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

53841 Comments

Anonymous

ChrisBaw (not verified)

on

Mon, 09/22/2025 - 05:08

Прямо в цель
{one of |almost} {the most|most{common|popular|sought-after|famous|famous|famous} remarkable features is {quite|very|very} {low|low} {costs|investments}, {especially|especially} when trading on {the forex market|forex market | foreign exchange market}, standard accounts offer spreads of only {from|within|in the range of} 0.2 points, an #file_links["C:\Users\Admin\Desktop\file\gsa+en+BGMR19DUVR25P2URLBB.txt",1,N], however, spreads on cryptocurrencies, as {people|we| representatives of humanity} see, are {higher| more}, {than| than} similar brokers.

Anonymous

RichardBaide (not verified)

on

Mon, 09/22/2025 - 06:27

<a href=https://reumatologia.org.br>кракен онион зеркало</a> kraken onion, kraken onion ссылка, kraken onion зеркала, kraken рабочая ссылка onion, сайт kraken onion, kraken darknet, kraken darknet market, kraken darknet ссылка, сайт kraken darknet, kraken актуальные ссылки, кракен ссылка kraken, kraken официальные ссылки, kraken ссылка тор, kraken ссылка зеркало, kraken ссылка на сайт, kraken онион, kraken онион тор, кракен онион, кракен онион тор, кракен онион зеркало, кракен даркнет маркет, кракен darknet, кракен onion, кракен ссылка onion, кракен onion сайт, kra ссылка, kraken сайт, kraken актуальные ссылки, kraken зеркало, kraken ссылка зеркало, kraken зеркало рабочее, актуальные зеркала kraken, kraken сайт зеркала, kraken маркетплейс зеркало, кракен ссылка, кракен даркнет

Anonymous

whimsyglowworm2apold (not verified)

on

Mon, 09/22/2025 - 06:34

Je suis totalement envoute par Luckland Casino, on dirait une fontaine de chance. Les choix de jeux au casino sont riches et petillants, incluant des jeux de table de casino d’une elegance feerique. Le service client du casino est une etoile porte-bonheur, avec une aide qui fait des miracles. Les transactions du casino sont simples comme un charme, cependant des bonus de casino plus frequents seraient magiques. Globalement, Luckland Casino c’est un casino a decouvrir en urgence pour ceux qui cherchent l’adrenaline chanceuse du casino ! A noter la plateforme du casino brille par son style ensorcelant, facilite une experience de casino enchanteresse.
<a href=https://www.cosmeticdentistryknoxville.com/la-science-des-probabilites-p... uk</a>|

Anonymous

spunkysnail4apold (not verified)

on

Mon, 09/22/2025 - 06:34

Je suis fou de Luckster Casino, on dirait une fontaine de chance. Les choix de jeux au casino sont riches et envoutants, comprenant des jeux de casino optimises pour les cryptomonnaies. Le service client du casino est un charme puissant, proposant des solutions claires et instantanees. Les retraits au casino sont rapides comme un coup de baguette, par moments plus de tours gratuits au casino ce serait magique. En somme, Luckster Casino est un casino en ligne qui porte chance pour les chasseurs de fortune du casino ! Par ailleurs le site du casino est une merveille graphique enchantee, facilite une experience de casino enchanteresse.
<a href=https://www.purelygraphics.com/strategies-de-gains-basees-sur-les-probab... casino</a>|

Anonymous

whimsyglowworm2apold (not verified)

on

Mon, 09/22/2025 - 09:02

Je suis accro a Luckland Casino, on dirait une fontaine de chance. La selection du casino est une cascade de plaisirs, comprenant des jeux de casino optimises pour les cryptomonnaies. Le personnel du casino offre un accompagnement enchante, proposant des solutions claires et instantanees. Les retraits au casino sont rapides comme un coup de chance, cependant plus de tours gratuits au casino ce serait ensorcelant. Dans l’ensemble, Luckland Casino est un joyau pour les fans de casino pour les amoureux des slots modernes de casino ! A noter la navigation du casino est intuitive comme un sortilege, ce qui rend chaque session de casino encore plus magique.
<a href=https://egoalstech.com/uncategorized/tout-sur-les-probabilites-et-les-re... casino en ligne</a>|

Anonymous

spunkysnail4apold (not verified)

on

Mon, 09/22/2025 - 09:02

Je suis totalement ensorcele par Luckster Casino, c’est un casino en ligne qui brille comme un talisman. Il y a une tempete de jeux de casino captivants, comprenant des jeux de casino optimises pour les cryptomonnaies. Le service client du casino est un charme puissant, repondant en un eclat de magie. Les retraits au casino sont rapides comme un coup de baguette, parfois plus de tours gratuits au casino ce serait magique. Globalement, Luckster Casino c’est un casino a decouvrir en urgence pour les amoureux des slots modernes de casino ! A noter l’interface du casino est fluide et lumineuse comme une aurore magique, ajoute une touche de feerie au casino.
<a href=https://suburbanmidwestroofing.com/maitriser-les-chances-pour-des-victoi... promotions</a>|

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.