I am planning on buying a cheap 3D printer, but the printer only takes 1.75mm filament, I was wondering if it might be possible to change the hotend of that printer to take in 3.0mm filament. The printer that I'm planning on buying is this.
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I am planning on buying a cheap 3D printer, but the printer only takes 1.75mm filament, I was wondering if it might be possible to change the hotend of that printer to take in 3.0mm filament. The printer that I'm planning on buying is this.
I can't speak to the specifics of that printer, but rather than let you hanging without any sort of response...
On some printers changing the filament isn't a big deal - as simple as swapping out the hot end part of the extruder and adjusting some calibration factors.
The printer you're looking at is a Bowden extruder that has the extruder drive motor mounted away from the hot end, and the filament passes through a tube from the drive motor to the extruder. On that printer, you'd have to swap out the hot end, the PTFE Bowden tubing and fittings on both ends, and figure out what mods are necessary at the drive motor end.
Your preference for 3mm is interesting. Seems like most people prefer 1.75mm, arguing that there's a better selection from more sources. I'm not sure I've seen a price difference between the two.
My experience is that 3mm works better over Bowden printers - less flex in the filament. There are also a few filaments only available in 3mm - but far more only available in 1.75mm!
You will be spending around $90 to replace the hotend, extruder drive housing and tube / fittings, so you need to ask yourself if this printer remains a bargain.
^^That... I place the most prominent reason in bold but all of it is true. I think the bowden system while has and inertia advantage it also has so feed/retraction limitations.Quote:
Originally Posted by noiseboy72
Well, I'll be printing mostly in ABS, and sometimes in PLA, both of which are available in both 1.75 and 3.0mm filament. Besides that, based on my budget this was probably the best printer I could find, and also I'm saving up for a far better printer in the future, so now I should be asking the question: is there any difference in printed part strength or quality, printing with a 1.75mm filament compared to a 3.0mm filament and with a 0.2mm nozzle.
The big thing here is that you will need to add a reducer gear to the extruder stepper to compensate for the extra volume.
In my opinion unless you're going to print with a very large nozzle diameter (say, 0.8mm and up) its not really worth it.
#Quote:
Originally Posted by Roy
0.2mm nozzle... hope you have a lot of time.
No it makes no difference other than you are pushing a thicker filament through a very small space. You may get some incosistencies. You will definitely have to add a reducer gear (and edit your firmware accordingly).
Adding a reduction gear with the 1.75mm filament or the 3.00mm filament?
On this grade of printer the difference in quality will be minimal. There will be no difference in finished strength. This is down to finished print thickness, build height accuracy (good adhesion) and good temperature control to prevent warping and delamination.