Rope Pushing eLastic Mod for Wanhao Duplicator i3 - 3 Series Extruder

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Printing soft TPE filament on my Wanhao Duplicator i3 was a major challenge. The elastic filament would slip out of the filament channel and stop extruding altogether. This replacement body features a tight-fitting channel that perfectly mates with the idler wheel, leaving no room for the elastic filament to escape. For optimal results, print in the orientation provided and redrill the filament channel to 2mm. I've included the openscad file, which is a customizable template if you need to tweak the part for your specific 3 series extruder. A note of caution: TPE filament has a tendency to cling to dirt, so keep it clean at all times. Additionally, this type of filament may break down when exposed to high temperatures. To prevent clogs, I clean my nozzle before long prints with PLA atomic pulls. I also turned off retraction as advised on the forum. One common issue is that the music wire pokes out of the nozzle. To fix this, I stick a thin piece of thin steel wire through the nozzle and it helps to keep everything in place. To perform an atomic pull: heat the nozzle first, then manually push through PLA filament until most of the debris is squeezed out. Let the nozzle cool down to 85C or use your experience as a guide. Next, slowly and smoothly pull the PLA from the nozzle. The plastic should stretch and pull a plug out of the extruder nozzle. The tip should end up pointy like a small mold of the nozzle's tip, with visible dirt and debris. Repeat this process until you're convinced the nozzle is clean. It's also helpful to use different colored filaments for each atomic pull.