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filiment size pros and cons

PostPosted: Sun Mar 03, 2013 9:19 pm
by tmccafferty
What are the pros and cons of 3mm or 1.75mm filiment when deciding on a printer?

Re: filiment size pros and cons

PostPosted: Sun Mar 03, 2013 9:35 pm
by roberlin
I think that the main downside of 3mm is that it requires more force to push through the hot-end.
So typically people will use a geared extruder with it.

As far as upsides I think 3mm used to be significantly cheaper (I haven't noticed a significant price difference at ultimachine which is where I get filament). And I thought I read somewhere it doesn't tangle up as bad?
(I've never used it)

Re: filiment size pros and cons

PostPosted: Sun Mar 03, 2013 10:00 pm
by SystemsGuy
IN theory it's easier to push. I use both, and the biggest difference is that 1.75mm is easier to handle as you get to the end of the roll. It's also not super easy to use 3mm in a bowden - doable, but not as easy as 1.75.

I usually don't see much of a price difference with the vendors I use. We use both for convenience more than anything else.


roberlin wrote:I think that the main downside of 3mm is that it requires more force to push through the hot-end.
So typically people will use a geared extruder with it.

As far as upsides I think 3mm used to be significantly cheaper (I haven't noticed a significant price difference at ultimachine which is where I get filament). And I thought I read somewhere it doesn't tangle up as bad?
(I've never used it)

Re: filiment size pros and cons

PostPosted: Sun Mar 03, 2013 10:13 pm
by bdring
I think burrs are for cutting fiberglass. Fiberglass is quite tough on normal bits.

Re: filiment size pros and cons

PostPosted: Sun Mar 03, 2013 11:52 pm
by brnrd
I'm still using 3 mm ABS just because I can still get it much cheaper than 1.75 mm from New Image Plastics. If the price were the same, I'd switch to 1.75 mm for the reasons mentioned before. With the J-head Mk IV, I'm still able to extrude at up to 160 mm/s of 3 mm ABS feed with a direct drive NEMA 17 extruder so I don't think I'm giving up much in terms of speed.