The best way of welding or splicing filament
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- Опубликовано: 13 сен 2024
- The best way of welding or splicing 3D printing filament without special tools. This easy process will surprise you.
As an Amazon Affiliate I have linked to the following products I use:
Soldering Iron: amzn.to/3qZvObh
Silicon Tubing: amzn.to/3R51Jl6
Sir, you have provided a game-changing solution for the 3D printing world. I ordered the silicone tubing right away and got the splicing right on second try. I used too much heat the first time. A little dab will do ya. There are several devices one can purchase with differing opinions as to how well they work. Your method works 100% of the time and is almost free. I'll be posting this on Bambu Labs forums which hopefully will lead to an uptick in your views. Thank you very much.
Mike, you are a genius. I've tried some of the "tools" for doing this and been very frustrated and disappointed. Your method is easy and foolproof. Thank you for posting this.
Thank you ! This is pure genius ! I ordered the 1/16" tubing immediately after watching your video and tried the technique. It worked perfectly the first time. So easy. I cut the ends angled, lined them up in the tubing, held a flat sided soldering iron against the joint area for a few seconds and then barely pressed the filaments together (they're very soft then). Held them straight and blew on them a few moments to cool. I did less fussing than even you showed while filming. The joint looks perfect ! Like done by a factory machine. So smooth.... The diameter actually shrank a little, from 1.75 to 1.73mm and I pulled about 10 pounds on the filaments with no problem. Just amazing. All those tools and sanding and fooling with things is silly. This tubing idea is AWESOME.
That works SOOOO much better for splicing than that stupid little clamp thing. Great advice! I used a lighter rather than a soldering iron but it worked well enough.
I have a saying.... trust experience! Normally older people have that. My respect 👏
Having tried several of the techniques for joining filament, with varying rates of success, I can very confidently say that using silicone tube is by FAR the easiest and most succesful of all the methods I used. I'd never have thought of it if I hadn't seen this video. Thank you for the insight.
From a lab with dozens of
Hi Mike. I've tried many different ways to splice my 1.75mm PLA filaments with some successful splices. But nothing close to your process! The very first time was perfect. Your process takes the split second timing completely out of it! And the heat can take it's time to truly penetrate and bind together and the tight fitting tubing holding perfect form the whole time! I own a machine shop and
repair all my machines myself. And I tell you, that was a brilliant idea. I'm very impressed. Anyway thanks so much for sharing that GREAT IDEA!!!
I can't even remember the last time I've left a comment on anything on RUclips. I'm just an avid watcher only but this process worked SO WELL that I had to leave a comment for any others looking for an easy method. I got it first try exactly how you showed in the video. Didn't even have any canned air and just blew on it after and it still worked perfect. Thank you for this!!
This is a great idea 🙏 thank you for sharing
Awesome Mike!!!! Thanks So Much Man!!!!
Excellent, Mike...best solution so far! Thank You!
Hi Mike, thanks for this tutorial! I was searching for a tool which helps me, but all are somehow difficult to use. Especially those which force you to slide all the filament back through it. For short lengths it might be ok, but if you want to weld a new spool to the ongoing print, it is impossible.
Luckely I was able to order the same silicone tube (1/8-1/16) here in Germany.
Again thanks for sharing your idea here.!
Thanks a lot! Sometimes a person has to do a lot of searching to find the kind of information you are sharing. I wish you the best.
Stumbled onto this video, sooo glad I did. Saved me over 60 UK pounds on a heated joiner. Thank you works a treat. 🙂
Awesome instructional video. I was successful on my first attempt. Your technique is GOLD. Thanks so much Mike.
You sir are a GENIUS!!! After having tried every "wizz-bang" device and "easy" methods to join filament on YT, yours WORKS. I mostly print in ABS since I have an enclosed printer. I prefer the toughness of ABS over PLA and the ability to "vapor smooth" ABS. I was successful on my first attempt with ABS. Not only is the joint smooth and shiny it is actually very slightly smaller than the filament diameter so NO TRIMMING OR SANDING. I have been successful 4 out of 5 times. The "trick" is to resist the urge to over-heat the filament. ABS becomes very brittle if over heated like you mention. I tried PLA and was successful the first attempt. I was able to reclaim almost a full roll of ABS filament using a few cents worth of silicone tubing and a little time. Thank you!!
Thank you so very much finally a method that actually works !!!!! I have tried so many different jigs and methods that I almost gave up, your method is the one that works perfect every time !!!!!
Thank You! This is by far the least expensive, fastest, and most accurate way to weld 2 pieces of filament together. I tried it for the first time today and welded the filament together in less than 2 minutes with no visible seam, no bulge, no misalignment, and no change in filament size. If I hadn't used 2 different colors, I would have been unable to find the welded area when finished.
This is the first time I have seen any of your videos, and I immediately liked and subscribed. This looks like the easiest, and cleanest fusion of filament I have found on RUclips. GREAT VIDEO!!!!!!
This method looks better than the special clamp, maybe others have pointed out, the special clamp version requires you to push the filament into the nylon clamp section after being heated. This shapes the filament and stops the mushroom end. Still, the silicon tube is way better, good job.
Thanks Mike. I tried this tonight and without a doubt is the best way. I adapted a little like using both hands to press together with the iron in a vise and rolling on a flat surface.
That is a great idea!
You’re a genius. Your thing works great. (I use a hot air gun.) Thank you very much. :-) Juste one more precision, I tried with 3mm (/2) heat shrink jacket and it's also very good.
I just ordered the silicon tubing. Thanks for solving how to efficiently combine all these partial rolls of filament!
Thanks for the technique. I have been able to join filament in a pattern to print alternating colors. Only had one failure so far out of at least ten welds. So much easier than welding blocks.
Had to subscribe... I had been searching all day about this, and found many videos on DIY-ing this to expensive heated joiners, and all had flaws and some had many flaws, but this looks amazing, and after reading through the comments, I am confident that I finally found the best way to accomplish fusing two pieces of PLA together. Used your link to order the tubing, and looking forward to a fun time putting this idea to use. Thanks for taking the time to share your experience with others, as that is what I like to do myself, so 3 thumbs up for sure... 👍👍👍
I just tried this. Worked first time. Very happy
Thank you so much for this video. Using this method my splice was flawless on the 1st try.
Thank You!!
I have tried at least a half dozen ways to join filaments, and either the weld was too weak, required lots of cleanup, or didn't reliably feed into the print head.
This method works amazingly. The splices are strong enough to wind the filament back onto a spool without the weld point breaking.
When I use the MehrleWeld (the process shown in this video), I remove the silicone with a single edged razor blade. Easy as pie, comes right off. If you've ever used shrink tubing, you might be tempted to heat the silicone in the same fashion. Don't do it. Just makes it hard to cut off. Only heat the joint, then cut off the rest, check the joint, move on to the next one. I've been using about an inch of tubing, but I'm going to try 1/2 or 3/4.
Pretty nice! I'll give this a try because that other thingy you showed does not work at all. Thx Mike
This is great, Mike. Thanks for taking the time to make such a thorough video.
Thank you
i was giving up on this until tried your way. works great you cant even fine the fused spot. and it stays the same size no hang up in the tubing. thank you for sharing this tip.
Very well done. I'm be trying this technique out for sure
You're not using the clamp right; you need to push the filament into the white tube part while the it is still soft. That shapes it and there's no mushrooming and no trimming required.
Yes, but in my case, it didn't go inside that ceramic part because my filament is not straight.
this is so much nicer, the clamp thing was so annoying because the filaments natural bend from being on the spool would always make them a pain in the ass to line up. i had been using a piece of ptfe tubing i cut 80% of the way through to heat the ends and stick them together which got a similar result (just sliding the tube off as i respooled it) but this seems way nicer to do.
This is the best method out there ❤
I'm amazed!!! Cheers for the tip.
i was actually thinking of trying this same thing with some really small heatshrink, and then just cutting it off, good to see you had a better idea, going to order some now.
Mike, thank you VERY much for this tutorial. Worked like a charm! I've tried a number of other ways but this was the most economical and convenient and yielded the best results! GREAT JOB!
genuinely best method i have ever seen! thanks for sharing
Great video sir. I shared this video in about 5 or 6 3D printing Facebook groups.
😊 Hi Mike, as you say I have tried several times to join filament with various methods shown on RUclips and have made 3 models from Thingiverse and they do not work as the joined filament will not go through a boden tube when finished. I have used your method and it works. Thank you. For the record the size of tube that I used was 1.5 MM inner that I purchased on Amazon UK.
So 1.5 mm will work for filament 1.75mm, can stretch a little bit?
@@chovab yes the 1.5mm stretches and keeps the join tight, so the finished filament will go through the boden tube without a problem
@@brynkelly6141 perfect, thank you for confirming, I just order it over aliexpress 10 meter 😁, I want to join filament made from plastic bottles. I make machine and making my own filament
@@chovab Hi I hope your own filament will fit. I used it for PLA, I have also tried making my own PETG using bottles as per this link ruclips.net/video/uSBCxH9358s/видео.html. The PETG filament was a little larger but still fitted. Hope you have better success making PET than me, I will be sticking with PLA.
Wow ! I will try this !!
Thank you! amazing !
Thanks! Just ordered some 1.6mm ID 4.8mmOD tubing. Ill use a Hot air station to heat it up. and see how it goes
How did it go with the hot air station?
@@cottagemail4066 not too well.
awesome video, definitely trying this ASAP. one question though, does this method not work at all with a heat gun or is it just not not as effective as with a soldering iron? i have both a heat gun and a pyrography tool but the heat gun honestly seems safer and easier to use to me, so i really want to see how well that works anyways
Good question, I haven't tried it any other way... let us know.
@WhatIsMikeMakingNow welp, just tried it today...im glad to report that a heat gun works just fine for this method! if you want it to be as fast as the soldering iron method though, youll have to heat it up for a few seconds on the higher heat setting. since this was my first time it wasnt quite as clean as what you did in this video, but it was good enough that it looked like a slightly kinked portion of filament. heres to hoping it holds up okay!!! thanks for the video 😊
Most excellent video. even works on harder to do pet bottle filament
thank u sir
I cheat. My printer has a direct drive extruder.
All I do, if I want to change color, is right at the top of the extruder, the filament is first fed into a PTFE tube (about 2").
When I want to make the change, I just cut the filament right at the top of the PTFE tube and as it is feeding down into the extruder, I just insert the new color (also cut straight across) and manually keep light force on it so it's touching the filament already in there. (keep them touching). As the 1st one feeds, I can feel/see the new filament following.
Once it gets into the gears, the extruder just takes over and they feed through the hot end and blend. Works a charm.
On that black jig you are suppose to push the mushroom through the white tube while it is still hot to get it close the the right diameter.
I get it. I just don't like it, nor do I think it's as good as the method I show here. To each his own, I guess.
@@WhatIsMikeMakingNow I have never actually made a successful filament weld with that little tool you show in the beginning. Either the bond isn't strong enough to make it through the extruder or the bulge is too big to make it through (even after pushing it through the tube). I am always on the hunt for new ideas for actually being able to make a successful weld. I am going to give your silicone tube a try.
I have seen other videos of people making what appears to be successful welds with that tool, although I have never actually seen a video of a weld made with that tool going into an extruder and surviving.
Thanks for the video! Been researching this very problem!!! Great Job!!! Which size Silicon tubing did you use? 1/16" ID-1/8" OD or 1/12" ID-1/4"OD?
The 1/16" ID-1/8"OD is equal to 1.58 mm ID and 3.175 mm OD. That will be the one I order! The 1/12" ID-1/4" OD would be 2.12 mm ID-6.35 mm OD which would be to large!!! Thanks again for the video!!!
1/16" ID
@@WhatIsMikeMakingNow Thank you very much!
Very good. I am ordering tubing thru your affiliate link. Thank you. You did not say what kind of filament. I hope it works with the higher temp ones like ASA and PC-Nylon. But the iron temp is so high I expect it will.
Mike, Thank you so much for this video. I literally just spent a solid hour trying to do this with no success. You have saved my Sanity!! Thank you so much!✌
awesome!!!
Nice idea sir! Just watch out from the PTFE fumes, i want to automate this process, do you have any ideas on how to achieve it?
I have not thought about automation. If you find a way, let us know.
Thanks, I will try that method and use my filament welder to heat it.
I've tried this and it works well except that the joint becomes very hard and won't always pass through the extruder, leading to interrupted prints. Am I doing something wrong? Is there a solution?
hey, question--so i finally have a soldering iron and i have to agree it makes the process SO much easier, but now ive been dealing with an issue where spliced filament will snap at the splice point when i have it feeding from a drybox to the extruder. is there any reason this happens? does it have to do with splicing temperature or moreso the angle at which its being fed from the spool?
You have mushrooming using the splicing jig because you're using it wrong.
My thoughts are exactly the same... Once filament are melted you need to move back and forth slowly to "iron" mayerial and avoid mushroom head... Also jig itself is kind of bad IMHO. I use capricorn tubing reinforced with pen spring and donut shaped jig from thingiverse idea is same but bit easier to use then this jig. I must admit tho his method isn't bad either tho.
one amazon referral coming your way, brother. a+
Totally badass method Thanks!!
Very Nice
That’s a pretty good idea! I gotta try it
Could the same effect technically be achieved with a thin metal tube of around 15mm length with an inner diameter of 1,75mm? That might conduct the heat from the soldering iron better. I was thinking of putting that in one of those soldering helper tools to hold it.
No... you can use a brass tube, but how will you get the welded filament out? You can't without sliding it completely off.
@@WhatIsMikeMakingNow That is indeed a good point, I hadn't considered that when I commented. I could feed the smaller connected spool all the way through, but that would be a massive hassle in some situations. Thank you kindly for the fast reply, though!
Excellent option. I have had a hard time fusing filaments together with some of the other techniques we can find. This one is by far the easiest one, in my opinion, when you have the silicone tubing. I bought 2m of 1.6mm ID of tubing which is about the equivalent of 1/16" and it worked the first time I tried it. I did it on two different rolls and each one was successful.
Not having to hurry up and guessing the right process is the strenght of this technique. To each its own and nothing wrong with the other methods but this is now the one I will be using.
Tks for sharing
Hey Mike, been watching your fly tying vids for years, so funny to see you on the 3d printing videos. Small world, how's the fishing on Summerville?
Right now it's winter and cold (to me). I'm definitely Fairweathered.
Do you just wind your filament up with that tube still on it? (When combining two rolls of filament?) I use the little metal tool because I can unbolt it when I join two rolls together and roll them over to one side with my drill.
Have you compared this to the little clamp things they have now?
Is the refrigerant from the canned air functional, or just for impatience?
Honestly, I don't remember. I do remember saying experiment with it. But just thinking about it, to answer your question, and knowing me... it was probably me being inpatient.
😎thanks for the tip awsome I’ll have to try it out
Thanks for the insightful video. Careful not to stab yourself opening the heat shrink like that. It seems like the more equal the cuts are, the better off you will be when joining. Perhaps a tool could be made to optimize the cut face.
Good idea
Can the tube be reused instead of cutting it off? Im goin to have many small bottles of pet i was going to make into filament and form them together.
I don't really think there is a way with this method to save the tube. But if you figure it out, by all means, shoot a video in how to do it.
Is this tubing available in metric?
Howdy mate, this is the best video I've seen so far solving this problem! Thank you!!! Checked the links out and it gives a bazillion options in not metric measures, which silicon tubing size is the right size to choose? Thanks again, very pedagogic complete video!
/Silverbullit, Sweden
Thank you so much for your tutorial! Would it be safe to use a small butane torch on this as long as I don't hold it in one place too long?
Tagging this as I have same question!
BUT you must cut a piece of tubing for every slice??????????
LOL, yes, it will cost you less than a dime.
Does it' matter how hot the soldering iron is?
That's a really good question. But I'm pretty sure I had mine set at the highest setting.
Thanks!
A demo with 2 different colour filaments would have been easier to see for the camera.
What temp is your soldering iron?
Around 425-F. You'll need to experiment.
Sorry, i NEVER had these mushroom problems with the welder things you can buy!
You got a slick process! 👍🏻 What kind of filament is that? I’ve never seen black? Is this fly fishing only filament?
It's not a fly fishing filament, it's PLA; the process should work for any plastic. Black is probably the fastest selling color. There's tons of it.
@@WhatIsMikeMakingNow ah😂
I tried this tonight with a bunch of scraps, it looked fine until I stressed it at all, then it would break at the joint
the mushroom can be prevented by just keep pushing it
True, but you need to be fast.
@@WhatIsMikeMakingNow thank you tho for you vid it helps a lot to make splicing easyer
How hot for the soldering iron?
Depends on what filament. I'd go at least 20° over nozzle temp.
@@WhatIsMikeMakingNow That makes sense. Thanks for the excellent video!
Before I buy the tubing can you clarify that you use 1/16” ID tubing. 1/8” OD. Lots of different sizes on Amazon.
The link to what I use is In the description.
@@WhatIsMikeMakingNow Thanks for this post. The technique works well. The author’s link to the silicon tubing is vague as it takes you to Amazon with multiple tube sizes. You need the 1/16” ID, 1/8” OD tubing. Had the author responded with a simple “Yes” to my question it would have saved me some aggravation. I always try to provide a response to readers of my channel in a clear and expeditious manner. The video is very good. Probably the best technique out there.
@@TheRotorhound He gave you the link. I don't see an easier way to respond. It's almost like you're trying to be offended.
@@PesquisasMormonas On my computer the link went to various size tubing. Didn’t want the wrong tubing. Is asking a question not allowed? Links on Amazon change all the time. I just asked for a confirmation. My bad I guess.
@@TheRotorhound God, you're such a Karen
What size of silicone tube you use 1/16?
The link to what I use is In the description.
What's your last name if you don't mind giving it out. We need to label this method with your name.
Mehrle
Hmm I thought this was 3d printing filament lol
That's not exactly how that little black filament jig worked, You dont shove the filament ends together so they mushroom.
When you heat the ends and melt them. You then push them into the white nylon piece and move it back and forth which smooths and rounds it. Then if Necessary you can pull it back through the other side which can shave it down. The screws are there so you can easily take it off a long line.
Still its a little fiddly because it's small. A handle or mount in a vice helps.
Whatever works for you. But if you're talking about that little jig... it certainly works, but not as well or consistently as the method I show in this video.
Imagine using that filament splicing tool for 30 years and not realizing that you were using it wrong the whole time 0_0