Filament Question ?....

[The Hat]

Has anyone been able to join two pieces of filament together with relative success...
I know I can’t, every time the join goes into the extruder it Feckin breaks..

So no…

 

[Redbrickman]

No tools required - just an acceptance of finger burns

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gyMvT61mYPY

This one looks promising, however Mrs Hat may get the wrong idea if you come home from the charity shop with a pair of hair straighteners

https://www.instructables.com/id/3D-Filament-Fuser/

 

[The Hat]

These two suggestions look promising, I will try the candle idea first and see how that goes, then I use the other method, but instead of a hair straighteners, I’ll use a heat gun and clamp.. to be continued, thanks @Redbrickman..
The Extruder will be the final arbitrator…

 

[Artur5]

Being an illiterate in 3D printing, I know next to nothing about filaments, After googling briefly I see that there’re several, if not many, different types. PLA and ABS being the most popular. Correct me if I’m wrong.
As those materials are soluble at room temperature in organic compounds you can employ the method used to install and repair the nylon wires of industrial roller conveyors. I worked many years in a firm that supplied this kind of machines for the tanning and textile industry. ( @The Hat : we went once to Clonmel - Tipperary )

By what I saw glancing at that youtube video, it’s basically the same idea but with a couple of important differences.
Soak the tip of each filament in the appropriate solvent (it was formic acid for nylon, for PLA filament it would be ethylacetate and different esters/ketones for ABS )
Get a short and thin glass tube with an internal diameter slightly bigger than the diameter of the filament. Insert each tip by the opposite end of the tube, Heat the glass with a candle or lighter. When you see that the filament inside starts to melt, push gently both wires to join them together. Wait a few seconds, retire the candle, leave it cool down. When it’s cold, remove the glass by breaking it with pliers or similar tool, taking care of not damage the wire inside.
IBelieve me, we used 2mm. nylon wires that supported enormous tensions and very rarely broke by the soldered joints unless the formic acid was in bad condition.

If you use PET or PPE filaments, as these plastics are practically impossible to dissolve, you have to melt them without solvent and it’s not the same.

Disclaimer :

Don’t ask me where to get the glass tubes and the ethylacetate.
Maybe Aliexpress, Ebay, even Amazon can help you,

 

[The Hat]

Don’t ask me where to get the glass tubes and the ethylacetate.

...
I did try the candle method and it work reasonably well, but it leaves the filament quite hard and brittle and when I put the repaired filament piece through the teeth of the extruder it broke up and cause a jam, so no cigar for that method.

I’ll stick to feeding the smaller pieces of filament into the extruder by hand for now, I reckon I’ll have more success but as always there is a catch, feed one piece in wrong and the result will the same, it jams up and Fubars whatever you were trying to make..
It’s interesting what information you can get on this forum, we do Whisky, Beer and Pizza, and I was wondering if someone will give some tips on baking next….
P.S. Tipperary is @sumi country…and as the song goes it’s a Friggin long way…

 

[Nifty]

No tools required - just an acceptance of finger burns

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gyMvT61mYPY

This one looks promising, however Mrs Hat may get the wrong idea if you come home from the charity shop with a pair of hair straighteners

https://www.instructables.com/id/3D-Filament-Fuser/

Yup! The bowden tube method works GREAT... surprisingly well.

The main downside: If you have a LOT of filament you're connecting to a lot of filament, you'll be spending a LOT of time pushing the bowden tube to one end or the other.