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

36297 Comments

Anonymous

generator (not verified)

on

Sun, 06/01/2025 - 17:38

Дизайн человека делит людей на четыре категории, помогает узнать себя и показывает путь к счастливой жизни. <a href="https://alt1.toolbarqueries.google.it/url?q=j&rct=j&url=https://Human-De... ">Канал 26 </a>

В целом, Дизайн человека может быть полезным инструментом для самопознания, саморазвития, и улучшения качества жизни. Он помогает понять себя и окружающий мир, и найти свой путь, который приносит счастье и удовлетворение.
Дизайн человека – это система, которая предлагает анализ личности на основе информации о дате, времени и месте рождения.
Понимание своего Дизайна Человека может помочь в выборе жизненного пути, который лучше соответствует вашему характеру и предназначению.
12 профилей в Дизайне человека. Исследователь. Отшельник. Мученик. Оппортунист. Еретик. Ролевая модель.
Дизайн человека помогает понять, какой тип энергии вы излучаете, как вы принимаете решения, и как лучше использовать свою энергию, чтобы не выгорать, а чувствовать себя более удовлетворённым

Anonymous

Rogerkeync (not verified)

on

Sun, 06/01/2025 - 17:50

commander Cialis en ligne sans prescription <a href=" https://armandohart.com/user/hhariqegkv/?um_action=edit ">cialis generique</a> or <a href=" https://image.google.ki/url?q=https://ciasansordonnance.com ">traitement ED discret en ligne</a>
http://www.iidajc.org/mt/mt4i.cgi?id=5&mode=redirect&no=8&ref_eid=4&url=... Acheter Cialis 20 mg pas cher
[url=https://www.agu-web.jp/~pharmacy1/feed2js/feed2js.php?src=http://ciasans... prix[/url] Cialis sans ordonnance 24h and [url=https://www.businesswebinfo.com/user-profile/qrzsgbrdxc/?um_action=edit]... Cialis en ligne sans prescription[/url] Cialis pas cher livraison rapide

Anonymous

BlaineJew (not verified)

on

Sun, 06/01/2025 - 17:58

Viagra generique en pharmacie <a href=" https://4k-porn-video.com/user/kiqtkywjyz/ ">prix bas Viagra generique</a> or <a href=" https://www.google.si/url?q=https://viasansordonnance.com ">acheter Viagra sans ordonnance</a>
https://maps.google.co.tz/url?sa=t&url=https://viasansordonnance.com Sildenafil teva 100 mg sans ordonnance
[url=https://www.google.com.gi/url?sa=t&url=https://viasansordonnance.com]Mei... Viagra sans ordonnance 24h[/url] livraison rapide Viagra en France and [url=https://allchoicesmatter.org/user/ojanewqikp/?um_action=edit]acheter Viagra sans ordonnance[/url] commander Viagra discretement

Anonymous

Rogerkeync (not verified)

on

Sun, 06/01/2025 - 19:20

Cialis generique sans ordonnance <a href=" https://www.hapkido.com.au/user/frooikk63mailrxcorp-com/ ">cialis sans ordonnance</a> or <a href=" http://www.google.jo/url?q=http://ciasansordonnance.com ">Cialis sans ordonnance 24h</a>
https://walkinourshoes.org/?URL=http://ciasansordonnance.com Cialis pas cher livraison rapide
[url=https://images.google.st/url?sa=t&url=https://ciasansordonnance.com]Acheter Cialis 20 mg pas cher[/url] Cialis generique sans ordonnance and [url=https://chinaexchangeonline.com/user/kjdfcfohts/?um_action=edit]Acheter Cialis[/url] traitement ED discret en ligne

Anonymous

StanleyCow (not verified)

on

Sun, 06/01/2025 - 19:52

Я знаю, что надо сделать )))
Mesenchymal stem cells, as it is said, are the basis of [url=https://StemCellsTreatmentFrance.com/]https://StemCellsTreatmentFrance.c... for regenerative medicine. Chambers, I., Colby, D., Robertson, M., Nichols, J., Lee, S., Tweedy, S., Smith, A. (May 2003 year.). "Cloning the functional expression of nanog, a factor supporting pluripotency of embryonic stem cells."

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.