Filament Splicer

Project cancelled, click here to read why
The idea for Filament Splicer was born about a month after our Ultimaker 3D Printer was build. As cool as 3D Printing is, printing in one color is boring.

Users of normal, single head FFF/FDM printers are stuck with single color unless they join filament pieces together to produce one multi-colored string. It is not very complicated but process is quite awkward and you will get fed up very quickly.

If you want to have proper, stable filament join you need to have right temperature on the tip of plastic when you connect pieces together. This is hard to achieve when you use some arbitrary heat source. You either underheat or overheat and burn the plastic. Using print head of your printer is best 'ad-hoc' solution but it leaves quite a mess on it, you cannot print when you splice and plastic which is in the head slowly gets burned while you take time to splice your string.

Then, of course there is issue with forming of the joint, carpet knife and fingers where our favorite tools for that job but it took quite a long time to form each joint.

We have had our share of failed prints due to broken joints / stuck filament and finally decided to create a device which will help to splice filament. Initial idea was to create fully automated unit: you place filament ends on copper block, close it, push the button and viola - you have your joint. That was the theory.... In practice this is impossible because PLA and ABS expand during heat-up and contract during cool down, this results in either no joint at all or bubble-filled mess.

Many headache filled days [Even best PLA is really nasty stuff when you breath it in for a while] later we dropped the idea and went for 'open' model with precisely manufactured grooves which help to quickly heat up, connect and form joints.

Thermal insulation was another challenge, we wanted to allow up to 260c temperature but nothing could properly insulate enclosure from hot copper block for prolonged period of time. Ceramic fiber thermal tape can take that heat but one needs a lot of it and then there is itching... Chinese tape is horrible and even best branded, made in USA [ThermoTec] tape is not flawless. We eventually gave up on ceramic fibre and went with PFTA [Teflon] plates. Since PFTA can be outright poisonous at high temperatures, we decided to use high quality - made in Europe material - this way we are sure that maximum temperature of 235c is well within safety limit.

Availability

Filament splicer can be pre-ordered via our campaign on Indiegogo, it is available as a DIY kit or fully assembled unit.

 

Assembled
Assembled
Kit
Kit

 

Open Source

Filament splicer blueprints are released under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License and can be downloaded from Thingiverse and Youmagine.

Tags: 
projects
filament splicer

55935 Comments

Anonymous

Briantriex (not verified)

on

Mon, 09/29/2025 - 22:18

[url=https://luckyjet-1win-game.ru/]lucky jet[/url], лаки джет, lucky jet играть, лаки джет играть онлайн, игра lucky jet, лаки джет официальный сайт, lucky jet вход, лаки джет вход, lucky jet скачать, лаки джет скачать, lucky jet стратегия, лаки джет стратегии выигрыша, lucky jet играть на деньги, лаки джет игра на реальные деньги, lucky jet отзывы, лаки джет отзывы игроков, lucky jet регистрация, лаки джет регистрация онлайн, lucky jet скачать на телефон, лаки джет скачать на андроид, lucky jet apk, лаки джет приложение, lucky jet аналог aviator, лаки джет краш игра, lucky jet прогноз, лаки джет секреты, lucky jet рабочая стратегия, лаки джет честная игра, lucky jet официальный сайт играть, лаки джет играть бесплатно онлайн, lucky jet crash, лаки джет краш слот, lucky jet игра онлайн бесплатно

Anonymous

JacobTib (not verified)

on

Mon, 09/29/2025 - 22:31

Ваши видео с доставкой букетов дарят веру в человеческую доброту! Заказала розы мужу на 23 февраля - он был тронут!
<a href=https://t.me/cvetaevatomskru/344>доставка цветов</a>

Anonymous

JacobTib (not verified)

on

Mon, 09/29/2025 - 22:41

Спасибо за пост про мини-букеты! Заказала розы дочкам на 8 Марта - они почувствовали себя взрослыми!
<a href=https://vk.com/wall-61709230_7326>доставка цветов томск на дом</a>

Anonymous

JacobTib (not verified)

on

Mon, 09/29/2025 - 22:42

Как хорошо, что вы ведете прямые эфиры с флористами! Узнала много полезного и заказала идеальные розы на 8 Марта!
<a href=https://t.me/cvetaevatomskru/475>доставка цветов томск на дом</a>

Anonymous

Meganrek (not verified)

on

Mon, 09/29/2025 - 22:54

намана так бывает
87d top [url=https://www.ideiaconsumerinsights.com.br/discover-the-best-days-to-trade... shipping systems corp. j88 a. v. reilly international ltd. 985 ernst The Chairman of the Commission appoints a disciplinary commission consisting of three members of the commission to identify that, should whether to temporarily suspend a person's license to engage in [url=https://directory.topbooks.my/finding-the-best-indicator-for-binary-opti... activities after registration of this chapter.

Anonymous

Anthonymaymn (not verified)

on

Mon, 09/29/2025 - 23:08

[url=https://domograph.ru/category/landshaft-i-blagoustroystvo/]simple fixes ideas[/url] I found recently, it makes house care feel much more achievable. Articles like this can inspire people to improve their living spaces step by step. I believe adding such suggestions to everyday routines can make upkeep far less stressful and much more rewarding. Advice like this not only helps with current problems but also builds confidence for tackling new challenges in the future. I found this perspective quite remarkable and it made me reflect on similar experiences I’ve had. — I really like the tone of this piece — straightforward and approachable. It’s excellent to read something that encourages learning new skills without pressure. When combined with some

Pages

Add your comment

More information about text formats

Plain text

  • No HTML tags allowed.
  • Web page addresses and e-mail addresses turn into links automatically.
  • Lines and paragraphs break automatically.