Filament for UM2

[Talmar 0]

Hey all

I've been using 3mm filament with my Unimaker2. I see lots of people like using the 1.75mm instead. How much of a difference is there? Should I consider switching over with my next purchase? Should I be using the 1.75 with the .4 nozzle? Since the filament is being melted as it goes into the nozzle, I don't see how it should matter all that much...

thanx all for your feedback!

[DidierKlein 729]

Some people claim they can print 1.75mm on a UM2 with no modifications. I haven't tried it myself.

I really think you need to change a couple of things to do so, including the head and ptfe coupler.

Why would you want to change anyway?

[neotko 1,417]

The only real advantage it's less dripping and you can cut down retraction distance to 2.5. Works great when printing lots of stuff at the same time at fast speeds where 2.85 would drip more.

To print with reliability you need a new olsson/ptfe/nozzle/bowden. 3dsolex offers 1.75 versions. On my um2 hotend I use a bowden 6-2mm. Since you are on USA you can contact @gr5 since he sells 3dsolex there.

Edit. Also you might want a new feeder bolt since um2 bolt it's designed for 2.85 filament. Mk7 works great on my setup with just robert feeder.

Edited April 27, 2016 by Guest

[Talmar 0]

thank you for the replies. I didn't know I would need to change out a bunch of parts! Since I'm lazy, I'll just stick with the 3mm!

[gr5 2,172]

Unless you have hundreds or thousands of dollars worth of 1.75mm filament I would stay away from the conversion kit.

You don't actually need a 1.75 bowden but it helps quite a bit. I will *finally* be getting some soon (after many months waiting from 3dsolex). 3dsolex is finally starting to get more serious regarding 1.75mm conversion kits and nozzles. Initially we thought we'd be selling maybe 10 kits ever. But after testing the waters there does seem to be a small niche market.

[neotko 1,417]

I think a new bowden it's a must if you really want to print with it. Hysteresis inside the bowden makes the filament twist on itself and snap when using the standard bowden. Ofc for casual print it doesn't matter but to print-print-print, you need a good bowden. Like you used to said gr5, you need the proper tools.

[gr5 2,172]

I would trust neotko.

I have not used this product yet (1.75mm conversion) but intend to some day. I got my information from Anders Olsson - he claims the 3mm bowden is great with 1.75mm filament. But he was printing with his strange filament I assume and probably had zero retractions or something. Or maybe he printed slow.

[neotko 1,417]

I see, now I get why carl from 3dsolex wants to make a concave cuvr so the filament slips better on the new umo/umo+ coupler on tfk2 that will sell soon. With a normal bowden without that iit could be imposible to insert the filament without a same id bowden. The twist snap happens indeed with retractions, the filament contracts and curves inside until it snaps on itself on pla quite fast.