to machine or machine to rack.

I don't put my finger on the tangle, but usually the tangle isn't obvious in the spool so you can't even if you wanted to.

It's really just a matter of spinning the filament around the roll enough to get some slack, then you pull it over the side and sort it out. Usually the fix involves pushing the filament around the spool to unbind it.

This is another one of those issues that you typically detect by hearing an abnormal sound since you're not watching every print all the time across multiple printers.

[–] nesc@lemmy.cafe 3 points 2 weeks ago (2 children)

Buy a spool that isn't tangled, it will only bring frustration and anger, it's never just one knot in my experience.

[–] stealth_cookies@lemmy.ca 13 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Tangled spools are a user caused issue 99.9% of the time. About the only way a spool could be tangled out of the box is if the manufacturer had to manually rewind it and they screwed up.

[–] nesc@lemmy.cafe 3 points 2 weeks ago

True, but sometimes it happens.

[–] squaresinger@lemmy.world 4 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Never had a pre-tangled spool. Tangles happen if someone lets go of the end.

[–] finalarbiter@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 points 2 weeks ago (2 children)

Some cheaper brands have poor QC to save on cost, so spools will occasionally have some tangles in it.

[–] squaresinger@lemmy.world 1 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

The last uncleanly-wound spool I had was in 2018. I haven't paid more than €25 per kg ever, usually €15-20.

[–] nesc@lemmy.cafe 2 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

I mostly buy petg that costs less than 8-9 euros per kilo. It happens sometimes.

[–] Wfh@lemmy.zip 1 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

That's a very low price. Is it quality filament ? Have any links ?

Thanks !

[–] nesc@lemmy.cafe 1 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Local manufacturers and bulk prices, unless you are in Ukraine I don't think names would help. 🙃

[–] Wfh@lemmy.zip 2 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Ah damn. Although if your local manufacturer ships to the rest of Europe, I'd be happy to try it out ;)

[–] nesc@lemmy.cafe 1 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Apparently they do international shipping, but it might be more expensive to you then buy it locally.

https://www.epoxymart.com.ua/product-category/filament-dlya-3d-druku/petg-filament/

[–] Wfh@lemmy.zip 1 points 1 week ago

Ah shame, I did a quick simulation and shipping rates + taxes would more than double the cost.

[–] B0rax@feddit.org 0 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Please explain to me how the manufacturer could tangle the spool. Both ends are fixed. I literally can not imagine how it could be the manufacturers fault.

[–] finalarbiter@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Honestly idk. It's happened to me before, but not in the last several years. I know it wasn't my fault because the tangles were deep in the spool and only uncovered late in a print, so it's unlikely to have been caused by user error during handling or filament loading.

[–] B0rax@feddit.org -2 points 2 weeks ago (2 children)

And even more unlikely to happen during production. Think about it, how would that work? Lift up the filament extruder, take out the spool, run around the extruder and continue after that?just to tangle the filament?

[–] otter@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 points 2 weeks ago

That's not how logic works. When's the last time you've seen that specific manufacturing workflow? Citation needed.

[–] finalarbiter@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago)

It's really easy to make a clove hitch- One loop basically just needs to slide under another. It isn't difficult to imagine that the machine could have a little bit of play or backlash that could affect the ends of a layer in this manner.

I've actually seen similar things happen with winches used to drive automated effects in live entertainment.

[–] Bluewing@lemmy.world 3 points 2 weeks ago

Yes, this does work. I do this if I have a tangle in a spool. I don't even stop printing most of the time because it's quick and easy to do.