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

37395 Comments

Anonymous

Albertcak (not verified)

on

Fri, 06/06/2025 - 23:35

Americans nearing retirement and recent retirees said they were anxious and frustrated following a second day of market turmoil that hit their 401(k)s after President Donald Trump’s escalation of tariffs.

[url=https://kra3.net]kraken3 at[/url]
As the impending tariffs shook the global economy Friday, people who were planning on their retirement accounts to carry them through their golden years said the economic chaos was hitting too close to home.

[url=https://kra--25.cc]kra25[/url]
Some said they are pausing big-ticket purchases and reconsidering home renovations, while others said they fear their quality of life will be adversely affected by all the turmoil.

“I’m just kind of stunned, and with so much money in the market, we just sort of have to hope we have enough time to recover,” said Paula, 68, a former occupational health professional in New Jersey who retired three years ago.

Paula, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because she feared retaliation for speaking out against Trump administration policies, said she was worried about what lies ahead.
https://kra23a.cc
“What we’ve been doing is trying to enjoy the time that we have, but you want to be able to make it last,” Paula said Friday. “I have no confidence here.”

Trump fulfilled his campaign promise this week to unleash sweeping tariffs, including on the United States’ largest trading partners, in a move that has sparked fears of a global trade war. The decision sent the stock market spinning. On Friday afternoon, the broad-based S&P 500 closed down 6%, the tech-heavy Nasdaq dropped 5.8%, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell more than 2,200 points, or about 5.5%.

Anonymous

Billyvof (not verified)

on

Fri, 06/06/2025 - 23:37

Americans nearing retirement and recent retirees said they were anxious and frustrated following a second day of market turmoil that hit their 401(k)s after President Donald Trump’s escalation of tariffs.

[url=https://kra9.net]kraken9[/url]
As the impending tariffs shook the global economy Friday, people who were planning on their retirement accounts to carry them through their golden years said the economic chaos was hitting too close to home.

[url=https://kra22a.cc]kraken22 at[/url]
Some said they are pausing big-ticket purchases and reconsidering home renovations, while others said they fear their quality of life will be adversely affected by all the turmoil.

“I’m just kind of stunned, and with so much money in the market, we just sort of have to hope we have enough time to recover,” said Paula, 68, a former occupational health professional in New Jersey who retired three years ago.

Paula, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because she feared retaliation for speaking out against Trump administration policies, said she was worried about what lies ahead.
https://kra16x.cc
“What we’ve been doing is trying to enjoy the time that we have, but you want to be able to make it last,” Paula said Friday. “I have no confidence here.”

Trump fulfilled his campaign promise this week to unleash sweeping tariffs, including on the United States’ largest trading partners, in a move that has sparked fears of a global trade war. The decision sent the stock market spinning. On Friday afternoon, the broad-based S&P 500 closed down 6%, the tech-heavy Nasdaq dropped 5.8%, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell more than 2,200 points, or about 5.5%.

Anonymous

ThomaswhowS (not verified)

on

Sat, 06/07/2025 - 00:26

<a href=https://kwikplay.ru/>мощный ПК на заказ</a> Компьютер для стрима: Высокое качество трансляций Компьютер для стрима должен обеспечивать стабильную работу во время трансляций, высокое качество изображения и звука. Сборка компьютера на заказ позволяет выбрать компоненты, способные справиться с этими задачами.

Anonymous

Дизайн-Человека... (not verified)

on

Sat, 06/07/2025 - 01:32

Дизайн Человека (human design) – это система знаний об энергетической механике людей и космологическом устройстве мира. <a href="яюh">Дизайн человека как читать </a>

Дизайн человека может помочь вам лучше понимать людей вокруг вас, их энергетический тип, и как лучше взаимодействовать с ними.
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.
Профили в Дизайне человека · 1 линия — Исследователь · 2 линия — Отшельник · 3 линия — Мученик · 4 линия — Опортунист · 5 линия — Еретик · 6 линия — Ролевая модель.
Дизайн Человека позволяет учитывать индивидуальные особенность каждого человека и учит познавать свою истинную природу.

Anonymous

DonaldGop (not verified)

on

Sat, 06/07/2025 - 01:34

pharmacy in india online <a href=" http://www.9kuan9.com/home.php?mod=space&uid=3429018 ">india pharmacy cialis</a> or <a href=" http://okashi-oroshi.net/modules/wordpress/wp-ktai.php?view=redir&url=ht... ">order medicine online india</a>
https://maps.google.com.ua/url?sa=t&url=https://inpharm24.com career after b pharmacy in india
[url=http://www.b08.com/tools/domaininfo.php?domain=inpharm24.com]india rx[/url] india pharmacy delivery to usa and [url=http://korean.travel.plus/space-uid-7637.html]drugs from india[/url] pharmacy education in india

Anonymous

AaronPremy (not verified)

on

Sat, 06/07/2025 - 03:53

Замечательно, это очень ценное мнение
this possibility of integration recognized as serious advantage for projects aimed at application versatile defi ecosystems supported by [url=https://debridge-finance.us/]debridge finance exchange[/url].

Anonymous

Angelotok (not verified)

on

Sat, 06/07/2025 - 04:26

tetracycline pharmacy <a href=" https://stgqahub.blended.co/gaedpyxmom/ ">legit mexican pharmacy</a> or <a href=" https://images.google.mu/url?sa=t&url=https://pharmexpress24.com ">pharmacy express viagra</a>
https://www.google.ba/url?q=https://pharmexpress24.com online pharmacy no prescription klonopin
[url=https://images.google.ml/url?q=https://pharmexpress24.com]wellbutrin pharmacy online[/url] Tadalis SX and [url=http://georgiantheatre.ge/user/xdzldzuskb/]pharmacy viagra[/url] risperdal online pharmacy

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.