joining leftover filament from old spool to new spool

[SiddharthTilala 0]

Hello Friends,

I was wondering, is it possible to stick few inches of left over PLA  filament from old spools to a new fully loaded spool? I dont want to recycle the long pieces of PLA if i can use it effectively.

 

Kind Regards,
Siddharth Tilala

[Curven 21]

As far as I know there are many possibility doing this with more or less complex systems and mor or less reliability...

 

Try searching "joining filament" on google, you will get some ideas. Some people use candles but it is not recomended because you have a hig risk to burn the filament a little to much and it will clog your nozzle...

 

This seem's to be a relatively good alternative for a cheap solution:

https://www.instructables.com/id/3D-Filament-Fuser/

[SiddharthTilala 0]

Thats really nice trick!! thank you for a nice hack!! it is sustainable and easy way!!

[geert_2 378]

I tried doing this manually: cut both ends at 90° angles, hold them together in a custom device (see pic below), heat a knife in a flame, put the hot knife inbetween both filament ends and melt them, remove knife, push both molten ends together, and let cool. Then you need to grind away the flange at the seam, otherwise it will not pass through the bowden tube and nozzle.

 

You need to melt both ends to get a good bonding, then it is almost as strong as new.

 

This method works and can especially be usefull for artistic purposes: to melt lots of different colors together. But it is not worth the time and hassle for me.

 

So I use the left-over ends for doing atomic pulls, or for other purposes where I need a bit of plastic. For example you can heat a left-over strand, and ply it around something else (think of cable binders). Or ply them into hooks or clamps, or whatever.