Filament tube routing

I have noticed that at times the spool on the back of the machine will have more tightly wound filament than at other times. When that happens, there is more pull on the PTFE tube, and the end of the tube (where the filament goes into the extruder) has gotten slightly smushed. On the picture at the top of the install manual, the tube is nicely flowing around the spool, but all I can seem to get the tube to do for me is to make this toroidal shape that seems to have too many turns to be good for extruder life. How have others dealt with this?

I am also using a modified spool holder that is the same as the kit one, just larger to accommodate my smaller spool sizes.

Thanks!

I used to have similar problems so I switched to the spool holder below. Lot less friction with the spool spinning on a metal rod
Just print a dust filter to run in line, no tubing.

[www.thingiverse.com]

Yes but it drags on the carriage so will cause some positional error. The Bowden tube stops the force needed to pull the filament dragging on the head.

I prefer a little friction on the spool, otherwise it can unwind itself and let a coil slip over the rim. It then jams.

The trend seem to be to supply filament on ever smaller spools. PLA doesn't like to bend to such a small radius so I think heat is used to set it. It then becomes a pain to feed. I much prefer larger spools.

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[www.hydraraptor.blogspot.com]

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nophead
I much prefer larger spools.

Definately my preference. I only have one small (RepRapWorld sized) spool from meXhibit and only because it was the only place I could find the color I wanted. YES, the small radius is definately a problem...

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Bob Morrison
Wörth am Rhein, Germany
"Luke, use the source!"
BLOG - PHOTOS - Thingiverse

Those small spools are a pain in the neck! I have a bunch of cheap PLA that comes on these small spools because I it was cheaper and I wanted to test what I could do before splashing out on the more expensive stuff but I rue the day I made that call. Sometimes it's so tightly wound that the spool flanges aren't even parallel, which means they slip off the bearings and cause it to jam even easier! Definitely a false economy - the Faberdashery stuff I use now is very consistent and a joy to use. I only wish there was an easier way to load it on and off since they don't sell it on spools - the printed spools I've tried don't roll nearly as well.

Has anybody successfully modded one of those large spools to split at the hub, which would make it easier to fit the Faberdashery coils? I daren't take my dremel to mine in case I lose the only working spool I own!

When I used to get reprapsource ABS in 5kg coils I made a big spool I could split with two octagons of MDF with eight lengths of M8 studding and 32 nuts and washers to form the hub. I then used to wind it onto another spool with an electric drill. The reason I didn't use it directly off the split spool was that one couldn't guarantee the coil didn't cross itself at some point which makes it impossible to unwind. Also sometimes it would go from unwinding from the outside to unwinding from the inside which takes a lot more force. Re-spooling into proper layers was the only way to get a reliable feed.

I don't know if the Fabberdashery ones are guaranteed to unwind. It only needs the loose end to pass through one of the other coils to form a knot that you can't see.

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[www.hydraraptor.blogspot.com]

Hmm. If you have any tips for winding in layers I'd be open to advice - I wound my 100m Faberdashery coil onto one of your spools by hand and I've done exactly the thing you described; there are crossovers and all sorts of weirdness going on which causes stray strands to "pop" out during printing and at times pull from the inner layers. In contrast, if I just take the filament out of the Faberdashery bag and feed the free end into my bowden tube then it unravels very neatly, albeit I have to keep turning the coil to prevent it from twisting itself to breaking point. A skyhook sounds like the answer for this filament but I can't fit one where my printer is located.

I made a wall mounted filament holder at a bit of a distance from the printer. It seems that sometimes people get over complicated. All that is needed is a couple of wall mounted supports and some thick copper wire which can hold either a spool or loose filament.

Ralph Hilton Wrote:
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> I made a wall mounted filament holder at a bit of
> a distance from the printer. [...] All that is
> needed is a couple of wall mounted supports and
> some thick copper wire which can hold either a
> spool or loose filament.

Sounds interesting! Do you have a picture?

It isn't working very well now. I have had problems with the bowden tube jamming into the extruder. Without the bowden tube the filament puts too much tension on the extruder :-( Getting to the end of my first 1kg roll was really difficult - with a new roll it is easier again.

Gentlemen,

as you can see from the product description you can chose the spool size. Just send an inquiry indicating the spool size (16 or 20 cm).

Regards
Amir