Filament diameter - differences between 1.75mm and 3.0mm

Hi,

what is the reason that newer printers uses 1.75mm filament instead of 3mm? Has this something to do with the resolution? Is there a reason to choose a printer that is using 1.75mm instead of 3mm?

I'm still in the decission phase and try to find out which printer I should buy...

Thanks, Netsrac

No idea why the new printers are gravitating towards 1.75mm but if I'm not wrong, you just need to swap the hot end you'll be able to use filaments of another diameter.

1.75 mm vs 3.00 mm
[forums.reprap.org]

Based on this thread, the Dia 1.75 mm appears to perform better.

Ups...wrong thread...

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/11/2013 05:24AM by netsrac.

I disagree, 1.75mm for abs gets kinked pretty easily and is harder to grip than 3mm.

I'm still on the lookout for any evidence that one is better than the other.

If anyone has anything substancial, I'd love to see it.

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Yvan

Singularity Machine

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Yvan
I'm still on the lookout for any evidence that one is better than the other.

If anyone has anything substancial, I'd love to see it.

you probably won't find any/much that is valid,

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-=( blog )=- -=( thingiverse )=- -=( 3Dindustries )=- -=( Aluhotend - mostly metal hotend)=--=( Facebook )=-

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thejollygrimreaper

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Yvan
I'm still on the lookout for any evidence that one is better than the other.

If anyone has anything substancial, I'd love to see it.

you probably won't find any/much that is valid,

LOL!

So far it seems that 3 mm PLA can be really stiff on a small spool. It seems there is an unwinding problem caused by small inner diametre spools and 3 mm PLA.

Also, it seems that 1.75 mm ABS is prone to stripping in the extruder?

Overall, is 3 mm still cheaper than 1.75, or have prices even out?

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Yvan

Singularity Machine

i've had pla filament in the past in 3mm where it was unextrudable because it would snap as it came off the spool, i've never had that with 1.75mm ,

i've had both 1.75mm and 3mm stripping and it really comes down to the hotend and the hobb, a lot of people skimp on those and of course get crappy results, 1.75mm is quickly gaining use as the cost difference is non existant to barely trivial depending on where you live, and in some cases 3mm isn't even carried anymore.

looking at the sales of my hotends for example i have gone back to making the 3mm ones on demand as it's a 10:1 or 10:2 ratio between 1.75mm and 3mm sales,


at the end of the day it depends on the kind of printing one is doing, however fundamentally: 1.75mm requires less force to extrude = less stress on the hobb and filament contact point = more reliable extrusion

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-=( blog )=- -=( thingiverse )=- -=( 3Dindustries )=- -=( Aluhotend - mostly metal hotend)=--=( Facebook )=-

As I understand it, 1.75mm is easier to push through small nozzles because it's smaller than 3mm.

It depends on your printer, what is suiltable? Or you can change a nozzle or hot end and try 1.75mm filament . Now most people would like 1.75mm . You can chose which you like . The most important is it's quality .

Is there anything else material for reprap machine except ABS and PLA? I wanner try something else material .

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The manufacturer of 3d printer He3d
website: www.reprap.cn
Email:[email protected]
Skype:reprap.cn

I'm printing all kinds of materials using 1.75 mm filament and nozzles as small as 0.2mm. The only stuff i have problems with is elastic filament. Everything else handles 100% without problems using a slightly modified wade extruder. One of the main differences i see between others and my setup is that i use a rather coarse hobbed bolt. I only get stripping if one of my hotend experiments goes wrong.

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[www.bonkers.de]
[merlin-hotend.de]
[www.hackerspace-ffm.de]

Makeme has a good point. The area of the 3mm filament is aproximatly three times bigger than the 1.75 mm filament. That means you need three times more force to push the 3mm into the printhead. I guess that make the feeder mechanism easier to design. For the same volume to print you need to use three times more thread if you measure by the length and that might make it easier to finetune the feeding.

Does 3 mm flex or elastic filament extrude well/better, or does elastic filament always risk not working well regardless of the diametre?

I have extremely reliable extrusion with 3 mm, but if 1.75 is emerging as the standard I'll make some machines for that size.

I've also ordered a Filastruder, so I can make 3 and 1.75.

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Yvan

Singularity Machine

Everyone used 3mm.

But when Nozzle sizes dropped <0.4mm the pressure was too high, and hot ends would jam.

So they went with 1.75mm Filament.

It depends on what Nozzle size you want.

0.5mm Nozzle (Faster, larger prints) get 3mm

0.35mm Nozzle (Smaller, debateable resolution improvement) 1.75mm

If you are starting off. I would recommend 0.5 Nozzle and 3mm filament. It's more forgiving.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/13/2013 02:35PM by ShadowRam.

I have recently converted my printer to have a bowden setup. A single extruder at first, now twin extruders.

I went for 1.75mm filament from the start and this is quite flexible for use in a bowden tube.

Although I haven't tried it, I would think 3mm filament because it is less flexible would be more difficult to use with this setup.

I'm having a bit of trouble with the 3mm in my bowden setup. It takes more force to extrude and I've heard good things about bowden + 1.75mm however it's gonna cost me.

I was doubting to adjust my J-head for 1.75mm or not, but when I heard the print-head on the J-head also needs to be changed, so it would be better to just buy another J-head for 1.75mm, I have decided to look for an E3D all-metal hotend for my PLA. The space around this hotend is beautiful and the isolator is already cooled with a great stock addon (fan + holder) so I guess you can't go wrong on that one. Then, I'll go for the Bowden version of the hotend, which also includes bowden tube, connectors etc.

All I need is to design a PLA cooler for it now

So, from what I read here, when going for 1.75mm filament, it's a good idea to make nozzle size 0.4 or < 0.4? I really don't want to go below 0.4mm nozzle size, and I really want to give 1.75mm bowden a chance. My ABS printer is setup for 3mm ABS, but since I have not bought more PLA I can just finish this roll and then move on to 1.75mm PLA with the new hotend.

And then, I have another reason to start building a third 3D-printer hahaha When I have a J-head left (Or I'll rebuild my Reprap Air 2 with better parts and a J-head instead of a Budah).

I thought J-Heads could be converted to 1.75 mm by inserting a small PTFE tube inside them?

I'm planning some kind of switch over to 1.75 mm for some of the machines here. I'd like to not have to buy new hot ends though.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/10/2014 03:24PM by Yvan.

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Yvan

Singularity Machine

I sent an email to my seller and he told me I also needed a new print head for my hotend... (www.reprapworld.com)

But I would also like to try out the E3D, I've heard a lot of great things about the hotend!

I have had good results with 1.75mm filament and a 0.4mm nozzle printing ABS.
I bought two Jheads from hotends.com but unfortunately I have damaged one recently when it overheated and melted the peek bit.
They do them in 0.35/0.4/0.5mm sizes. I have two Wade extruders on top of my Ord Bot with short bowden tubes.
I went for tried and tested stuff after bad experiences with a QU-BD extruder.
I do like the look of those E3D extruders though.

Just went to buy the E3D, but it's suddenly much more expensive (why?) so I can't buy it now. Too bad.

The diameter of the filament does not have a direct influence on the extrusion force at the nozzle as the plastic is molten. It can make a difference further up the path though. It varies by hotend design for example the length of the transition zone.

The proper J heads made by Brian at RPW are machined differently to suit the filament diameter. I have found the clones that use inserts to be very unreliable. See Brain's blog post on the subject: [jheadnozzle.blogspot.com]

The biggest reason to go for 1.75 from a techical standpoibt is that Bowden setups work (much) better, at least in my experience but I have only tried one 3mm rostock. This is because of the additional bending forces. On the downside TPE is a bit springer at 1.75 which makes that harder to print.

From a practical reason as 3mm becomes less popular less filament variety will probably be available in 3mm

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[blog.think3dprint3d.com]

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T3P3

The proper J heads made by Brian at RPW are machined differently to suit the filament diameter. I have found the clones that use inserts to be very unreliable. See Brain's blog post on the subject: [jheadnozzle.blogspot.com]

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[blog.think3dprint3d.com]

Thanks, that confirms my suspicion. How exactly would the heat flow through the small PTFE tube inserted into the 3 mm bore of the brass heater block work, among other things.

I've only bought the original ones so far.

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Yvan

Singularity Machine

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Ohmarinus
Just went to buy the E3D, but it's suddenly much more expensive (why?) so I can't buy it now. Too bad.

Actually you missed the Holidays sale. The E3D was 20% off and is now back to its regular price.

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NormandC

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Ohmarinus
Just went to buy the E3D, but it's suddenly much more expensive (why?) so I can't buy it now. Too bad.

Actually you missed the Holidays sale. The E3D was 20% off and is now back to its regular price.

Oh man, that sucks (for me) ... Thanks for clearing that up. I'll go for a J-head instead now.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/11/2014 05:20AM by Ohmarinus.

I don't work for e3d or anything. But I'm getting really good quality prints on e3d, the short thermal transition length really makes extrusion control just accurate.

Quote
T3P3
The diameter of the filament does not have a direct influence on the extrusion force at the nozzle as the plastic is molten. It can make a difference further up the path though. It varies by hotend design for example the length of the transition zone.

The proper J heads made by Brian at RPW are machined differently to suit the filament diameter. I have found the clones that use inserts to be very unreliable. See Brain's blog post on the subject: [jheadnozzle.blogspot.com]

The biggest reason to go for 1.75 from a techical standpoibt is that Bowden setups work (much) better, at least in my experience but I have only tried one 3mm rostock. This is because of the additional bending forces. On the downside TPE is a bit springer at 1.75 which makes that harder to print.

From a practical reason as 3mm becomes less popular less filament variety will probably be available in 3mm

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[blog.think3dprint3d.com]

The clone J-head I have ordered doesn't have an insert for the hotend heated chamber. So the printing head is specially made for 1.75 or 3mm. However, the insulator always has a 6mm ID so for 1.75mm you would use a 2mm ID and 6mm OD PTFE tube. For 3mm filament I have a 3.18mm ID 6mm OD PTFE tube.

I think it will be ok in this fasion.

The 3mm J-head from Reprapworld has worked a 100% fine since the beginning so I don't feel like I'm going to encounter any problems with the 1.75mm version.


Would a 0.5mm nozzle still work well with 1.75mm filament? 0.35mm nozzles give a lot less extrusion, I'm a bit keen on keeping a 0.5mm nozzle size!

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/12/2014 02:33PM by Ohmarinus.

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Ohmarinus

Would a 0.5mm nozzle still work well with 1.75mm filament? 0.35mm nozzles give a lot less extrusion, I'm a bit keen on keeping a 0.5mm nozzle size!

Not tried it with a Jhead (original or clone) but 0.5mm worked absolutely fine with the RepRapPo 1.75mm hotends I was using on a dual extruder setup. There is no reason that it would not work fine.

Cheers

Tony

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[blog.think3dprint3d.com]

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Ohmarinus
Would a 0.5mm nozzle still work well with 1.75mm filament? 0.35mm nozzles give a lot less extrusion, I'm a bit keen on keeping a 0.5mm nozzle size!

I have been using 1.75 mm filament with nozzle diameters between 0.75 mm and 0.2 mm. It works fine and i expect the 1 mm nozzle i want to try to work just as well.

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[www.bonkers.de]
[merlin-hotend.de]
[www.hackerspace-ffm.de]

Ive used up to 1.1mm and it works fine, however 3mm is going to be better at 1+mm due to the lower speed it would need to be extruded at.