Converting from 3mm to 1.75mm

Hope this is the right place to post...

I built my own printer several years ago and have been very happy with it. It uses a 3mm extruder (direct drive) that I can no longer get parts for. Seems to use a simple j-head and .5 mm nozzle. Now I see that 3mm filament seems to be fading out in favor of 1.75mm and i should start thinking about converting. This raises several questions...

1) If I try and convert my direct drive extruder to 1.75mm, do all j-heads pretty much mount the same?
2) if I do need to change the j-head, do I need to worry about the mounting mechanism (into the direct drive body?
3) do j-heads work equally as well with 3mm or 1.75 mm or are they manufactured for a particular filament? I’ve noticed that the ads don’t specify any options for filament size.
4) if I decide to change out my whole extruder, what are some good choices to look at. I would like to stay with the to drive.

Some friends feel I should just get a whole new printer rather than modifying mine, but this one was designed for my needs ( extra large bed, rp3 controlled, the fact that I designed it myself and know exactly what needs to happen when things go wrong MOST of the time, etc).

I hope I haven’t muddled up these questions to badly.

Charlie

Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 09/03/2018 11:19AM by charlieRC.

There are a few typical mounts for a J head. It shouldn't be too difficult to find a matching configuration.

Some of the parts will be different for different filament. Most now seem aimed at 1.75mm.

I looked for E3D parts, though it appears that I got mostly clone parts.

A whole new printer seems unnecessary if you are just changing the extruder. If the rest of the mechanism works well, I'd keep it.

When I was converting from 3 to 1.75 I just printed an additional GW extruder for 1.75. Since that time (about 1 year ago) I am using just GW extruders on all 6 of my printers in different configurations direct drive and Bowden.

Quote
piper3d
When I was converting from 3 to 1.75 I just printed an additional GW extruder for 1.75. Since that time (about 1 year ago) I am using just GW extruders on all 6 of my printers in different configurations direct drive and Bowden.

GW=Greg Wade? I started out with one of those but had difficulty changing filament. May have been the one I had. The thing I liked about the extruder I am using is that there was nothing to lose nor tighten when I changed filament...just backed out the old and extruded in the new. Of course, the fact that I can’t get it any more is a huge minus. Can you send a link to the one your using and the hob you use? That was another problem I had with the Wade extruder. Seems that not all hobs are created equal.

Charlie(

Changing filament may sometimes be a problem
I've been using AJGW (Alan Jonas) version initially until made my own: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2919516 Fusion file is also included.
I am making hobs myself using this guide: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:3073001