Ender 3 Low Friction Filament Guide with Cable Guide

thingiverse

I'm a huge fan of the Creality Ender 3, which prints nearly as well as my Prusa i3 MK3 for a quarter of the cost. To learn it, I tried all available upgrades and wasn't happy with most filament guides. They all suffer from high friction and don't solve the angle problem. Some are noisy! So, I designed my own filament guide using 15cm 4/2 PTFE Bowden tubing, which runs smoothly inside short extra PTE tubing. After testing it for a month, it works perfectly, guiding the filament precisely without touching the Z-axis screw. The Low Friction Filament Guide mounts with existing screws and includes a hotend cable guide that can be used alone or with a cable chain. I didn't glue the PTFE tube because it sits firmly in place. If you encounter filament clogging, especially with a bulb on the end, don't pull it out through the filament guide, even if you've removed it from the extruder. Instead, cut the filament between the guide and extruder and remove it independently. Print this design in PLA with 95% infill for added stiffness compared to PET or ABS. I've tested many variants, and this one works best. This design doesn't reuse any existing components.