Newest Release from SUNLU: The Filament Connector
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- Опубликовано: 14 окт 2024
- SUNLU sent me this unit to review. They have no say in the content of the review.
People who make their own filament from old plastic bottles using pultrusion might be the best customer for this product. Let me know what you think in the comments.
Filament Connector: www.sunlu.com/...
3D Printer: shrsl.com/4dal6
*The above is an affiliate link.
I teach 3D technology at a small school and we always end up with lots of left over spools with tiny bits of filaments on them. With this little machine we might be able to fuse those filaments together instead of throwing them away.
Definitely a good use case.
Or you can just use lighter and a piece of PTFE tube = )
@@enosunimat a school? Could be a fire hazard in the eyes of insurances and potentially put the teacher in lots of trouble.
You can take the spools outdoors and wield them there, then return back to class. = ))
I make PET with bottles, this thing is a game changer for chaining together multiple bottles worth of filament
pretty much the missing link when it comes to making your own bottle based filaments is a solid reliable way to splice the pieces together. I can see this being quite useful for PET filament.
@@AtomicBleach it’s been such a pain you have no idea
@@Coolfwip I've been using the PTFE tubing wrapped in a pen spring method with a lighter. You still end up having to sand the material down as it ends up bigger than 1.75
I think this is the strongest use case.
With my AMS breaking filaments sometimes, I will buy this! I've got so many pieces of filament I could make a spool haha
Thanks for the discover
My problem with filament run-out sensors is that I have to be very quick to replace the spool. If you delay, there is a noticeable artifact on at the layer where the run-out happened. May save me from some print anxiety on a large print where I'm not sure the spool is big enough!
as someone with multiple low spools this looks like it will be great to turn them into one usable spool as i have learned that multi color printing with low spools tends to jam the P1 ams from time to time when the end of the filament ends up between the sensor and the first stage feeder and cant retract for the color change
I would definitely use this to do the same sort of thing that you did with your Benchy example!!
Def has a use for me:
No runout sensor.
Bowden not Direct drive.
Fusing the filament maintains retraction.
It could be nifty for making custom filament color blends, kind of like you did with the gray and orange. I might grab one to mess with when it goes on sale.
Yeah I'd be curious to see some prints with shorter sections of filament fused together to get a blended color look. Just takes a while to make the connections and depending on the size of your print it could take ages.
Great video very to the point, I bought one and have to say over time I have a lot of spools with just a bit of filament left which I keep for a while and the just throw away because it is not enough to make any prints ...now I can just make a fun spool with all my bits of filament that I have left and not throw it away.... 👍🏼
Party Spool 🤘
All of my printers have runout sensors so no huge need for it. BUT, if you are printing something in vase mode, theeeeeen it’s useful. If your spool doesn’t run out then you don’t get a blob in your vase mode print where it pauses and restarts. That’s what happens on my FF adventurer 5M at least 😢
Vase mode is a good use case, hadn't thought of that one.
I bought one. I will definitely use it. I print almost every day and I fill the large beds of my printers. There has been more than one occasion where I would need to open a new spool knowing that other spools wouldnt have enough filament to finish while I'm at work or off to bed. Yes the run out sensors would pause the prints but they would most likely sit idle for hours till I could change out spools.
Makes sense. Are you going to unspool the filament that is on the printer, fuse the end, respool onto the new spool?
Yep if you have runout sensor you unlikely will have something you can connect. But resume often create some artifacts which may be undesirable. Also I saw DIY tools which done everything automatically, heating, wielding, pushing, cooling. And the main problem of those tools how to take it off without cutting filament again = )
I use PTFE tube and a lighter. Just left it on the spool. I take if off later when it prints over that place the tube stops at the filament input.
I already ordered one and I see defects where the print stops and starts back after loading more filament after I run out. Even on my Bambu P1S with AMS. I print things to sell and use the entire roll almost but have lots of rolls with 10-15g each. I'd like to consolidate all them to a roll and use that roll for odds and ends prints. Then I won't have all these partial rolls laying around either.
Makes sense. What kinds of things are you selling?
@@3DPrintStuff Functional prints in a fairly specific niche of my own designs. Selling on Amazon, Ebay, and Etsy.
I always end up with a small section of extra filament at the end . I might pre order one since it’s cheap. I usually have TPU I need to fuse together often.
I didn’t try TPU but depending on the hardness you’re using that might be one of the trickier ones to fuse together.
good for doing filament changes on the fly. with one of my printers, it's a royal PIA, often dropping an X offset on the print, way too often
For $100+ Sunlu should include a brick. This device doesn't save much time compared to the far cheaper filament welders, like Hexagon, which costs about $40 on Amazon. Plus, Sunlu's device can't weld/connect all filaments like most of the inexpensive models. I'll pass on this. Thanks for the video.
I’m new to this, can’t you feed new filament behind the old and keep a little pressure till
it catches.
I guess you could do that but that’s a lot of babysitting your printer which will get old really fast.
your telling me you don't have tones of almost empty spools that are not enough for a single print? i would love to have this to make one large spool so i can just use it for making test prints.
No I just let the printer detect when the spool is empty and load a new spool of the same colour after it. Or enable auto spool change in the ams and it does it for me.
Its at 100€ at the moment, i think this is a device that should cost about 10€ or maybe 20€. Hopefully it will get in this region soon. I think this is a very good product.
Oh, come on. It pays for itself after only 1 or 2 km saved PLA-filament… 😜
I can find it for about 40 €, so only about half a kilometer.
It's on pre order for about 35$ 🤣🤣
i have a lot of filaments that are brittle and broke off, i suspect that they’re wet. So this device might come in handy to splice them together. Although i don’t know if i wanna spend 30$ for that..
In my experience brittle filaments aren't worth holding onto... just create more problems than they're worth.
I have already ordered one for me. Even my printer has filament runout sensor, it almost always leave noticeable mark on some of my models where filament was exchanged. so i really hope it will help in such cases.
Fair enough. I could definitely see people making connections on the fly on the 3D printer before the filament runs out.
Don't know if or where it fits in? If you have a 3d printer you have many spools of filament that are not enough for a project. Hence the need. Just use a rewind station, very easy.
I got one... preordered rather, I have been printing for a couple years, and I have an obscene amount of rolls with enough to keep, but not for a print, so I can definitely use it, after the initial bonding, probably not as much, but I guess at least I'll have it on hand, I dont care for the fact they did make it plug in, and that they didn't include a power brick... thats annoying, in that MOST of us just have a phone power brick that won't work... overall for the preorder price point, I think it's worth it.
You'll get good use out of it if you have a bunch of almost empty rolls kicking around. You can free up some space to order more filament.
You could use this to automate color changes on prints your wanting multi color and don't have an AMS. In Orca and Bambu Studio after you slice a multi color print it tells you the length and weight of each filament used.
This would be incredibly tedious and time consuming...
@@3DPrintStuff Yeah I like my Bambu AMS for this but it would save a lot of poop. 💩
Does it work with PETG? I can see a use case for people making their own filament from 2L bottles.
It does work with PETG. People making their own filament from bottles is definitely one of the strongest use cases.
shame it needs the disposable teflon sleeves.
tbh if I need to use up spools I'll just load them up on my A1 or A1 mini with the AMS Lite.
Same
Yeah, most people with Bambu Lab printers don't need this thing in my opinion.
I have ordered one just to connect all the end off spools I have. Not enough filament for a print but too much to just throw away.
And besides its about the same price of a spool of PLA so not too expensive.
That seems to be the main reason I’m hearing from you guys to get one of these.
It seems you could just use the sleeves to do this while holding a lighter flame underneath.
Yeah I almost included that method as part of the video. You’d want to print some sort of helping hand or jig cause it’s a bit awkward to hold the filaments together and heat with a lighter at the same time.
Cool, I've always considered trying to make a DIY filament joiner so it's cool to see how a manufactured one works! It's a bit steep at the moment, but hopefully it leads to innovation and prices come down. I wonder if a cut silicone sleeve would still work okay, as that part of it being consumable seems like it could get annoying, and cutting it seems like the only way to do it unless you're joining super short sections as you mention. Still, if I had one, I'd probably just do something dumb like estimate lengths needed and try to get a multicolor print all on the same spool lol. Thanks for the video!
I wouldn't call 40$ steep 😁
@sorenac $40 is still not quite my ideal price point, so the fact it's $100 USD puts it far out of reach.
ETA: I've just realized the above link is to bundles only and not the machine itself, but it's still too niche a use case for myself and would be more a toy than a tool.
@@algernopkrieger7710 where do you get the 100$ from? Everywhere you look it's on pre-sale for 35$ (not 40 as I mentioned ).
Raspberry Pi power unit may do it
If it's USB type A and is rated for 5v 2A then sure.
Im going to try an experiment with it. Im going to buy a big mixed color bag of 3D pen filament and make a radical color small spool then print something with it.....Should be cool
That'll be cool! you should share the results.
@@3DPrintStuff I might do that! 😊
THREE charger examples in was two too many for me and I'm gone. BTW - putting it back in the box so you can show us you taking it out again is also pretty strange. It's a filament connector; it connexcts filament. So how well does it work? Get to it! I hope that's helpful feedback.
Fair enough. What makes you think I put the connector back in the box?
You ... Could skip ahead by a few seconds... In my opinion it was a good way to stress the point for those that do not know as well as provide examples without being condescending.
Such a reaction from a grown man towards a detail that can only be classified as minutiae, on a platform that gives you tools for such a situation... I'm perplexed
Nah it was Okay. Nice review, do not listen to 'haters', 'cause haters gonna hate = )
I found a guy on marketplace with 44 spools of ASA with 100-300 grams left. If I get good results with this I could have 8 spools of ASA for 80$
8 spools of ASA for $80 is a steal. Might want to dry that filament before you use it.
@@3DPrintStuff I'll end up breaking even, I'll have to buy the sunlu 4 spool dryer 🤣
This is a game changer
Heck yeah, I would use that.
Nice, thanks for the feedback
I dont think a proper use case is fusing ends of filament from spools that are running out. Like you said, if your printer has a run out sensor you can just swap spools, but also the amount of filament you have to fuse together to actually break even on this $50 abomination is obsurd
Yeah if people are getting their spools for ~$15 you can buy 3 entire spools instead of spending your time splicing...
For me the consumable is the deal breaker. I was very interested because the manual methods are...unreliable at best. However the tiny amount of filament this would save me just doesn't justify the cost. Neat idea, poor execution.
Yeah that's fair. I'm not stoked on the consumable sleeve either.
FINALLY
Oh nevermind, just saw the price.
I run through probably 150-200kg a year...
You telling me it doesn't come with a power supply almost makes it not worth it. That's fucking ridiculous tbh.
You running a print farm? How many printers?
Yeah the lack of power brick was pretty disappointing, especially at that price.
This might have been handy 5 years ago when AMS's were not on the market. Use case now... Not something I would spend money on.
Yeah I think this would have been a good companion for my Ender 3... but not any of my Bambu printers.
To save one small piece of plastic, another is thrown away. The nylon bit in this case.
And thus balance is maintained in the universe... On shorter sections you can just slide it off and reuse it but on larger sections it is a consumable. At least on the larger sections the ratio of waste to saved plastic is a lot better.
it's a gimmick that would be kind of interesting if the price was somewhere around 20€$. But at this price level, it's completely uninteresting and not yet fully developed.
Yoooooo this fits in for the idiot users who were like "im going to save a dollar and buy spolless " but then they create a bunch of knots in the front and back of the filament!
I need to git gud
lol yeah those spoolless reloads can be tricky sometimes.
@@3DPrintStuff especially when you're smart enough to know you need to wait for the right tool to finish printing (spool and spool winder).
I really thought I could just slide the roll to an old spool. :(
Learned the hard way
@@TheBinklemNetworkahhh I made this SAME EXACT mistake in the beginning. Never again 😂
@@Six-StitchesI had a dream of how to use this mess of filament, I think the idea was genius.... But I can't remember it... Dedicated cold pull filament maybe?
There are printable filament welders that use a tube and spring, check it out if your in this boat with me.
My spool has knots at the front and back and I'm going to slowly slice and then weld once untangled.
I think it's an interesting gadget to have, but it is a bit overpriced for me.
That's fair.
Really no idea about the crazy and stupid security rules in schools from insurances . Forget logic and look for any excuse that helps either augmenting insurance or helping to avoid paying.
Always use something not homemade ,anything else will be used to avoid payment.
For a Benjamin. I don’t think so
Have you seen the ones that use a lighter to join the bit? It's like 10 bucks
lol. A lighter is. $2. Lol
@@AaronBittenbender don't be a donut. I'm talking about the tool, not your over priced bic lighter.
lol. I love doughnuts thou.
You're right... Let's be doughnuts together.@@AaronBittenbender