Anyone have a good Filament Buffer Mod? Something to make it easier to load.
I have been looking the the Filament Buffer Mod and have not seen anything interesting yet for a filament buffer upgrade to make it easier to load. Anyone see anything that improves the loading of filament?
Thanks
RE: Anyone have a good Filament Buffer Mod? Something to make it easier to load.
Skip the buffer altogether and use auto rewind spools?
RE: Anyone have a good Filament Buffer Mod? Something to make it easier to load.
Skip the buffer altogether and use auto rewind spools?
Is their one you have experience with or recommend?
RE: Anyone have a good Filament Buffer Mod? Something to make it easier to load.
I've been using https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:3338467 and have been happy with them.
- I do not use the PTFE holder arm as I found it moves to much and adds drag to the filament.
- I have the spool reversed from the first picture so the filament comes out from under the spool.
- The filament is loose (e.g. not through one of the base holes) again due to experienced drag causing issues with the MMU.
- I unsealed the bearings I used and cleaned them out. I run them open and dry so they spin as freely as possible (again, drag).
- I use the short PTFE tubes meant for the spool side of the buffer in the back of the MMU with the filament free from the spool to the tube
- This will change later when I have a more permanent arrangement of my spools.
At this time there is only 6" between the rear of the printer and my spool holders which represents a significantly smaller foot print than the Prusa recommendation.
RE: Anyone have a good Filament Buffer Mod? Something to make it easier to load.
I've been using https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:3338467 and have been happy with them.
- I do not use the PTFE holder arm as I found it moves to much and adds drag to the filament.
- I have the spool reversed from the first picture so the filament comes out from under the spool.
- The filament is loose (e.g. not through one of the base holes) again due to experienced drag causing issues with the MMU.
- I unsealed the bearings I used and cleaned them out. I run them open and dry so they spin as freely as possible (again, drag).
- I use the short PTFE tubes meant for the spool side of the buffer in the back of the MMU with the filament free from the spool to the tube
- This will change later when I have a more permanent arrangement of my spools.
At this time there is only 6" between the rear of the printer and my spool holders which represents a significantly smaller foot print than the Prusa recommendation.
I really wonder about all of this. With the things you mention, yes you relieve a bit of drag from the system. But (in my experience), you need to build enough spring tension to give a spool roughly 1.5 rotation (left, right after a clutch-slip) worth of rewind-capability. Again, in my experience, building that much tension requires the MMU/extruder to exert a LOT more force than any of the drags you solve would require.
I understand that it all adds up, but the drag from a few PTFE tubes feels quite insignificant compared to what the spools will cause at the point of max tension in the spring.
RE: Anyone have a good Filament Buffer Mod? Something to make it easier to load.
I am about to put together this one. It uses parts from the official Prusa buffer.
http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:3606350
It SHOULD work wonderfully and be much easier to load. I will find out shortly.
RE: Anyone have a good Filament Buffer Mod? Something to make it easier to load.
Thank you Gnat and Cybersage. Both better solutions the current setup. I will look at both of them and maybe try both.
RE: Anyone have a good Filament Buffer Mod? Something to make it easier to load.
I have been looking the the Filament Buffer Mod and have not seen anything interesting yet for a filament buffer upgrade to make it easier to load. Anyone see anything that improves the loading of filament?
Thanks
Maybe you will like my design 🙂
I just need some more time to finish it
as seen on MakerFairVienna starting at 3:32
RE: Anyone have a good Filament Buffer Mod? Something to make it easier to load.
Is it possible, to download it? I really like the design!
RE: Anyone have a good Filament Buffer Mod? Something to make it easier to load.
Thank you Gnat and Cybersage. Both better solutions the current setup. I will look at both of them and maybe try both.
I tried it, but for some reason the reverse direction was VERY tight, so I had to ditch it. I am now trying this one, it looks good and is basically air tight (if you print the sides with the solid layers on the top and bottom).
RE: Anyone have a good Filament Buffer Mod? Something to make it easier to load.
Is it possible, to download it? I really like the design!
That design looks amazing, but his website has been down for maintenance for weeks and it is not on his thingiverse page either.
RE: Anyone have a good Filament Buffer Mod? Something to make it easier to load.
Maybe you will like my design 🙂
I just need some more time to finish it
Any idea when you will release it? The two I posted here did not work well for me at all. I am about too go back to Prusa's design and use a tool from Thingiverse to load the filament. If it works good to load it, I can shrink wrap the wallet and make it air tight.
RE: Anyone have a good Filament Buffer Mod? Something to make it easier to load.
Thank you Gnat and Cybersage. Both better solutions the current setup. I will look at both of them and maybe try both.
I tried it, but for some reason the reverse direction was VERY tight, so I had to ditch it. I am now trying this one, it looks good and is basically air tight (if you print the sides with the solid layers on the top and bottom).
I hadn't looked at that when you posted it. How is it working out? Looks like it would be much better than the Prusa buffer both for loading and the path. It also looks like you could pretty easily expand it if you found you needed more buffer space (e.g. did something silly like putting a 1m PTFE between the MMU and extruder 😆).
While the auto-rewinds are still working for me and I continue to recommend them, getting the tension right is still guess work for me and sometimes I end up with lots of unspooled filament hanging around just waiting to get tangled up mid print.
RE: Anyone have a good Filament Buffer Mod? Something to make it easier to load.
Thank you Gnat and Cybersage. Both better solutions the current setup. I will look at both of them and maybe try both.
I tried it, but for some reason the reverse direction was VERY tight, so I had to ditch it. I am now trying this one, it looks good and is basically air tight (if you print the sides with the solid layers on the top and bottom).
I hadn't looked at that when you posted it. How is it working out? Looks like it would be much better than the Prusa buffer both for loading and the path. It also looks like you could pretty easily expand it if you found you needed more buffer space (e.g. did something silly like putting a 1m PTFE between the MMU and extruder 😆).
While the auto-rewinds are still working for me and I continue to recommend them, getting the tension right is still guess work for me and sometimes I end up with lots of unspooled filament hanging around just waiting to get tangled up mid print.
I could not get it to work reliably, sadly. I understand their design and like it, but PLA is a bit too flexible for it to work and that is all I have currently. I am now going to just print a loading rod for the Prusa one and shrink wrap it so it becomes airtight. I am going to test this one first.
https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:3616370
RE: Anyone have a good Filament Buffer Mod? Something to make it easier to load.
Thanks for your links @cybrsage, I really need to get something better to load filament in the buffer, very painful. I'll give the tool a try.
RE: Anyone have a good Filament Buffer Mod? Something to make it easier to load.
Thanks for your links @cybrsage, I really need to get something better to load filament in the buffer, very painful. I'll give the tool a try.
Look into the PTFE passthrough mod for the buffer too. It lets you move all entries and exits to one side and it gives you more space to grab and manipulate the filament. The combinate of that mod and the tool make loading a breeze.
RE: Anyone have a good Filament Buffer Mod? Something to make it easier to load.
Thanks for your links @cybrsage, I really need to get something better to load filament in the buffer, very painful. I'll give the tool a try.
I have a collection of MMU2 thingiverse upgrades, slowly removing things I am not going to use. I want my entire path to be as airtight as I can have it (using water soluble supports), so I am using a rewind spool holder that uses gravity assist to rewind. Works well.
RE: Anyone have a good Filament Buffer Mod? Something to make it easier to load.
This one.... https://www.prusaprinters.org/prints/2622-auto-rewind-spool-holder-for-mmu/comments is brilliant. I only needed to make a couple of mods to have it work perfectly. Easy to load filament, and cleans up the path a lot to reduce friction.
There were two things I had to do to make it work perfectly.
First, this is what was going wrong.
When the filament was being used, it pulls the arm up with the bearing weight on it. Using the parts from the spool holders.
I went with the 120mm wide base and cylinder and when I had thinner spools on, they would be all the way to one side which caused filament to loop over the cylinder and end up getting caught up.
Two things I did to fix it perfectly.
First, printed out another five of the nuts that you use to tighten up the spool. This way, I could use one on either side and adjust where the filament was positioned on the cylinder. That kept the path straight.
Then I noticed that the spool at times wasn't fast enough to gather in all the slack. Again, causing it to loop over and off the filament spool. I had extra bearings and pushed 2 in the slot at the end of the arm that usually holds one. That extra bit of weight made all the difference.
Now, no issues at all.
I can't recommend this solution enough. Yes, lots of parts to print, but overall, with a couple of printers working and using his suggested print settings, I had 5 made by the end of a weekend.
RE: Anyone have a good Filament Buffer Mod? Something to make it easier to load.
I have been looking the the Filament Buffer Mod and have not seen anything interesting yet for a filament buffer upgrade to make it easier to load. Anyone see anything that improves the loading of filament?
Thanks
YES! I am developing one. It fits to the printer on the back corner. Its compact and does not extend over the back and adds just 40mm to the overall width. You can even load it while its in use!
RE: Anyone have a good Filament Buffer Mod? Something to make it easier to load.
@meat_aggressor
Looks great and a bit familiar if I might say. Not meant in a negative way, just found all the good things combined. Anyway, I had some questions regarding your product, but your mail address isn't working. Could you come back to me?
Michael