Sorry if this question has been answered before. I found some information by searching the forums, but much of it had to do with the Taz and not the Mini.
I am looking into purchasing a Mini but have a ton of 1.75mm filament I’d like to use. I’m gathering that it’s possible to convert the printer to use 1.75mm. How would you recommend doing this? Should I buy a new nozzle and if so, where would you recommend getting it from and are there instructions somewhere for replacing it? Does doing this void the warranty?
I have a few spools of 1.75mm sitting around as well, it was 50/50 if it worked or not. I just bought 3mm filament and I’m slowly selling off the 1.75mm.
In order to use 1.75mm filament you should replace the hotend as well as the extruder. I say should because there are reports of some folks getting away with using 1.75mm filament in their 3mm hotend/extruder. Since Murphy (the guy that provided the name for the law) seems to live at my house, I have chosen to build separate 3mm and 1.75mm print heads.
There are a number of options for the hotend. I tend to stay with the Hexagon models but there are still a couple choices. The Hexagon hotend comes in 2 basic models. Both will work. Lulzbot uses the A0 Hexagon. You can purchase them online from sites like http://www.3dmakerworld.com/store/parts-accessories/hotends/hexagon-ao-hotend
I have a ton of 1.75 mm ABS that I’ve been using with my mini. I probably have over 200 hours printing with it over the past two weeks. All you need to do is tell Cura (or Simplify3D, that’s what I use) that you’re using 1.75 mm filament and make sure that the roller that you can see on the print head turns smoothly. As long as you do that it should work flawlessly, and it gets easier to load as you go. What I wouldn’t do is only buy 1.75 mm from now on, because I imagine that using the correct size filament would be much better.
I’ve been trying a roll of 1.75mm ColorFabb ‘Shining Silver’ filament on my Mini for the past week or so.
I finally had a successful print last night, had to change the retraction settings to .6mm at a speed of 100mm/s. The print speed was set at 50mm/s (usually I print slower).
But the next print (20x20x10mm box) it jammed and stripped the filament.
I’m really running out of ideas on how to get this filament to print, especially when I read that it’s as easy as changing the filament diameter to the nominal…
My Mini ALWAYS jams when I try to use 1.75mm filament (all eSUN). What happens is the filament ends up all bent and bunched up under the hobbed bolt right before going down the chute. I’m posting this just so others know their mileage may vary. Reading the reports of printing with 1.75mm pushed me into buying my Mini (which I like), but it will not print the eSUN 1.75mm I have tried. I do have a complete 1.75mm head that I have not yet installed.
Well you must have missed the “YMMV” disclaimers on the threads about 1.75mm filament on 3.00mm hotend.
While some folks have had success, it really isn’t optimal. Most are just getting through leftover roll from a different machine. If you have a lot of 1.75mm or want to use this diameter filament you should get the 1.75mm Hexagon AO hotend.
And yes, I realized the risk of purchasing 1.75mm filament. But this is a hobby… and experimenting is half the fun is it not?
Was mostly looking to see if there were any new tips with the software that may have sprouted up in the past few months. Looks like there might not be. A bit discouraging but that’s ok, I’m only out one spool of filament
For reference to anyone else who may be reading this thread looking for help, here are links to some other attempts at 1.75mm filament:
I used the standard PLA print profile, set to 1.75mm filament, and 220degC extrusion temperature. I had tried this profile before, but this time I coated ~3 inches of the 1.75mm Colorfabb ‘Shining Silver’ filament in oliver oil. Then I hit print.
To my surprise, 8 hours later I had a finished 80g print waiting for me on the build plate! I’ve done a few prints since and it seems to work fine every time. No jamming!
