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1.75mm vs 3mm filament

Discussion in 'Printing Filament' started by Ocsff, Jan 8, 2015.

  1. Ocsff

    Ocsff Active Member

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    What are the pros and cons of thin vs thick filament. It looks to me as if 3mm filament is easier to print when using flexibles like Nija flex or filaflex.
     
    #1 Ocsff, Jan 8, 2015
  2. Mike Kelly

    Mike Kelly Volunteer

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    That's correct, Flexible filaments are prone to buckling, and increasing the diameter reduces that chance. If you want to print flex filament through a bowden then 3mm (really it's 2.85mm) is the way to go.

    Besides flexible materials, 1.75 mm is the best hands down. Less surface area which reduces friction allowing for faster feed rates. Which is counter intuitive because you'd expect being able to push more filament at the same speed would be better.
     
    #2 Mike Kelly, Jan 8, 2015
  3. Ocsff

    Ocsff Active Member

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    Thanks Mike you are a wealth of knowledge. The makers of Filaflex have a nozzle that they claim allow good prints with 1.75 flament. It has a Teflon sleeve and they say it also prints well with all other filaments. Will that fit on the Robo? They did not have Robo listed but I am not sure that is just because of the small size of the Robo company.
     
    #3 Ocsff, Jan 8, 2015
  4. Ocsff

    Ocsff Active Member

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    Also saw Barnecules print Ninja flex on the Robo so guess it is possible.
     
    #4 Ocsff, Jan 8, 2015
  5. Mike Kelly

    Mike Kelly Volunteer

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    Yup, there's a couple ways to do it on the Robo. The first is using a tube, like brass, to put between the hot end and the hobbed bolt to reduce the area for it to buckle. This will work with any hot end, especially the hexagon.

    The other alternative is to us the E3D v6, which comes stock with a means of running a PTFE tube all the way to the heatbreak, I posted some picture on this in the E3D v6 thread: http://forums.robo3dprinter.com/ind...ormation-installation-guides-and-review.3407/ near the end, right above firmware


    I didn't see when Barnacules did ninjaflex on the robo, just the ultimaker 2
     
    #5 Mike Kelly, Jan 8, 2015
  6. Ocsff

    Ocsff Active Member

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    do you know what size brass tube is being put between the hot end and hobble bolt?
     
    #6 Ocsff, Jan 8, 2015
  7. Mike Kelly

    Mike Kelly Volunteer

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    I wanna say it's 1/8" or 3mmOD with around 2mm ID
     
    #7 Mike Kelly, Jan 8, 2015
  8. Ocsff

    Ocsff Active Member

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    OK I will order a piece of each and try them for fit. Thanks again
     
    #8 Ocsff, Jan 8, 2015
  9. robert sanchez

    robert sanchez Active Member

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    #9 robert sanchez, Jan 9, 2015
  10. Ocsff

    Ocsff Active Member

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    Thank you once I get my other issues solved I will do this.
     
    #10 Ocsff, Jan 9, 2015
  11. mark tomlinson

    mark tomlinson ༼ つ ◕_ ◕ ༽つ
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    I used a plastic tube that actually extended up past the hobb and had a notch for the hobb to get at the filament.
    This worked as well with an E3D v5. The tube extended down into the cold section of the hotend.
     
    #11 mark tomlinson, Jan 10, 2015
  12. Ocsff

    Ocsff Active Member

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    What size plastic tube and where did you buy it?
     
    #12 Ocsff, Jan 10, 2015
  13. mark tomlinson

    mark tomlinson ༼ つ ◕_ ◕ ༽つ
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    Well... I found a partial roll of it in a bin in my garage (probably left over from the BattleBots days--not fresh or anything)

    It is 3.2 mm OD, not sure what the ID is, but not a lot larger than the filament itself (I'd guess about 2 mm).
    there is a picture of it over in that thread (nijaflex). The notch allowed for the hobb to get in there and shove it down the tube and the tube kept it feeding down into the coldend of the print head.
     
    #13 mark tomlinson, Jan 10, 2015
  14. Ocsff

    Ocsff Active Member

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    Have any extra you want to sale?
     
    #14 Ocsff, Jan 10, 2015
  15. mark tomlinson

    mark tomlinson ༼ つ ◕_ ◕ ༽つ
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    If I have some left (and I probably do) I will be happy to send you some for the cost of postage.
    Let me look and see -- I had a couple of feet IIRC and only used ... maybe 4-6 inches?
     
    #15 mark tomlinson, Jan 10, 2015
  16. mark tomlinson

    mark tomlinson ༼ つ ◕_ ◕ ༽つ
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    Send me a PM with your address and I will see if I can find it.
     
    #16 mark tomlinson, Jan 10, 2015
  17. Ocsff

    Ocsff Active Member

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    Ok thanks
     
    #17 Ocsff, Jan 10, 2015
  18. TMaddox

    TMaddox New Member

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    Hobby Lobby has 1/8 tubing that works great
     
    #18 TMaddox, Jan 11, 2015
  19. mark tomlinson

    mark tomlinson ༼ つ ◕_ ◕ ༽つ
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    Quite honestly I am sure that is what this is/was. It was probably originally even flexible :)
     
    #19 mark tomlinson, Jan 11, 2015

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