Combination oiler and 'bowden' tube...

I came upon this quite by accident. Because I print mostly with cabon fiber reinforced PLA, one of the necessary gizmos I had to install was a sort of bowden tube to keep the brittle material straight for the last 6 inches or so before it enters the X-Carriage. For this, I simply took apart one of those cheap plastic ink pens and used the outer tube. I feed the material through this and voila, no more broken CFR-PLA.

I was however completely ignorant of the whole oiling trick until Mark Tomlinson pointed me to it (thanks, Mark!). My dilemma was how to make room for both items and then it hit me -- they are one and the same if I simply punch a hole just big enough for the material to pass freely through the endcap of the pen, plug that back into the pen shell at the bottom, then drop a small piece of oiled cotton (the puffy end of a q-tip will do) into the top of the tube. And there you have it! As the material is pulled into the hot end, it slowly turns and draws the cotton toward the bottom of the tube where it stops and stays, oiling the material as it passes through the end cap. Easy. And it works like a charm.

Edit: maybe some pictures will help...

 

What do those CF impregnated PLA prints look like? Does it squirt through a 0.4mm nozzle ok?
When I come back from my Missouri trip in a couple of weeks I want to try that CF and Bronze fill

 

Agreed. I haven't tried the Bronzefill, but the CF prints very nicely. The only problem is making sure it feeds properly, but I solved that one for myself. BTW Mark, did you ever try that turnstyle approach?

 

Cool! ....can't wait to try them!
What's the turnstyle approach?