Last centimeters or Print it all !

prusaprinters

I take an opportunity and use this competition to share two tricks on how to use the very last centimeters of the filament. The recommendation is based on experience with the Bowden type Prusa MINI+ printer, which has an extruder quite far from the print head. The distance from the filament sensor to the nozzle is approx. 200 mm which usually means waste from each coil. 1. Push the end of the filament with another filament into the PTFE tube during printing.This is a very simple trick that works. The main disadvantage is dysfunctional or semi-functional retraction until the new filament completely displaces the old one. The impact on quality depends a lot on the printed model and the material used. However, it is barely visible in most cases. It is necessary to push gently but steadily until the extruder catches it. It can be used with the same or similar filament of the same material to continue printing. Sometimes you may have the last percentage of print left (up to 150-200 mm of filament) from the sample of special material and if you do not have another similar one you can use any and it will save your print.2. Weld the filaments together. There are a lot of ways with the special tools but I've tried to use a heat block. Briefly warm up the two ends you want to connect and push them together. Remove excess material with a scalpel or knife. If you do well, the retraction works, and only the joint can reduce the print quality.I hope these tricks help you use your filament effectively but please be careful. I look forward to your opinions and experiences with the use of the last centimeters of filament.