Post by tanephar on Aug 17, 2017 2:45:31 GMT
My first major print was this spool holder, I noticed that there seem to be a few tangles on the spools and had to retrieve one from the bowden extruder, and this appeared on Thingiverse as I was trying to work out a design to solve this issue, so I promptly threw away what I was doing and started a print run. 23 parts in all. As usual 0.2 resolution, 30% grid infill, except for the rollers and arms which I increased to 50% infill for added strength.

Available here www.thingiverse.com/thing:2479238
As you can see I have this under my desktop, it goes through an insert that has melamine sponge shoved up it that the filament passes through to give it a clean on the way to the extruder, I quickly drew this up in SketchUp, which is pretty good, but the circles tend to be segmented rather than perfectly round, but it's good enough to go through that desktop.

Then once the filament is through the desk I draw it through a short piece of 4mm OD, 2mm ID peft tubing and into the printer. It clears some space on the desktop, so I can clutter it up with other stuff, as you do., and it is clean all the way to the hot end, which can't be a bad thing.

One last thing when I change filament, I found a tip online to dip the end in Canola oil, well I use Rice Bran oil, and it works, it helps the nozzle stay clean and the first extrusion run straight rather than curling on to the nozzle. I run 50mm through the nozzle to make sure that there is good flow, using the move axis command in the prepare screen. When I print I use a skirt to make sure that there are no bits of oozed filament on the first layer, 5mm away from the part, with 5 passes, minimum of 10mm extrusion, gives great flow and no errors on that vital first layer.

Available here www.thingiverse.com/thing:2479238
As you can see I have this under my desktop, it goes through an insert that has melamine sponge shoved up it that the filament passes through to give it a clean on the way to the extruder, I quickly drew this up in SketchUp, which is pretty good, but the circles tend to be segmented rather than perfectly round, but it's good enough to go through that desktop.

Then once the filament is through the desk I draw it through a short piece of 4mm OD, 2mm ID peft tubing and into the printer. It clears some space on the desktop, so I can clutter it up with other stuff, as you do., and it is clean all the way to the hot end, which can't be a bad thing.

One last thing when I change filament, I found a tip online to dip the end in Canola oil, well I use Rice Bran oil, and it works, it helps the nozzle stay clean and the first extrusion run straight rather than curling on to the nozzle. I run 50mm through the nozzle to make sure that there is good flow, using the move axis command in the prepare screen. When I print I use a skirt to make sure that there are no bits of oozed filament on the first layer, 5mm away from the part, with 5 passes, minimum of 10mm extrusion, gives great flow and no errors on that vital first layer.