3mm filament? Can I use?

[Bruce19]

Hello Ender 3Pro with stock hot end nozzle. I've always used 1.75mm PLA filament. I ordered first time some filament thru ebay and received a spool of 3mm. I have written back to seller, waiting to hear. QUESTION can I use to 3mm without changing nozzle? What benifits are there to 3mm filament?

[Reefsider]

NO, you cannot use 3mm filament in a 1.75mm system without changing a lot of things. Some hot ends and extruders are made specific for one or the other. Some can be used for either but have different parts attached to do so.

[Bruce19]

REEFSIDER SHOOT thats what I was affraid of. Question: what are benifits running 3mm filament should I decide at some point......

[Reefsider]

I think the real advantages come when you go to a higher flow nozzle like the volcano or super volcano. Because of their flow it’s much easier for the printer, allowing you to print faster and work the extruder motor less.

There might be other advantages that others can point out.

[Bruce19]

HMMMM :-) Maybe that upgradeb is down the road if I understand corectlly Thank You

[curious aardvark]

there are NO advantages - none whatsoever :-)

Nobody really knows why ultimaker insist on using it.

1.75mm filament heats faster and can therefore be fed faster for higher volume throughput.
because 1.75 has become the standard you can get thousands of types, colours, materials and brands as 1.75.
3mm tends to be alot more limited.

Basically unless you intend to use a nozzle size larger than 1.75mm - there is NO reason to ever use 3mm filament :-)

[Reefsider]

Sorry curiousArdvark but that’s simply not true. I don’t really care to argue with you as you seem to think you know for sure. However, it has to do with pressures inside the head and extrusion consistency at high flow rates/volumes.

Also, look on YouTube for Tom S. he has a video reviewing the volcano head. In the video he talks about how his extruder motor isn’t keeping up with the head. 3mm would allow the motor to push more in without working the motor so hard. Pretty basic stuff that one.

[curious aardvark]

wrong again - the main reason ultimaker stated they use 3mm is because they wanted to use a bowden tube and lightweight hotend and decided that 1.75mm did not give enough precision over a long bowden tube. To reduce friction involved 1.75mm filament is pushed through a 2mm diameter tube. Which means that the filament flexes - the longer the tube, the more flex and the more flex the less easy it is to calculate exactly how much filament is in the tube and calculate precision for extruding the plastic onto a fdm print.
Given that different makes, colours and types of filament flex a different rates it's seriously difficult to standardise material throughput over a long bowden tube.

So they created 3mm filament that can be pushed slower and with more pressure and less flex, over long distances and maintain the precision of material delivery.
There are better solutions around now - but back then that was the way ultimaker decided to do it.
Also because very few manufacturers were using 3mm filament, it meant that they also sell a lot more of their own brand filament to their customers who don't have access to the enormous - and cheaper - 1.75mm market.
Although I have seen kits to convert ultimakers to 1.75mm
Personally I'd only do it with the addition of a lightweight shaft driven extruder - but that's by the by.

If you intend to argue - use facts. Not vague phrases you seem to have heard somewhere.

The pressure inside a hotend is dependant on the diameter of the nozzle compared to the diameter of the filament. It's basic hydraulics.

Were you to ask and discuss it with both printer and filament manufacturers - as I have done on numerous occasions, you would know that 1.75 is used for a lot of good reasons.

And as you have clearly watched one too many iffy youtube videos, I'll humour you and explain - again :-)

1) Heating plastic is easier when you are heating smaller volumes of material. It gives you consistent temperatures throughout the material, which in turn gives you consistent and PREDICTABLE material flow. Absolutely essential in the maths behind fdm 3d printing. So heating 1.75mm lets you get the correct temperature and flow characteristics faster and with more certainty.

2) hydraulics. Pushing a wide diameter material through a drastically smaller nozzle creates pressure. It's how fire hoses work. But it also creates back pressure which means that in fdm printing terms, you have to push the material through very slowly. You also have a relatively large reservoir of molten plastic that has to be kept at the correct temperature for longer. It's harder than doing the same job with 1.75mm and can cause issues.

3) speed - you can push more material through a 0.4mm nozzle faster from a 1.75mm reservoir, with a lot less pressure required. You also requite less energy input to heat that material to the correct temperature fast enough.

The more you look at it, the more Ultimakers choice of filament becomes about selling your customers non-standard filament than about any kind of quality or engineering. Although it did make some sense when coupled with the long bowden tube - at the time :-)

[Reefsider]

Ok there’s a lot wrong with all that lol. I’ll just leave it though. Life’s too short. Enjoy

[curious aardvark]

Name one thing - just one and with science.