Twisty PTFE Tube

My ABS comes on a relatively small spool, so I've printed a new spindle for the back of my dibond gantry to hold it. But it seems the PTFE is following the form of the tight twists of my ABS and is causing all sorts of problems. Firstly, its interfering with the threaded Z drive, not really a major issue, but it becomes oily and then interferes with the X belt and Z brackets, both are no longer pristine white (which is a shame as it looked really good) Secondly, I narrowly missed it severing my feed during a homing operation between the Z top bracket and X end stop, its left a nasty pinch mark on the PTFE tube.

Has anyone else had this issue? Will my PTFE tube need replacing and is there a minimum length I should use if I have to replace / shorten it?

I think if your plastic comes on smaller spool than the kit was intended for you will need tubing with a thicker wall. I.e. the type used for Bowden extruders, which is very expensive. HDPE tubing might be cheaper and should be nearly as slippery.

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[www.hydraraptor.blogspot.com]

Thanks for getting back to me Chris. Will have a look around. Maybe worth changing if my supplier continues to provide my stock on these reels.

I think people have had success transferring it onto larger spools and then heat treating it to reform at the bigger diameter. It would be very easy to get it wrong I think though.

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[www.hydraraptor.blogspot.com]