Low friction swinging filament guide for Ender 3 with Direct Drive extruder

thingiverse

When I added a direct drive extruder that required an overhead filament path, I discovered I needed some sort of flexible filament guide to prevent things from getting tangled between the overhead filament reel and the entry point to the extruder. I found BoothyBoothy's Ender_3_Ender_3_Pro filament oiler which had the right idea but since I don't oil my filament except occasionally (with silicone oil) to season the hot end after a thorough cleaning, I didn't need it in its original form. I designed my own movable guide with a "funnel" top and a piece of PTFE "Bowden" tube down the center to give it low friction characteristics and keep the filament from quickly wearing out the PLA of the guide. I kept BoothyBoothy's Vertical mounting plate that used "T" nuts to mount to the top crossbar on the Ender 3 but I ran into a problem. I had already installed TH3D's belt driven extruder Z Axis leadscrew and the belt tensioner caused the belt to get in the way of the mount. I designed a block type mount that fit under the overhead bar and used "T" nuts to hold it in place and move the vertical part forward a few mm to clear the belt and not cause interference. You will need some 4mm screws and T nuts for mounting the block under the crossbar. You will also need two reasonably long (not overly critical in length) 3mm self threading or sheet metal screws to mount the vertical piece to the block and one 4 mm screw with a 4mm flat washer and 4mm NYLOC nut to secure the swinging guide to the vertical piece. Tighten it only enough to secure it but not so tight it can't swing freely as it feeds the filament to the extruder below (see the pictures). I created a "funnel" in the top to quickly channel the filament down into the PTFE tubing to make filament changes & loading easier. This turned out to work like a champ and I decided to share this convenient little gadget with those of you who might need it. I did include the f3d file for the swinging part itself. The vertical part of the mount is included but it is from https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:3795861 by BoothyBoothy.