Hello, I am new to 3D printing. (one month) I bought the Creality K2 Plus Combo. overall I have been very happy with the quality and ease of use for simple things so far. I have been playing around with projects, watching videos, and learning as I go. The one major problem I am having is retraction issues. Mostly when using cardboard rolls. It seems like the packaging is not very good and rolls just come in bags in a larger box and the rolls are a little bent or delaminated. I have seen the wheels that I can print, but it seems like it may not fix the issue as it seems the inside of the roll that rubs on the inner protrusion of the roll holder in the CFS. I have trimmed sections off the cardboard so the delaminated flap does not rub on the inside. It seem to only work temporarily and weakens the roll itself. Not sure why Creality does not make more rolls with plastic rolls, it seems that a majority of the options are cardboard. Sure I know I can rewind the filament onto a plastic roll, but I don’t want to have to do that on about every roll I buy. This has been the most frustrating thing so far that Creality seems like they could do better on. I am venturing with some other brand filaments that primarily use plastic rolls. What are some brands that people are using that seem to be good quality? Or does anyone have any other solutions or ideas? Thanks for your time to respond.
Yes, Cardboard spools are a pain. There really isn’t a perfect solution but try your luck on some spool rings/adapter to create greater grip surface. They don’t take a long time or a lot of filament to print. I’ve had better success with the 3DHoJor adapters as opposed to others. Some people claim weighting the spools helps but I have my doubts. Some have integrated ring
Search for the spool filament maker of choice and try it out. As a reference the Creality standard spool is 200mm in diameter so search for those rings that will scale your spool to that dimension.
Here are two links to get you started.
My ultimate solution ended up being to respool cardboard using the Pasta Light respooler and converted all my cardboard over to plastic spools.
Thank you Joe, I just sent a job to my printer to make a set of those wheels you shared. Looks like its less than an hour so we will see how they work. Thanks for the input, it was helpful.
In addition to what @JoeFriday said here is a link for a printable roll I use with insert adapters that will fit on spool winders.. The roll is 200mm and same size as Creality rolls.
Here is also a link to some RFID tags that will work with the CFS if you want to use them with the “CFS RFID” app for Android.
That Pasta re-winder is pretty cool. I saw one remix that adds a motor mount and support..