3DQF Library 
Cardboard Spools & AMS  

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Thank you for your purchase of our lovely coloured plastic spaghetti! 3DQF filament has always been placed on a cardboard spool. We have a section in the 3DQF library on the history of our spool if you are interested (late-night reading). 
 
Although we have much love for our in-house designed and made spools, we also understand that they come with some trade-offs. This post will cover these issues, and how we have gone about resolving them.
 
First and foremost, we need to first correctly identify what spool type you have.

Thankfully this is easy, We have only two different versions in circulation at the

moment, these are called the MK18 and MK19. In due course, all MK18 will be

replaced with Mk19. Identifying your spool is important as some of the printable

accessories are not transferable. 
 
                                                                                                  The main difference between the MK18 and MK19 is the                                                                                                               thickness of the corrugated board that’s used in their                                                                                                                     construction. Mk18 runs a 6mm thick board with an open                                                                                                             corrugated weave, whereas the MK19 runs only a 3mm board                                                                                                      with a much tighter packed corrugated weave. This reduction                                                                                                      in material thickness also helps us reduce the width from                                                                                                              76mm to 69mm. Another less noticeable change is the                                                                                                                diameter has been reduced from 198mm to 194mm on the                                                                                                          later MK19. 
 
The main issue for card spools is edge damage and roller unloaders placing an increased load on the very edge of the spool. This load will over time damage the edge, resulting in a printing issue. The roll will fail to unload freely causing a multitude of printing problems. To combat this we have two printable files that cover the edge of the spool in a plastic ring. This will effectively turn your Eco-friendly spool into a plastic spool in terms of unloading ability. These edge protectors are "Not" optional if you are using a roller unloader style system, they most certainly should be seen as "Mandatory". To unload a spool full of filament takes 900 spool rotations, Although at first the spool edge will look okay it will ultimately fail causing the print to fail. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As well as the outer edge protectors we also have an inner edge low friction ring. These slip in the centre of the spool and allow for a friction-free unloading experience should this be required. These are "not" seen as mandatory, the spool should unload with minimal friction without them. They are offered to allow for different setups that may place the spool at odd locations and odd routing which may cause some binding. 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We can confirm that we have now updated all the printed outer rings to work in the Bambu AMS system. This means all MK18 & MK19 spools can now be used in the AMS, The only trade-off was due to the slightly larger diameter of the MK18 spool you will need to lid of the AMS open when printing. Thank you for your purchase of our lovely coloured plastic spaghetti! As you know our filament is and has always been placed on a cardboard spool. We have a section in the 3DQF library on the history of our spool if you are interested 😊.