How to Print 1.75 mm Filament with the LulzBot Mini

Due to recent events I’m currently on my second LulzBot Mini, and I own about 15 spools of 1.75 mm ABS that I’m not going to sell. Of course I had to find a way to print with it, and I think I found a foolproof one. Simply changing the filament size in the software was not enough no matter how many prints I tried to start. I found one seemingly essential part of this that people may or may not know about that I thought I’d share, so:

  1. Set filament diameter in your software of choice to 1.75 mm
  2. Load filament into the printer, making sure that the filament comes out smoothly
    3. VERY IMPORTANT Locate the line of code in the startup sequence toward the beginning that tells the printer to suck up 30 mm of filament
    4. Delete this line of code forever, at least until you switch to using 3.00 mm filament
  3. Print all of the things, worry free

I found that printing 1.75 mm filament works perfectly the first time every time by doing this. No jams or torn up filament. Wonderful prints. Keep in mind that this is my experience and that yours may differ. The software I use is Simplify3D, but it should work with Cura too.

I am not responsible for any damage or malfunction that may result to your printer or filament while attempting this. Attempt at your own risk.

Best be watching that nozzle very closely before it does the bed probe! Get rid of any filament before it starts or it could grind into the washer(S).

Id recommend just swapping over to a 1.75mm hot end for anyone planning to run 1.75mm for a long period of time or permanently.