Filament Guide for Direct Drive Extruder

thingiverse

I experienced issues with filament jamming where it entered the extruder on my Charlstruder, an improved version of the Wade extruder. After four to five hours of printing, the print wouldn't complete due to a jammed filament, wasting valuable material. The problem occurred at the point where the filament enters the extruder, either to the left or right of the hobbed bolt. It would fold up and get stuck, preventing it from passing through. To resolve this issue, I created a simple guide that I installed and haven't experienced any problems since. Refer to the attached images for visual confirmation. All files are available for anyone who needs something similar or wants to remix them. I designed the guide using Tinkercad, and while the specified print settings are recommended, they're not strictly necessary. Infill of 10% and a resolution of 0.3 mm will also yield satisfactory results. On June 30, 2020, I revised the design by adding a small tube; you can view the updated STL file, Filament Guide Rev3, along with its associated image. Feel free to print, remix, or add comments; I'd appreciate seeing pictures of your prints as well.