Ultimaker Bowden Pop-Stop

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This handy gadget is designed specifically for the Ultimaker v1 Hot End and does several things to make your life easier: it solves bowden slipping/popping problems, prevents filament plugging in the hot end, reduces stress on any clamping solution (making a standard white clip sufficient), makes the entire linkage of bowden, filament, brass, and PEEK more tolerant to minor issues and easier to adjust and service. The Pop-Stop forms a solid barrier that fits snugly inside the wooden head block. A short length of tube provides a filament path from the Pop-Stop to the brass nozzle (inside the PEEK part). The Pop-Stop prevents the tube from separating from the brass, and through the four long screws, it allows some pressure adjustment so you can be assured a good fit between tube and brass without ever getting leakage that causes traditional tube plugging/slipping/popping problems. The main length of Bowden (from the extruder) is then attached to the head and the Pop-Stop either by use of the standard white clamp and blue clip or by an "Owen Clamp" (which is printable). It's possible to use e-clips or any other type of clamping solution - the good news is that most of the back-pressure force is absorbed by the Pop-Stop, so the clamp doesn't have to do very much work. Even if the clamp isn't very good and lets the tube slip a little during a long print, you won't get a plug and your print won't fail. I printed this part in 0.2mm layers (standard quality). High-quality printing may work better if you can manage it. It doesn't take long to print, so you won't have to wait too long for it. I tend to use the "Joris" feature in Cura, but it's probably fine without it and possibly even in other slicing software. You need to clamp the Bowden to the head. I personally use an "Owen Clamp," but you can use the standard white clamp and blue horseshoe clip or any other clamping solution you happen to have. Once it's all printed: - Heat up the hot end, remove the filament - Let everything cool down - Dismantle the hot end by removing the four long screws - Remove the bottom wooden plate (the one above where the aluminum plate goes) - Remove the white clip from the top of the wooden block - Re-thread your filament and get printing! Clamps: I'm using the Owen Clamp because I already have one, but you can use any other clamping solution you like. If your block is similar to mine, you may need to cut a small amount off the wooden walls to make it fit. Filament Threading: The first time was quite challenging, but not tightening the clamp makes it easier to push the filament through (tighten the clamp once it's threaded!). You may also find that trimming the tip of the filament into a point helps quite a bit. Once you've done it once and tightened your clamp, it's easy after that. So what's all this done? - You now have an absolutely rock-solid connection between tube and brass. No plugs! - The clamp you've used only needs to overcome the force of the extruder (and doesn't have to overcome the force required to keep the tube against the brass). This means you don't need a very strong clamp (or don't need to tighten it much). - If the tube slips by a millimeter or two, it may affect extruding quality, but you won't "pop" the tube, you won't get a plug and your print won't fail! Things left to do in the Pop-Stop: - Make filament threading a little easier - Try to improve the printing quality of the Bowden tube hole in the bottom of the part (it needs a bit of cleaning up with a craft knife at the moment due to the design of the part and the tiny amounts of space available inside the wooden block) - Make an "upper" section for the Pop-Stop so that the tube meets the Pop-Stop on the top of the wooden block (which means the part lengthens the Bowden by about 50mm, and works very well with Owen Clamps and Swagelock tubes).