Jump to content

Filament pre-heater


Recommended Posts

Posted · Filament pre-heater

Hi all,

I was thinking that the curvature of the filament may cause a lot of stress in being fed to the machine, this may be even more noticeable during long prints.

My idea would be to put some sort of pre-heater before the feeder in order to reduce the plastic curvature stress.

In order to do this another brass pipe and aluminium block together with thermocouple and resistor could be used. Set the temperature somewhere around 70-80C and see how it goes.

Do you think this would be a good idea?

  • Link to post
    Share on other sites

    Posted · Filament pre-heater

    I'm wondering what problem you are trying to solve really... my filament doesn't seem to have a problem to bend to the weak curve of the bowden tube.

    You could however, remove the "stress" of the tube by hanging your extruder drive from a string on the ceiling above your machine... (I still hope to see photos of this silly idea some day)

  • Link to post
    Share on other sites

    Posted · Filament pre-heater

    Hahah I like the ceiling idea but I'm afraid the issue won't be resolved.

    What I'm saying is:

    The tube bends from the hot end till the feeder.

    The filament is curved in a different way than the tube as it's curved to follow the spool profile.

    While the filament is being consumed and the spool "spins" the filament may assume a different curvature which is opposite as the one of the bowden tube.

    This would cause additional stress and force required from the feeder motor.

    By heating the filament we could remove the mechanical stress generated by the form of the spool which was generated at the time the filament was wound on the spool.

    Do you think it would work?

  • Link to post
    Share on other sites

    Posted · Filament pre-heater
    Hahah I like the ceiling idea but I'm afraid the issue won't be resolved.

    What I'm saying is:

    The tube bends from the hot end till the feeder.

    The filament is curved in a different way than the tube as it's curved to follow the spool profile.

    While the filament is being consumed and the spool "spins" the filament may assume a different curvature which is opposite as the one of the bowden tube.

    This would cause additional stress and force required from the feeder motor.

    By heating the filament we could remove the mechanical stress generated by the form of the spool which was generated at the time the filament was wound on the spool.

    Do you think it would work?

    Me thinks you are overthinking an issue that really isn't an issue, and introduce all sorts of other problems.

    the filament really has no problem following the bowden, and will internally twist itself to it's original shape. you can see that if your bowden is a bit longer than the stock (i.e. mine) and also when you take the filament out, you'll see how the tooth marks aren't in a straight line, but in a helix.

    secondly, heating the filament makes it soft, and it will 'bunch up' in the bowden,and cause more problems, potentially getting stuck in the bowden, or even worse before the hotend. the force necessary to conform the filament to the bowden is orders of magnitude smaller than the force necessary to push it through the hot end.

    in my opinion, stay cool.

  • Link to post
    Share on other sites

    Create an account or sign in to comment

    You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

    Create an account

    Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

    Register a new account

    Sign in

    Already have an account? Sign in here.

    Sign In Now
    • Our picks

      • UltiMaker Cura 5.8 Stable released 🎉
        In the Cura 5.8 stable release, everyone can now tune their Z seams to look better than ever. Method series users get access to new material profiles, and the base Method model now has a printer profile, meaning the whole Method series is now supported in Cura!
        • 5 replies
      • Introducing the UltiMaker Factor 4
        We are happy to announce the next evolution in the UltiMaker 3D printer lineup: the UltiMaker Factor 4 industrial-grade 3D printer, designed to take manufacturing to new levels of efficiency and reliability. Factor 4 is an end-to-end 3D printing solution for light industrial applications
          • Thanks
          • Like
        • 3 replies
    ×
    ×
    • Create New...