A few weeks ago, I published an article discussing filament diameters commonly used in 3D printing. In any case, consumer 3D printers have chosen two different filament sizes. Yes, there are differences, but these differences are only a function of engineering trade-offs and historical choices. YouTube’s 3D printing guru [Thomas] viewed this article as a challenge: What does it take to convert a printer to accept filaments of different sizes? Actually not much.

The printer [Thomas] is changing to accept 1.75mm is Lulzbot Mini, which is one of the most popular printers and requires this modification. The only materials needed are a new hot end for 1.75 mm filament, a 4 mm drill bit and some wrenches and allen keys. It would be a smart idea to get a hot end that uses the same thermistor as the old thermistor, but it is not a deal breaker, as the problem can be solved in the firmware.

Disassembly is easy. After installing the PTFE tube, cutting off the old wire, soldering the new hot junction, thermistor and fan, [Thomas] has everything ready.

It should be noted that changing the 3mm hot end to 1.75mm does not really do anything. Almost every type of filament has two sizes, although it may be inconvenient to buy a 3mm filament locally. It is a good idea to replace the hot end so that you can standardize your workshop or hacker space on a single diameter filament.

Step 1: Buy a 1.75mm hot end... No wonder it's not difficult

The second step:? ? ? The third step: SanjayM makes a profit!

I guess you didn't watch the video. Thomas also correctly covered the extruder system. Switching the hot end without replacing the drive only requires a paper jam.

If he is a 3D printing master, you would think that he would not show off the prints where the layers are barely glued together (the black part on the left in the photo here).

In fact, each size has advantages and disadvantages.

3mm is harder, making it easier to use in bowden-type settings and flexible materials, although flex+bowden still does not work well. However, the larger size gives you less control over the extrusion flow, because for a given stepper motor microstep size and gear ratio, if the filament diameter is smaller, you will move fewer linear filaments. In addition, some very exotic filaments are only available in 1.75 mm (FEP, PEEK and some others), but for most users, this is not a problem.

In addition, if you are looking for more than 2 hot ends on your printer, choosing a ready-made solution like E3D Kraken (4x 1.75mm) is much easier than finding/building a 4 nozzle 3mm hot end.

In my opinion, a 3mm filament has a higher linear extrusion resolution than a 1.75 filament, because a larger filament reduction gear is usually used.

The price drop at the hot end is no big deal, especially if your printer has one of the common "standard" sizes/types that have been developed. If it is from some non-commercial company with its own unique design, you will have to make some changes to install different hot ends.

How about some "hardcore" hotend hacking? Turn the lathe and press the metal sleeve into the 3 mm hot end melting zone and replace the Teflon tube or install one in the cooling zone to sleeve it down for smaller filaments? This is more like my expectation of the title.

I can't see the purpose of the change. There are two sizes of products where I look for filaments, at least in Europe.

However, I am really curious what happens if you put 1.75 mm filament into a 3 mm extruder, assuming you make it large enough to be caught and change the slicer settings.

He has a Lulzbot review device that requires 3 mm, and his existing collection of filaments is 1.75, which is his reason. Ideally, you can buy/build based on what you already have, but if the machine you want is not your current size, then at least this is an option.

Thomas used PTFE to cover the extruder rail. If done well, this may make it more reliable.

For all-metal hot ends on LulzBots, such as Mini and TAZ 5, we have seen internally and users posted on our forum that they can print 1.75mm filaments very well, even without any modification. There are some topics about it, such as:

https://forum.lulzbot.com/viewtopic.php?t=1923

This kind of answer to my question, thank you!

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