Hi guys! In this video I show my idea for a filament joining rig. It’s a bit experimental and I like trying things out to learn from and to come up with new ideas. Well, at least something succeeded xD I already started printing the rim again! Things are looking good and I wish you a great day!
when joining filament, take a look at the splicing module of the pallette, you want to melt the ends, push them together so they bond (that's why their tube is slightly bigger than 1.75mm), you want it to squish around itself tiny bit and hold together, also cutting the end at 45° helps bonding a lot
Dang I was really hoping this would be the one. Maybe have two calipers on each side and then leave the gap for the heater block in the center so the tube can rest on the heater block.
@Proper Printing, I have been working on solving the problem as well. My approach is a little different but I have a solution you may be able to incorporate. I found cheap replaceable 1.75mm ID stainless tube, sold as 'dispensing tips'. ( www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07HMMRPZN/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1 ). If you strip the plastic nipple and mount the tube in a heat block, you can push filament in from both sides, fuse it, and cool it, the result is a 1.75mm diameter continuous piece. I'm still testing, but I haven't had a joint mess up a print yet. PLA doesn't stick to the stainless, ABS may not as well. FYI, I don't split the tube, I just put all filament through the splicer before it enters the printer, similar to a runout sensor. I believe this is how the commercial solution works. It simplifies the build.
Hi Guys, besides that it would be cool if the filament would be joined together automatically, your main problem is that you don't want to open your chamber while printing (which you would have to if you would use the standard runout detector), right? I guess with the spool sizes you are using, it wouldn't be too much of a hassle to join two filament ends manually in a first stage. What I would suggest to begin with would be a custom spool holder that constantly measures the weight of the whole spool with weight sensors (or a hacked kitchen scale) and a microcontroller. When the weight is getting under a specific threshold it could trigger your printers runout routine earlier, so that you could extend your filament before it enters your print chamber. I am pretty sure Ivan would already be capable of creating and programming the electronical hardware (btw. love your Videos Ivan) and probably you as well (this is the first video that I have seen of you so far). However I would offer any of you guys my help, if you are interested. I am a computer scientist and non youtubing hobby creator from Germany 😁 Let me know what you think.
You're not alone LOL I have a half finished version, which works, just lack the time to work on it and finish it properly and sell it as a product. Groeten
That's all the more inspiring to do something myself with my copious quarantine free time! Amazing work man! Have been following you since your first videos, you keep getting better and better!
I’m tired of watching videos with happy endings. You are transparent and honest. It’s very important what you said at the end. One of the best lessons ever. “One failed idea will lead you to a successful one, in the making process you will come up with plenty others”. Good luck with the rim. 🤜🏻🤛🏻
The most underrated content creator in 3D Printing. Your work is inspiring and your video production skills are incredible. Did you consider using an inductive coil instead of that crappy heating element? If you work out a reliable trigger system that might be an even cheaper, more consistent alternative that you could probably just incorporate into the same rig... Or it might be a horrible idea but it looks cool in my head!
Thank you! An inductive coil would definitely be interesting. Maybe even fun to try on a 3D printer itself. It has been done before but it would still be cool! Well, hot actually xD
Great videos. You inspire tenacity and a never-day-die attitude. Most RUclips videos just show an idea that comes into existence without any issues. It's really heartening to see that even someone as skilled and intelligent as you has to invovate, test, fail, redesign, test, and repeat. It's an iterative process. Thank you for reminding me of that and providing me with the mental mettle to keep going when things don't immediately work out.
Have a look at how a PE pipe welder works... it uses a left and tight collar to hold the pipe, a hotplate that slides between the two ends to heat the ends. Then the plate is retracted quickly and the two ends are pushed together.
Without failure there is no pain. Without pain there is no growth. We die when we stop growing and learning. Fail forward fast... learn what not to do as quickly as possible! Take both the successes of the project and the failures as both valuable. Pay attention when other people fail. We don’t live long enough to learn all of life’s lessons. The filament joiner didn’t work (one fail) but you did have many items succeed during the project. I love this video! Love it! If we fear failure we fail from failure to even try!
I really appreciate that not everything you post works. It hits me on a human level, especially as an engineer. Anyone who accomplishes everything they set out to achieve generally has some pretty low targets.
I know everyone wants to see cool awesome engineering projects "just work", but being an engineer myself, this is rarely the case. Thank you for showing the honest truth of many of your endeavors. The videos are very entertaining and so well edited and filmed, despite the outcome.
So, it all worked out in the end! 😁 If you ever revisit the joining rig, I wonder if it would help if the tube had more completed contact with the heater block... even putting it inside a modified heater block (split so you could remove the filament)
This is great! This is the life of an innovative mind. We will have fail after fail. (many times do to over engineering, lol) The key to success is to keep moving on despite your failures. I'm glad to see a creator that will show this side of things. We have to many others out there who tend to make things look too perfect.
During watching your videos, I came very often to the point, where I like the way you think about problem solution. When I saw your solution for heat insulation of your jig tip, I was totally impressed, going all the way through of using ceramics as insulation material. This is a great solution which I love totally. You made my day! I'm looking forward to more of your valuable content. Thank you. - And by the way: you project was not a failure with so much learning and good entertainment.
Thanks for sharing the successes AND the failures! We all know that feeling when it should work, but doesn't. I learn much more from the failures than the successes anyway. Can't wait to see the giant rolls of filament in action!
Awesome film, well produced. Love the engineering aspect even if it doesn't work. Progress is hampered when we don't share the failures. Mahalo for sharing! : ) 🐒
Wrecking my head for years now on how to make it happen. Your solution was actually very promising. Don't throw this device away now. I think you Can make it work with some tinkering.
Good lord, those action shots (or however they're named) are amazing!! Sorry it didn't work out but I'm eagerly looking forward to seeing your projects.
great vid.... really enjoyable watch even though the outcome wasn't what you wanted. Well done for publishing a video where it didn't go to plan. I really felt for you when you opened the callipers and the filament fell away (multiple times). Subscribed now so looking forward to more.
Maybe changing the 3d printer hotend for a torch ligther controlled by the printer board could solve the problem. Love the cinematography of your video!
The look of defeat on your face at the end shows we've all been there, Im glad 3d4maker pulled through and got those 5kg reels though! Hopefully v2 works out better for you
Great idea! Especially using a printer board for the heater. That said, I think if you used a clamping mechanism that grabs both ends of the brass tubes rather than the middle, you may get less heat sucked away from the middle of the joint where it's needed. I hope you can do a take 2 of this idea! I really think it has merit.
Thanks! That piece of tile already made a world of difference and indeed, two calipers at the opposite ends would act as a heat sink which might be the way to go :D
Very good idea but, try cuttin the "pipe" and use a tool with 1,7mm to ream this tube, ok, after heating try to refrigerate the job befor open your system . . .
Thoroughly enjoyed the video and your creative process. Notes: Temp inside heater block is not the same as outside the heater block. Inverse square law applies so temps drop very fast. As distance increases, the temp drop proportionally per the square of that distance thus the melt zone was far from the heat source. Slitting the brass tube length-wise was impressive regardless of whether or not the design was successful. The fans should rotate up with the brass tube to provide continuous cooling of the weld just in case you decide to re-visit your design. Great potential there! I'd very much like to see Rev A at some point.
Simple solution. Create an even bigger cube outside of the printer to create a gate way. So when filament runs out, you can heat the outer cube to 60°C, step in and then open the printer. No cool air will get into the printer! Problem solved! Nice Video!
jon you are missing the pressure to join them. , just melting is not enough , a bit of pressure from arounfd will help I guess., the pallet uses that as well
I think that you make a great point, thanks! The way it's made now doesn't allow much pressure and I think that a similar approach with your suggestion might work. For now I'm done with it though xD
@@properprinting The easiest way to add pressure around them would be having the tip of the caliper like a point and then on the side that heats up -- where the caliper presses down on -- has a matching chamfer, so pushing down on the caliper squeezes the tube applying pressure. Possibly more heat would help too, but unsure about that
Thanks! That'd be great, I haven't heard of them before but it definitely saved the day for me. I think I'll tag them in a Tweet, thanks for the reminder!
great work! any failure is an opportunity to do better next time. From what ive been able to gather in my own attempts, constant pressure on either end, pushing both strands of filament together in the melt zone is just as critical, though i have not had great success either.
Thanks! Indeed, a greater pressure would help a lot. This explains why it worked with the lighter because it's easier to apply pressure with a closed tube. Higher temperature helps too of course ;)
@@properprinting I also had a small tube with a precise inner diameter, and i have a hypothesis that smaller segments of tube makes the process of extracting the joined filament easier.
Nice! You know you can put the runout sensor outside the enclosure, then feed via bowden up to the direct drive. Kinda like a prusa MK3S with MMU. Then when it triggers, you can set up Marlin to back it out. Just make enough space between sensor and tube inlet that once it backs out, it stick out the top of the tube. No need to get in the enclosure!
Thanks for the suggestion, but because the head is moving in X, Y and Z direction it's unhandy to have a bowden tube between the extruder and top of the enclosure. I don't want that printer to pause either so bigger spools is the way to go in this situation ;)
Wow.. what a big step at the video making quality.. cool effects and the camera movements are great 🥰 And the filamentjoining is a nice Project to fail.. standup.. and fail again 😂 I have a joiner from eBay made of ceramic, magnets and use of a lighter.. but it's not very reliable because it's not removable from the filamentstring until it's empty 😊
I have to say, of all the filament joiners I've seen, this was one of the best thought out ones. I think you're right. You have all the parts in place. You just need to find tune it until it's working. Either that, or get Mosaic to built a heavy duty Pallet 3 for you. ;)
That's actually not a bad idea! This will make it a lot more sturdier too. One at the center with this isolated piece like it is now and two at the ends. If I'll ever make a v2 than this would be a great solution, thanks!
You should just mill out a block with a 1.75 hole and the necessary thermocouple/sensor holes. Once the old filament is low the servo motor will stop the filament end halfway into the block. You would be prompted to insert the new feed into the other half of the block, and the thermocouple would heat it so that the filament would fuse together at 1.75mm.
A few suggestions: 1. Move the temp sensor closer to the joint. 2. Add insulation at the joining section. 3. Re-tune the PID parameter with M303 command.
Good to see I am not the only one that hasn't got a 100% success rate! Nice project though! Perhaps one could make a machine that could revolve around the joint instead, cutting it to the right dimension? That way the joint wouldn't have to be 100% perfect, the cutting afterwards would provide the precision.
Good that your success rate isn't 100% as well! This means that you're trying new things and learn from the mistakes ;) Some days I wish I'd learned a bit less though xD Interesting thought, making a larger reliable joint and cut it down precisely. For now I'm done with this, but I'll keep this in mind, thanks!
@@properprinting Making mistakes is an excellent opportunity to learn something useful for another project. Thank you for making such excellent content, it is much appreciated! Keep up the good work! Regards, Matthew
Hi, sorry that the joinery didn't work. Your idea is a very good one. Have you tried making the jaws out of glass ( That bendable test tube type.) Heat up the 2 glass halves, insert the filament, have the two halves join in the middle in a face-to-face format, apply the bonding heat for a time, let it fuse, then let it sit for a yet to be determined time, and then remove the heat to cool, and then try it.
I enjoyed this video a lot. Your face when you ran into failures and tripping over the cord reminds me of my own all too familiar failures. I'll leave the thoughts of two famous people here. Mikhail Kalashnikov said " All that is too complex is unnecessary, and it is simple that is needed" and Elon Musk said "If you're not failing, you're not innovating fast enough". Good luck, I look forward to seeing your next attempt!
Failure is an opportunity for a new start. Keep it going and never forget to ask for help. I'm also agreeing with your followers, your pruduction skills are of the chart 😉👍
Could put the filament run-out sensor on the outside of the build chamber to trigger when the spool has just run out. Use a sensor that is triggered by the filament actually moving, so it will be able to sense jams too. For the joiner, I would try taking 4 cheap v6 hotend clones, grind the ends down till there was a straight 1.75 path to the end, solder pairs end to end, cut and grind each pair down to make to matching halves, add something to key each half, and directly heat all four half blocks.
Thanks, but with the setup as it is now I cannot change the filament when the door is closed. I thought about a similar solution and hopefully I'll get my hands on a mill someday so I can machine things like these.
I think instead of trying to split a brass tube I'd use two blocks of aluminum or copper, clamp them together then drill a 1.75mm diameter hole at the seam line. Chamfer each end of the hole to make insertion of the filament easier. I would then drill a couple of holes to insert a heater cartridge and temperature sensor in one of the blocks. To hold the blocks together, either come up with a quick release mechanism or drill and tap a couple of holes for thumb screws. If you wanted to make sure both halves were heated equally you could install a temperature sensor in both blocks or a heater and sensor for faster heat up time.
Your approach is really interesting, couldn't have thought about this solution myself :) Maybe you heard of the WNF procedure, commonly used in welding of plastic tubes. It might be worth a shot. I think GF provides these machines, maybe get some inspiration from them. I built a filament fuse station, manually operated for big 8kg spools and did the fusing inside a Teflon clamp. If your interested in this I could share it, even though it's not yet good enough for the operation without proper training.
How about attaching a thermistor to where the 1.8mm tube is and also an extruder at both ends applying low pressure to the filaments to bind them together once the 1.8mm tube is hot enough?
I wonder about using an iron tube to replace the brass tube and using an induction coil to heat the desired area, the calipers could be doubled as the clamps on either side with an induction coil between them, might work if you study temps over time to dial in precise timings to join filament types
I really appreciate that you're sharing all your projects, even when they aren't successful. But this is what making or pretty much anything is about: *trying* something. As for the project's idea: maybe it'd be possible to combine the lighter with the calipers, so you can still get the tube off the joined filament easily, without relying on the heater block. Also this channel is criminally under-subscribed.
Still say that you should make your own filament extruder, just for kicks. It also helps with recycling failed prints etc. But if your going for your joiner... Put a caliper left and right (good heatsinks as you have experienced). Brass blocks in the center, with small heating cartridges and some screws or clamping mechanism. You also might think of suppling some pressure on the left and right filaments in order to push them together a bit more tightly (in a controlled manner). But still ... a filament extruder is easier :) I think.
Hi Jon! Replace heat block with inductive heater. Brass is conductive. It should work just fine. The melting time will significantly decrease to milliseconds.
Great video. A friend shared it with me as I was talking about designing a filament joiner. I think your idea is sound, but you need to have a thicker heating tube that can transfer the heat. Review the way Mosiac Pallete works. I think you can get it to work! Thanks for sharing.
Lol this is why we engineers create proof of concept prototypes before building anything nice. Cool project, I've wanted to build a filament joiner for a while
I assume that’s because his end goal is to join big spools of filament and a system like the Prusa mmu would mean that the entire spool would have to travel through the device. My assumption may be wrong since I don't own an MMU upgrade and I don't fully understand how it works.
I had an idea in mind that I wanted to try and show. Maybe the Prusa is a good option, but I don't like that printer to pause when I'm asleep or at work. One big spool just solves all issues ;)
I just use a 75mm piece of Bowden feed tube, push filament in each end and use hot air gun around the outside, just turn the tube a little. Works for me!
I love this idea ! I am a bit confused about 1 thing. Why solder the brass tube to brass calipers> Wouldn't you want to use the same idea as a heater block\Heat break? Where you want high conductivity in a concentrated area and low thermal conductivity beyond that point?
How about overlapping the filament ends by a lot and then use a metal wheel with a grove to reduce/knead the diameter down (the wheel needs to be heated). You probably have this kind of wheel already, just dissemble a bearing(the inner ring).
So, I am not an expert and just thinking loud... Since the brass tube is very temperature conductive and so short, it is possible that the fans cooling from bought sides is overwhelming the one heater in the middle. With the lighter you just put a massive amount of heat on one spot, without any way for the brass to cool fast down. Maybe try to isolate the part where the fans are blowing on from the brass tube or space them further away. Anyway, big fan of your work 👍
Love the things you try that other would say is crazy. They could have said that about printing with plastic. Could you move the area joining the filament closer to the heater by using the heater block and cutting that?
Hi guys! In this video I show my idea for a filament joining rig. It’s a bit experimental and I like trying things out to learn from and to come up with new ideas. Well, at least something succeeded xD I already started printing the rim again! Things are looking good and I wish you a great day!
when joining filament, take a look at the splicing module of the pallette, you want to melt the ends, push them together so they bond (that's why their tube is slightly bigger than 1.75mm), you want it to squish around itself tiny bit and hold together, also cutting the end at 45° helps bonding a lot
Dang I was really hoping this would be the one. Maybe have two calipers on each side and then leave the gap for the heater block in the center so the tube can rest on the heater block.
Have you ever been accused of oversimplifying things, Proper Printing? ;-)
With the zippo it worked right?.... maybe an induction coil around the tube could give same results...
@Proper Printing, I have been working on solving the problem as well. My approach is a little different but I have a solution you may be able to incorporate. I found cheap replaceable 1.75mm ID stainless tube, sold as 'dispensing tips'. ( www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07HMMRPZN/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1 ). If you strip the plastic nipple and mount the tube in a heat block, you can push filament in from both sides, fuse it, and cool it, the result is a 1.75mm diameter continuous piece. I'm still testing, but I haven't had a joint mess up a print yet. PLA doesn't stick to the stainless, ABS may not as well. FYI, I don't split the tube, I just put all filament through the splicer before it enters the printer, similar to a runout sensor. I believe this is how the commercial solution works. It simplifies the build.
That was an awesome video, I've thought about that problem for years!
Thanks Ivan! I bet you do, considering the amount of filament you use for your crazy projects xD
Hi Guys,
besides that it would be cool if the filament would be joined together automatically, your main problem is that you don't want to open your chamber while printing (which you would have to if you would use the standard runout detector), right?
I guess with the spool sizes you are using, it wouldn't be too much of a hassle to join two filament ends manually in a first stage.
What I would suggest to begin with would be a custom spool holder that constantly measures the weight of the whole spool with weight sensors (or a hacked kitchen scale) and a microcontroller. When the weight is getting under a specific threshold it could trigger your printers runout routine earlier, so that you could extend your filament before it enters your print chamber.
I am pretty sure Ivan would already be capable of creating and programming the electronical hardware (btw. love your Videos Ivan) and probably you as well (this is the first video that I have seen of you so far). However I would offer any of you guys my help, if you are interested. I am a computer scientist and non youtubing hobby creator from Germany 😁 Let me know what you think.
You're not alone LOL I have a half finished version, which works, just lack the time to work on it and finish it properly and sell it as a product. Groeten
Your cinematography is making it hard to focus on the engineering, it's just too good.
Wow thanks! Hopefully people will watch it a second time for the engineering ;)
That's all the more inspiring to do something myself with my copious quarantine free time!
Amazing work man! Have been following you since your first videos, you keep getting better and better!
Agreed! This was amazingly done!
Yeah, great camera work and music. Very entertaining even for a failure video. :)
Right?!? I was just like wtf..? Nice
I’m tired of watching videos with happy endings. You are transparent and honest. It’s very important what you said at the end. One of the best lessons ever. “One failed idea will lead you to a successful one, in the making process you will come up with plenty others”. Good luck with the rim. 🤜🏻🤛🏻
Good that you show the struggle. It is real! Thx for sharing.
The most underrated content creator in 3D Printing. Your work is inspiring and your video production skills are incredible. Did you consider using an inductive coil instead of that crappy heating element? If you work out a reliable trigger system that might be an even cheaper, more consistent alternative that you could probably just incorporate into the same rig... Or it might be a horrible idea but it looks cool in my head!
Thank you! An inductive coil would definitely be interesting. Maybe even fun to try on a 3D printer itself. It has been done before but it would still be cool! Well, hot actually xD
@@properprinting please make it :D
honestly man the production quality and humor is AMAZING keep on rocking
Great videos. You inspire tenacity and a never-day-die attitude. Most RUclips videos just show an idea that comes into existence without any issues. It's really heartening to see that even someone as skilled and intelligent as you has to invovate, test, fail, redesign, test, and repeat. It's an iterative process. Thank you for reminding me of that and providing me with the mental mettle to keep going when things don't immediately work out.
Have a look at how a PE pipe welder works... it uses a left and tight collar to hold the pipe, a hotplate that slides between the two ends to heat the ends. Then the plate is retracted quickly and the two ends are pushed together.
Without failure there is no pain. Without pain there is no growth. We die when we stop growing and learning. Fail forward fast... learn what not to do as quickly as possible! Take both the successes of the project and the failures as both valuable. Pay attention when other people fail. We don’t live long enough to learn all of life’s lessons. The filament joiner didn’t work (one fail) but you did have many items succeed during the project. I love this video! Love it! If we fear failure we fail from failure to even try!
I really appreciate that not everything you post works. It hits me on a human level, especially as an engineer. Anyone who accomplishes everything they set out to achieve generally has some pretty low targets.
I know everyone wants to see cool awesome engineering projects "just work", but being an engineer myself, this is rarely the case. Thank you for showing the honest truth of many of your endeavors. The videos are very entertaining and so well edited and filmed, despite the outcome.
If something "just works" you were incredibly lucky or something else will go spectacularly wrong, mostly the latter xD Thanks Seth!
I dont know what's better, the design solutions or the brilliant job of filming and editing
So, it all worked out in the end! 😁
If you ever revisit the joining rig, I wonder if it would help if the tube had more completed contact with the heater block... even putting it inside a modified heater block (split so you could remove the filament)
It's never a failure as long as you learn something. You may not get the outcome you wanted but you still learned something. Keep up the good work.
Came here from a RUclips suggestion: I loved both the engineering and your WTF reaction to the working solution :-DDD
This is great! This is the life of an innovative mind. We will have fail after fail. (many times do to over engineering, lol) The key to success is to keep moving on despite your failures. I'm glad to see a creator that will show this side of things. We have to many others out there who tend to make things look too perfect.
During watching your videos, I came very often to the point, where I like the way you think about problem solution. When I saw your solution for heat insulation of your jig tip, I was totally impressed, going all the way through of using ceramics as insulation material. This is a great solution which I love totally. You made my day! I'm looking forward to more of your valuable content. Thank you. - And by the way: you project was not a failure with so much learning and good entertainment.
Thanks for this awesome comment, you made my day too :D As long as you have fun and/or learn stuff it's a success!
What if you cut the heat block in half and use the calipers with the heat block instead of brass tubing
Thanks for sharing the successes AND the failures! We all know that feeling when it should work, but doesn't. I learn much more from the failures than the successes anyway. Can't wait to see the giant rolls of filament in action!
This is delightfully over engineered, I love it ;)
That editing was amazing, dang! I'm subscribed since you had like 7k subs, still can't believe you aren't at a million
Thank you! Growing steadily :D
WOO! More of my new favourite channel
Awesome film, well produced. Love the engineering aspect even if it doesn't work. Progress is hampered when we don't share the failures. Mahalo for sharing! : ) 🐒
Daft question!
Have you seen how they thermo-buttweld large plastic gas pipes together?
The learning is the most valuable part of most projects! Great work :)
Your cinematic video game is strong. Very strong.
Thanks man! It feels like trying to polish a turd when it doesn't work out haha xD but it's so much fun to do!
@@properprinting Well then you must be really good at polishing turds 😄
Wrecking my head for years now on how to make it happen. Your solution was actually very promising. Don't throw this device away now. I think you Can make it work with some tinkering.
man ur production quality is getting soo good.
Good lord, those action shots (or however they're named) are amazing!! Sorry it didn't work out but I'm eagerly looking forward to seeing your projects.
Occam's Razor? LOL I loved this video. Very cool to follow a tinker that honestly publishes their failures as well as their achievements! Keep it up!
I came to this channel for the achievable projects I could do myself. I stayed for the amazing projects I had no hope in recreating :D
great vid.... really enjoyable watch even though the outcome wasn't what you wanted. Well done for publishing a video where it didn't go to plan. I really felt for you when you opened the callipers and the filament fell away (multiple times). Subscribed now so looking forward to more.
Great experiment, THANKS for sharing this! I was thinking of a similar project but now know that I WON'T be attempting it.
Thanks and 1/10 would not recommend xD
Your first setup is spot on, if you find a way to drive the heat FROM the metalic caliper. Amazing channel.
Maybe changing the 3d printer hotend for a torch ligther controlled by the printer board could solve the problem. Love the cinematography of your video!
I hate that it didn't turn out for you but I love the journey of how you got there. I feel like you are on the right path but some variable is off.
The look of defeat on your face at the end shows we've all been there, Im glad 3d4maker pulled through and got those 5kg reels though! Hopefully v2 works out better for you
Great idea! Especially using a printer board for the heater.
That said, I think if you used a clamping mechanism that grabs both ends of the brass tubes rather than the middle, you may get less heat sucked away from the middle of the joint where it's needed.
I hope you can do a take 2 of this idea! I really think it has merit.
Thanks! That piece of tile already made a world of difference and indeed, two calipers at the opposite ends would act as a heat sink which might be the way to go :D
Very good idea but, try cuttin the "pipe" and use a tool with 1,7mm to ream this tube, ok, after heating try to refrigerate the job befor open your system . . .
Thoroughly enjoyed the video and your creative process. Notes: Temp inside heater block is not the same as outside the heater block. Inverse square law applies so temps drop very fast. As distance increases, the temp drop proportionally per the square of that distance thus the melt zone was far from the heat source. Slitting the brass tube length-wise was impressive regardless of whether or not the design was successful. The fans should rotate up with the brass tube to provide continuous cooling of the weld just in case you decide to re-visit your design. Great potential there! I'd very much like to see Rev A at some point.
At 4:45 we see what happens when the live orbital camera knocks Jon out of his chair! Cool. Thanks for including it.
Your camera work is insane 😱
Simple solution. Create an even bigger cube outside of the printer to create a gate way. So when filament runs out, you can heat the outer cube to 60°C, step in and then open the printer. No cool air will get into the printer! Problem solved! Nice Video!
jon you are missing the pressure to join them. , just melting is not enough , a bit of pressure from arounfd will help I guess., the pallet uses that as well
I think that you make a great point, thanks! The way it's made now doesn't allow much pressure and I think that a similar approach with your suggestion might work. For now I'm done with it though xD
@@properprinting The easiest way to add pressure around them would be having the tip of the caliper like a point and then on the side that heats up -- where the caliper presses down on -- has a matching chamfer, so pushing down on the caliper squeezes the tube applying pressure. Possibly more heat would help too, but unsure about that
Yeah dude, brazing or soldering something that small is crazy...JB weld is awesome for that stuff.
4:05, now that's so ad worthy stuff, better make sure the brand sees it.
Thanks! That'd be great, I haven't heard of them before but it definitely saved the day for me. I think I'll tag them in a Tweet, thanks for the reminder!
@@properprinting They're huge in the US, and you wouldn't believe what people have fixed with it. :)
Damn! Amazing video as always. Keep up the great work man!
great work! any failure is an opportunity to do better next time. From what ive been able to gather in my own attempts, constant pressure on either end, pushing both strands of filament together in the melt zone is just as critical, though i have not had great success either.
Thanks! Indeed, a greater pressure would help a lot. This explains why it worked with the lighter because it's easier to apply pressure with a closed tube. Higher temperature helps too of course ;)
@@properprinting I also had a small tube with a precise inner diameter, and i have a hypothesis that smaller segments of tube makes the process of extracting the joined filament easier.
WOW! That is some crazy quality content, man! Production is REALLY cool!
Nice! You know you can put the runout sensor outside the enclosure, then feed via bowden up to the direct drive. Kinda like a prusa MK3S with MMU. Then when it triggers, you can set up Marlin to back it out. Just make enough space between sensor and tube inlet that once it backs out, it stick out the top of the tube. No need to get in the enclosure!
Thanks for the suggestion, but because the head is moving in X, Y and Z direction it's unhandy to have a bowden tube between the extruder and top of the enclosure. I don't want that printer to pause either so bigger spools is the way to go in this situation ;)
Wow.. what a big step at the video making quality.. cool effects and the camera movements are great 🥰
And the filamentjoining is a nice Project to fail.. standup.. and fail again 😂
I have a joiner from eBay made of ceramic, magnets and use of a lighter.. but it's not very reliable because it's not removable from the filamentstring until it's empty 😊
I have to say, of all the filament joiners I've seen, this was one of the best thought out ones.
I think you're right. You have all the parts in place. You just need to find tune it until it's working.
Either that, or get Mosaic to built a heavy duty Pallet 3 for you. ;)
Cool idea! At the moment I just cut both ends off at and angle then using a candle heat up the points and jam them together and trim
Two calipers on either side of the melt zone might work well and could actually help cool the ends.
That's actually not a bad idea! This will make it a lot more sturdier too. One at the center with this isolated piece like it is now and two at the ends. If I'll ever make a v2 than this would be a great solution, thanks!
@@properprinting, best of luck! A thermocouple or two right at the filament joint might also help a lot with troubleshooting.
@@properprinting I'd drop the center point, it's just acting as a heat sink.
You should just mill out a block with a 1.75 hole and the necessary thermocouple/sensor holes. Once the old filament is low the servo motor will stop the filament end halfway into the block. You would be prompted to insert the new feed into the other half of the block, and the thermocouple would heat it so that the filament would fuse together at 1.75mm.
Great work embrace the failures and no doubt they add to your wins down the line.
Next level stuff !! Brilliant, best 3D printing channel by far.
I love that he point out at the end he has projects that aren't failing, me too my dude, me too
A few suggestions:
1. Move the temp sensor closer to the joint.
2. Add insulation at the joining section.
3. Re-tune the PID parameter with M303 command.
Good to see I am not the only one that hasn't got a 100% success rate! Nice project though! Perhaps one could make a machine that could revolve around the joint instead, cutting it to the right dimension? That way the joint wouldn't have to be 100% perfect, the cutting afterwards would provide the precision.
Good that your success rate isn't 100% as well! This means that you're trying new things and learn from the mistakes ;) Some days I wish I'd learned a bit less though xD Interesting thought, making a larger reliable joint and cut it down precisely. For now I'm done with this, but I'll keep this in mind, thanks!
@@properprinting Making mistakes is an excellent opportunity to learn something useful for another project. Thank you for making such excellent content, it is much appreciated! Keep up the good work! Regards, Matthew
You could use a shorted coil to heat the ends together similar to how a vape coil heats up.
Hi, sorry that the joinery didn't work. Your idea is a very good one. Have you tried making the jaws out of glass ( That bendable test tube type.) Heat up the 2 glass halves, insert the filament, have the two halves join in the middle in a face-to-face format, apply the bonding heat for a time, let it fuse, then let it sit for a yet to be determined time, and then remove the heat to cool, and then try it.
First episode ive watch ... you trip over the grinder cord . SUBCRIBED .. lol
when the video production value is just as impressive as the topic
I enjoyed this video a lot. Your face when you ran into failures and tripping over the cord reminds me of my own all too familiar failures. I'll leave the thoughts of two famous people here. Mikhail Kalashnikov said " All that is too complex is unnecessary, and it is simple that is needed" and Elon Musk said "If you're not failing, you're not innovating fast enough". Good luck, I look forward to seeing your next attempt!
Those are two great quotes! Thanks Chuck
your definetly the mad scientist of the 3d printing world. Love the video's :)
Failure is an opportunity for a new start. Keep it going and never forget to ask for help.
I'm also agreeing with your followers, your pruduction skills are of the chart 😉👍
Could put the filament run-out sensor on the outside of the build chamber to trigger when the spool has just run out. Use a sensor that is triggered by the filament actually moving, so it will be able to sense jams too.
For the joiner, I would try taking 4 cheap v6 hotend clones, grind the ends down till there was a straight 1.75 path to the end, solder pairs end to end, cut and grind each pair down to make to matching halves, add something to key each half, and directly heat all four half blocks.
Thanks, but with the setup as it is now I cannot change the filament when the door is closed. I thought about a similar solution and hopefully I'll get my hands on a mill someday so I can machine things like these.
I think instead of trying to split a brass tube I'd use two blocks of aluminum or copper, clamp them together then drill a 1.75mm diameter hole at the seam line. Chamfer each end of the hole to make insertion of the filament easier. I would then drill a couple of holes to insert a heater cartridge and temperature sensor in one of the blocks. To hold the blocks together, either come up with a quick release mechanism or drill and tap a couple of holes for thumb screws. If you wanted to make sure both halves were heated equally you could install a temperature sensor in both blocks or a heater and sensor for faster heat up time.
Your approach is really interesting, couldn't have thought about this solution myself :)
Maybe you heard of the WNF procedure, commonly used in welding of plastic tubes. It might be worth a shot. I think GF provides these machines, maybe get some inspiration from them.
I built a filament fuse station, manually operated for big 8kg spools and did the fusing inside a Teflon clamp. If your interested in this I could share it, even though it's not yet good enough for the operation without proper training.
How about attaching a thermistor to where the 1.8mm tube is and also an extruder at both ends applying low pressure to the filaments to bind them together once the 1.8mm tube is hot enough?
Proper video, just fantastic. I really enjoyed everything about this video!
Man, you make some serious quality content.
I wonder about using an iron tube to replace the brass tube and using an induction coil to heat the desired area, the calipers could be doubled as the clamps on either side with an induction coil between them, might work if you study temps over time to dial in precise timings to join filament types
made me giggle when you opened it it just fell apart haha great job PP
Only video that made my eyes open 🤭👌🏻👌🏻
You really put out some cool stuff!
Gotta do it more often 😜😜
I really appreciate that you're sharing all your projects, even when they aren't successful. But this is what making or pretty much anything is about: *trying* something.
As for the project's idea: maybe it'd be possible to combine the lighter with the calipers, so you can still get the tube off the joined filament easily, without relying on the heater block.
Also this channel is criminally under-subscribed.
The video production quality is really good. Nice work.
Thanks Don!
Another awesome video 👍
Still say that you should make your own filament extruder, just for kicks.
It also helps with recycling failed prints etc.
But if your going for your joiner...
Put a caliper left and right (good heatsinks as you have experienced).
Brass blocks in the center, with small heating cartridges and some screws or clamping mechanism.
You also might think of suppling some pressure on the left and right filaments in order to push them together a bit more tightly (in a controlled manner).
But still ... a filament extruder is easier :) I think.
Another great video my friend! You never disappoint.
Hi Jon! Replace heat block with inductive heater. Brass is conductive. It should work just fine. The melting time will significantly decrease to milliseconds.
I definitely want to take a look into that because I think this might be an interesting solution to use as a 3D printer hotend too
I'll buy a filament joiner when you get one.. I guess I could buy the zippo now.. ;). Love love love your videos...
Great video. A friend shared it with me as I was talking about designing a filament joiner. I think your idea is sound, but you need to have a thicker heating tube that can transfer the heat. Review the way Mosiac Pallete works. I think you can get it to work! Thanks for sharing.
Lol this is why we engineers create proof of concept prototypes before building anything nice. Cool project, I've wanted to build a filament joiner for a while
Why not prusa mmu style where when it ran out the filament back out and new filament go in
I assume that’s because his end goal is to join big spools of filament and a system like the Prusa mmu would mean that the entire spool would have to travel through the device.
My assumption may be wrong since I don't own an MMU upgrade and I don't fully understand how it works.
I had an idea in mind that I wanted to try and show. Maybe the Prusa is a good option, but I don't like that printer to pause when I'm asleep or at work. One big spool just solves all issues ;)
I just use a 75mm piece of Bowden feed tube, push filament in each end and use hot air gun around the outside, just turn the tube a little. Works for me!
I love this idea ! I am a bit confused about 1 thing. Why solder the brass tube to brass calipers> Wouldn't you want to use the same idea as a heater block\Heat break? Where you want high conductivity in a concentrated area and low thermal conductivity beyond that point?
What if you JB weld the heater cartridge directly to one half of the tube?
Realy nice Video. Thanks for showing us this project👍
How about just using a thee light candle under your brass half tubed machine??
Great walkthrough
Thanks for showing the de tour ;-)
Thanks for sharing:-)👍
How the hell do you only have 24k subs? You videos are awesome!
How about overlapping the filament ends by a lot and then use a metal wheel with a grove to reduce/knead the diameter down (the wheel needs to be heated). You probably have this kind of wheel already, just dissemble a bearing(the inner ring).
There was a lot of potential, just keep on thinking about it. I enjoyed the video.
Call that a roll of filament? THAT'S A ROLL OF FILAMENT!!
So, I am not an expert and just thinking loud...
Since the brass tube is very temperature conductive and so short, it is possible that the fans cooling from bought sides is overwhelming the one heater in the middle. With the lighter you just put a massive amount of heat on one spot, without any way for the brass to cool fast down. Maybe try to isolate the part where the fans are blowing on from the brass tube or space them further away.
Anyway, big fan of your work 👍
Or you could have a second “pre extruder” and runnout sensor before entering the enclosure
Love the things you try that other would say is crazy. They could have said that about printing with plastic. Could you move the area joining the filament closer to the heater by using the heater block and cutting that?