How To: Untangle Filament // Filament Guide

It has happened to us all - tangled filament! Alec is here to show you sure-fire ways to help you eliminate tangled spools and keep those 3D prints running full-time.
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[@jjfrenzy789]

Factory never tangles a spool of filament my a**

[@Grim1873]

Somebody doesn't understand the difference between a knot and a tangle, I got a few rolls of crappy abs that have snags almost every layer so I was looking for a clever way of rerolling it, not sure why this video was at the top of my search.

[@donaldviszneki8251]

Yes thank you

[@Double-X2-Points]

A knot is where the infraction can be seen visibly usually near the surface. A tangle is when you don't feel like looking for the knot and you kinda just grab the filament by the loose end and shake it violently out of frustration

[@corr2143]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/onacfZaeeNl-gpY

[@northeastcorals]

100%. Rolls can be wound badly with the leading end being wedged way deep down the side of the spool, which creates to much friction & causes the machine to give up before damaging the motors & it declares a jam. I know because this has been the case with my last 2 Bambu Labs spools, in fact I'm off upstairs now to clear yet another jam 🙄

[@creamofbotulismsoup9900]

Filament CAN be tangled right from the factory, you may think it's not possible until you seen it first hand and had to either completely re-roll it, return it or gave up and threw it in the trash. Thankfully this has only happened to me once though there had to be at least 50 tangles when I re-rolled onto an empty spool(it was past the return window), once that was done it printed fine with no further issues. Though it is worth mentioning that this was the cheapest roll I have ever purchased, from a company that no longer seems to exist, can't imagine why...

[@kpodbot]

I have this very problem new out of the bag put it on my printer and a couple of hours in and NIGHTMARE. Time to respool it.

[@nerdyviews]

Just took 2 minutes to fix this problem on a current print that I've been babying for the past 2 hours! Thanks! Super helpful information!

[@joseamirandavelez]

This works well when you have a tangle in a new roll. you need to be able to pass the loops over the rim of the spool. If you are at the end of the spool, though, its quite difficult to make those loops wide enough to go over the rim...

[@colincampbell3679]

Well, I can only go by what I've seen Myself? I had brand new sealed up in plastic spools from a good well known maker and I cut away the vacuum sealed plastic and right away see there is a bad knotted up tangled filament spool even before I have taken off the end to cut the bent bit. The amount of spools I have brought after the years that have had already fully tangled up knotted filament on is amazing! I not even undone them and they are already tangled, so you can't blame me for the filament being tangled. The daft thing is, some of the cheapest filament I have bought from little known companies are the ones I found as the most 100% perfect wound spools and these are half the cost of the fancy filament companies did. And yes that idea he stated as to unwind the filament and then when holding the filament section near the spool end and letting that loose bit to un-wind does not work? In fact I had that loose end lot end up re-knotting up and getting totally tangled up such that I can't un-tangle it, I have to cut that section off to try to un-tangle it? It just has so much tension in it, that it goes mad and tangles up into a knot as you are holding it to try to un-tangle it? Even turning and twisting the tangled cut of length has no chance to fix it. It is beyond un-tangling. It just ties up more as you try to get around the tension and twisting filament. I got so fed up by it, I no will print out a spool to spool re-spooling set up to move under tension one full spool to a empty one. Very few spools of filament even new ones are well wound.

[@eitanskital7735]

tried the fix it doesnt work. (at least for me) it just doesnt get to the point it untangles

[@jasongrove2092]

As soon as I saw the hat I knew this guy would be able to help

[@labstream4122]

Learned it the hard way after several hours of running back and forth between the printer and my desk as the knot would just move backwards anytime I losened it up and just pushed it further back the roll..

[@aaronbeckman]

Lab Stream same. Made the mistake of having a sideways spool holder which just made it even worse when it fell off the spool

[@PacLevkov]

Same

[@Double-X2-Points]

I bet you got really tired and learned to slow down after like the 3rd or 4th 10 hour print

[@tiny3262]

I just had to throw away yet another 1kg spool a filament due to factory tangles. The spool was not salvageable due to the entire roll being horribly tangled. It was better to throw it away to prevent printer damage/wear & tear. Factory may not be able to create a actual knot, but filament can be purchased with tangles. I found it worth the extra $s to purchase tangle-free filament.

[@scooting_turtle7830]

this video was a life changing video, i wasted almost $40 worth of filament then i reached it and found this video. i did this to all my roles, no more issues

[@darrellwertz6380]

Excellent information... fix worked on a current run and saved me a lot of grief.

[@hamidrezajahani]

This video was very useful. I had problem with two spools being too hard for the retractor to pull filament from. This video helped me to both diagnose the problem and fix it. Thanks a lot!

[@s_ckem6846]

You just saved me 20 dollars. Thank you so much :)

[@williamthomasmi10]

Coming out right after the master spool video I see... ;)

[@uncleposter]

I appreciate these videos in general, but I can honestly say I've never had a knot. It's just wound bad and ends up wedged on the side of the reel two layers deep. Some filament is just badly wound and I think I speak for a lot of people when I say that securing the end of your filament is just common sense.

[@A2ZGeek]

Exactly! It's not a knot, Its a poorly wound spool, happens all the time from manufacturers. To say it never happens would be true about knots but I can honestly say I have never heard of anyone getting knots.

[@Omni_Spider]

My filament spool keeps getting too tight, and it won’t feed into my extruder. How can I fix this so I don’t have to sit next to my printer for hours loosening it?

[@I-l-l-l-l-l]

So the guy at the factory can't also make this mistake...ever?

[@samdavis1228]

I got Zyltech spool that was already binding right out the box,

[@davidcrawford6505]

@@samdavis1228 I have a Hatchbox spool that did the same. I tried unspooling and rewinding. Still failed after going to bed on a large print.

[@sirlukas73]

Yes

[@SunnyDaysRFun]

I'm bran new to the 3d printing world, 5 days now. All of a sudden printing stops because of a tangle, errrr three times now on the same project. Not knowing what causing the tangle. So I started my 4th print attempt on the same item, every 15 minutes I catch it starting to tangle and save it, so after doing this for almost 3hrs on a 7 hr print job I catch this video on how to untangle while printing, THANK YOU, you saved the day, it worked!!!! Can I just throw you a whole bunch of money? I wish I could LOL

[@halliwaxbasementbuilds]

Thank you for explaining, had 3 fails.. 18 hour print.. first night was 4 hours in, started again second night it worked until 8 hours in.. and last night 16 hours in it tangled again.. this video helped explain what I did wrong. Thank you!

[@ozon89]

You should also put a disclaimer to video this only solves tanglement problem that is happen with open end filament, but filament can stuck or tangle by retraction and tension just like old telephone cords tangle in a specific way. And sometimes this happens when you try to roll the filament back to spool.

[@DenisMartin72]

A knot and a tangle are two very different things. I mean what?1 Anyway, anytime there is loss of tension during the winding process there is a risk of tangling. So the video explanation is bull.

[@Lucyfer_E.]

3:18 i have misshandled my filament and made various tangles, how am i sure i took all of them out? is there any way to know?

[@swfinley]

This worked for me exactly as described. Very helpful!

[@eyalyonai4510]

hi im having the same problem i tried doing it but it was still tangaled just in a different place. ive done this 7 times and i still have some tangles on my spool. can it happen from the factory?

[@GIacius]

Had this issue with an overture matte pla filament roll just now. Didn't extrude properly then I used the old black one from a previous batch that uses abs for the spool instead of the cardboard being used now and it printed fine. Don't know what's up with that but.. 🤷

[@strube8]

Oh cool a company that sells spools of filament putting out a video trying to convince people that it's not possible for a spools to come from the factory with tangled filament despite the experiences of numerous consumers. Carry on

[@justinl.3587]

Oh cool another person who doesn't have a clue how filament is made. "Carry on"

[@aaronbeckman]

Edit: Okay I understand what other people mean... human error and other types of filament tangling. I was mistaken. They explain it in the video, it’s impossible to be tangled unless they tangle it right when they’re done (which would be a horrible idea and they would not do that). Seems like someone had a filament tangle and got salty about it.

[@strube8]

I've had a brand new spool that was already tangled when I opened it. And yes I was salty about it just like anyone is salty when they get defective product. Those tangles can occur when you lose tension on the spool which is something that can and does happen on the customers end but it can also very much happen on the manufacturers end when they're spooling it. My first job was actually working at a plant that made cable and I've seen spooling issues occur in real time with my own eyes. And that's what irks me about this video. It implies that it is always an issue that occurs on the customer end.

[@justinl.3587]

It's human error, not a machine error. The video implies that people blaming the spooling process are always incorrect, it doesn't blame the customer 100%. Most times it is the customer though.

[@noahlangseth5196]

strube8 I agree. If the spool is wrapped poorly, there may still be things that come off as a tangle. If it piles up in the middle before going to the deges or on one side before going to another, it may still tangle. Sure, if you held both ends and loosened up the middle occasionally as you unwrapped it, it would eventually untangle itself, but saying it's impossible to get a tangle is completely bunk.

[@TuncayAyhan]

1:05 You got a pretty great knot here just before the scene was cut away... I know mostly it's user error, but it's funny to see.

[@gg48gg]

Not that this ever happened to me ;) , but thanks this was super helpful!

[@davidcrawford6505]

This doesn't work. I unwound my new Hatchbox filament that came poorly wound and did not find any tangled area. Rewound it and it still manages to get stuck under other windings and destroys a job.

[@legendaryspvnky6220]

Dude you are the effing man. Your videos always help me. Thanks!

[@yukimizake]

Very clear explanation, thanks! In my favs. :)

[@fabsproductions1]

i have a problemwith the filament being stuck to itself and the printer isnt strong enough. how can i fix this without unwinding a lot an re winding it back on the spool

[@Proximo011]

Thank you! That helped me alot with my wound spool :)

[@DustyTheKitty]

*trying to fix the tangle mid-print* SHE'S GONE FULL SLINKY!!! ended up just snapping so i just took the reel, went down to where the spool was normal and just re-red it into the printer. I'm sure i can save that extra material for whenever i need to do a cold pull or a test~

[@stevelitt]

wow that is very helpful, thank you

[@theniftylynx6897]

I have the anycubic i3 mega and someone thought it was a good idea to pull out the metal tube holding up the reel. (I don’t know what happened next) then after awhile of my printer tugging on the not rotating reel it got super tight and somehow tangled

[@GoblinBlaster3000]

I'm new to printing and noticed that my filament was binding and would simply loosen the spool a little every now and then to make sure the print wasn't affected. After a failed print 8 hours in last night, I tried this out and I no longer have a problem with my spool unwinding. I'm guessing I wasn't paying attention when I first hooked up the spool which makes sense because I accidentally let it unwind when I took it out of the packaging. Anyways, this worked for me. Hopefully the rest of the spool keeps unwinding like it should with any binding.

[@misanthropictear]

You know the manufacturer can accidentally let go of the end too right? And cause the tangle just like would happen to the end user. The person working at the plant is only human too and mistakes happen. Like you said when the roll is finished they cut it and fold it under the side of the roll or tape it to the side of the roll, and if they drop/let go of that end before they tape, that end can go under itself on the roll just like it can at your home. It's not a hard concept to understand. Obviously it wouldn't happen mid extrusion.

[@jamalmahroof3298]

How exactly is it possible to do this mid print without pausing or stopping as you said?....

[@type568]

I guess it's impossible.. You can maintain it alive for the duration of the print though, & then fix it later.

[@francoisdesbiens3886]

Easy. Let the print continu and once you find the knot you pass the whole spool in between the filament to remove the knot. I just did that and now im confident my 24 hour print wont be wasted near the end because of that knot! Just like making a slinky work again!!

[@micah2183]

2:30 for quick answer. Thanks for your help!!

[@GordonGEICO]

On my Prusa i3 MK2S, the biggest problem is the spool rocking back and forth, either due to large movements in the X/Y direction or repeated retractions. What happens is the tension isn't recouped and the spool gradually gets looser and looser. On new spools, the filament can slip over the edge and then get tangled up in the spool holder. On a used spool, it's much less of an issue. I've tried various filament guides without much luck. A recent spool of Fillamentum ASA has been a total nightmare - it's almost like 1kg of filament on a 750g spool or something.

[@DigiTalDeaD]

I wrapped a rubber wristband around my spool holder pipe and eliminated this issue entirely on my CR-10.

[@thepolevaultguyjeverett]

At 90% in a big print… filament tangle. Stopped extruding. So so so so so disappointing.😢

[@oldplayer8025]

How do you untangle while printing without pausing?

[@fanplant]

Without stopping you get the knot off the side like you said and then pass the whole spool through the knot and then roll it back up.

[@Daveyk021]

What about when the filament (inland) is sticking to itself in the spool?

[@DropMuse]

Thanks very helpful

[@lonewolfark2270]

I opened a new thing of filament kept tension on it the whole time and its crossed in multiple spots so idk where you get it cant happen but it definitely wasn't on my end

[@geerstyresoil3136]

yep, especially with these paper rolls now, it happens more often.

[@paulnortness1354]

Personally, I don't really need the 3 minutes of explanation of why it happens, etc.....just show me how to fix it please. Furthermore, I don't buy the BS about it not being possible for a spool to be tangled in the factory. I have one roll that constantly snags and ruins prints.....it ironically is the one that I've kept tightly wound.

[@briankale5977]

0:32 I literally had a roll of your cheap MH Build, ignoring the spool was damaged in 4 different places, have a binding issue ~220g down. I took the spool, put it on my printer, cut the tape / filament 45deg, moved my hand 10cm to the PTFE tube, and away we went on a 10 hour project. 3 hours later I hear terrible grinding / plastic squeaking. Yeah, it bound up under a thick portion of wrapped layers, and was printing air, cool. If your spooling machine loses any tension at all, or deviates in the left/right sweeping, boom you introduce "tangles." You should add the more appropriate word, binding, into the video as that is what is happening, it is not a tied knot as "tangle" may suggest, but new users aren't going to discern that. But also as someone who fishes, it seems dishonest saying "it can't physically happen from us on our end."

[@Lidocain777]

Wrong, MatterHackers. When a tangle appears to be deep inside the spool, it can't be because someone somehow failed to properly secure the filament. It's clearly a manufacturing issue, because every coil layer is theoretically tightly wound ontop of the other (if you have some kind of magical formula that says "hey, people ! you CAN tangle and knot a filament in a location you can't reach", sell it. Billionaire ahead). That's something I recently had on some (not cheap) spool that was perfectly wound within the 2/3rd of the overall length, and then ... knots every 10-20m or so. Trust me, having to unwind that much filament length, untangle it, and rewind it properly ... is a f****** PITA. It takes an awful lot of time. Users can't generally be blamed. Manufacturers can. Btw, what you show as a "nice, clean spool" is a totally wasted and non properly wound spool.

[@JimMilton-ej6zi]

Yeah he doesn't know what he's talking about, he's got the wisdom of a crypto bro looking to sell someone his exit scam, basically none at all and anyone with a brain can see through it.

[@mHm2000zt]

trust me .. it's so easy said then done .. I have been in hell untangling the filament .. unfortunately I ran out of patience and raged ! and now the roll of filament became 3 separated parts=_=.. at least I solve it .. in a way .. :/

[@3rrorbro]

jes finally i can sleep wiht out worieing

[@shokdj1]

I wish I watched this before I smashed mine up in a rage lol

[@wills242]

“You can poke a little fun at them and say, ‘it doesn’t quite work like that’” This guy’s a panty-dropper.

[@valmyers5282]

As much as I still want to blame the spool manufacturer for my epic fail overnight, it all makes sense now :) I just got done fixing the problem and wanted to let you know how helpful these videos are for a newbie like me (this got me on my first spool).

[@Jqkzy]

Just had a 12 hour print fail because my filament got so tangled on the spool

[@McGarveyton]

Yes the spool will sometimes spin back from lots or retraction, creating enough slack to get 1 winding to slip under another and then bam, it cinches up... How do you keep the spool from rolling backwards on the spool mount?

[@donaldviszneki8251]

This guy has my problem. Formally this is not a knot (like the one OP challenges us to make while holding two ends of a filament. Cant be done.) But a binding tangle can definitely happen and has been happening on my ender 3 since I started using it yesterday. Personally I am thinking that I need a sensor to detect when this condition arises, pause the print, and notify me. I would love instead to find a way to prevent this altogether, but I am skeptical of the basic advice to simply never let my spool become a little slack.

[@donaldviszneki8251]

FWIW for anyone experiencing this problem, OP's advice to unravel and rewind carefully worked. I asked a friend to hold onto the filament and we carefully unspooled and respooled about 20 feet. I haven't had a problem since but keep in mind I have never changed filaments, so I'm probably at low risk for introducing slack. I'm also using a filament guide arm now which maybe also makes a difference.

[@john_blues]

Great easy fix. Thanks! But my worst fear is thermal runaway.

[@samdavis1228]

I got Zyltech spool that was already binding, I may have to respool it.

[@kensik]

Great tips dont have a 3d printer but i love usefull info

[@radicalxedward8047]

And yet you’ll still see 1000 idiots on Amazon claiming their spool came with a bunch of knots. I’ve even seen people return multiple spools without opening them because the last 3-4 loops weren’t perfectly / tightly aligned.

[@videosbyme5297]

Yeah nope, I always keep track of the loose end of the spool and have still had filament binding and crossover issues. Has to do with how orderly the spool is wound from the factory. Have had the least problems with spools that have an orderly winding.

[@caradu9973]

Ty

[@joost199207]

I've been lucky to not have this happen for hundreds of print hours, and it just happened, lucky it happened early in the print. It's the most annoying thing because you can't really see it comming.

[@edo7800]

I call b.s. I got a spool that was tangled and reached out to the company and they sent me a link to this video..

[@jaamoe_]

OMG why didn’t I see that. Thank you so much!

[@seanburke997]

Yeah, no, I ordered a "filament refill" spool that definitely came pre tangled. It's a fucking mess.

[@Redasurc]

Yeah I emptied my spool :/

[@neotroncs]

I guess they have Perfect spool pulls and no one ever looses the end. If it can happen at home it will happen at the manufacture. Just blame the customer though.

[@simondf8579]

i got Spectrum it was a MESS!

[@NochSoEinKaddiFan]

That seems almost too simple to be the whole story xD But thanks for sharing, it's good to know, as basic as it is.

[@noahlangseth5196]

NochSoEinKaddiFan It is way too simple. If filament was less than 10m, what they say is completely true. Unfortunately, when you wrap over 300m of filament around a small spool tangles are not impossible. Improbable, yes. Impossible, no.

[@Brancalbin]

im sorry but you lose all credit by stating its not possible to tangle at factory. middle of a untouched spool gets tangled, and continues to stay under rolled filament.....

[@Martial-Mat]

This was total nonsense. My tangles have NEVER occurred due to the ends passing UNDER existing loops. They occur when the filament loosens and the loops start moving over each other. For this reason your "just rewind it" solution doesn't work. There's a reason why the winding machines move side to side as they wind. Your solution all-but guarantees future tangles.

[@PigParts-s2l]

That was not a tangle

[@pwet345]

my eyes hurt looking at this video

[@aliasje2snj731]

Disliked because I looked up how to untangle a filament and the guy talks about why it got tangled for 2 minutes. I know why it got tangled. If you’re gonna do that put time stamps in your description.

[@Grognarthebarb]

Ur absolutely wrong

[@hkrickywu]

0:58 don't do this with the filament, it will tangle in seconds! I tried it after watching this video.

[@Randomplushchannel01]

BRUH, THIS IS FAKE!!!!!!

[@dugy40]

No way that works if you’re printing.

[@Double-X2-Points]

Is he trying to convince himself or us with the first 15 mins of the vid? Bro nobody is asking who gave birth to the filament knot some of us are looking for just the answer please lol. But for real nobody cares about the factory we own thousands of dollars in 3D printers and understand that the manufacturers know what they are doing already. 4 minutes is a long time and if each and every second of it isn't informationally relevant we will have to ask you to cancel your...this is taking too long to type so I'm gonna have to ask me to cancel my yt channel. Thank you guys for watching, be sure to leave a like and comment down below to let us know what you think. Wait where am i

[@irynafoyil5135]

This doesn’t work it only made it worse

[@Double-X2-Points]

Also if anybody cares, I find that most knots are weak to fire, like no defensive capabilities whatsoever