Unloading spool

Sara_Scott · 2016-04-05T17:15:15.000Z

Every time I finish printing, I’ve been unloading the spool. When I go back the next day, I snip the end flush and load filament. If I plan on using the same spool, do I have to do this, or can I just leave it loaded?

Also, I’ve just changed from the transparent to the black. When it tests for extrusion, the black seems to spit out over 1 metre of filament. This seems like a huge waste, is this normal?

3drapidprints · 2016-04-05T17:47:45.000Z

Hello!

There is no “right” answer. For me, I will leave the spool in its stand and loaded all the time, unless I want to change colors. I also don’t flush. I simply set my printer to print a few lines around the object (called a skirt) first to get the old color out. This works perfect for me, but it might not work for you.

3Dscaleworks · 2016-04-05T18:40:01.000Z

You can leave it there Sara. The other thing is waste unfortunately , but is extreem if you change form black to the lightest color . normally a 10/ 20 cm is enough.

Arnoldas · 2016-04-06T09:19:45.000Z

Hey Sara, mind telling us what printer you’re using?

MetaCAD · 2016-04-06T10:01:53.000Z

I leave ours in as long as you are printing continuously day by day

3dprintingguy · 2016-04-06T14:29:55.000Z

what do you mean by tests for extrusion?

3Dscaleworks · 2016-04-06T14:38:15.000Z

tst extrusion is gving the slicer software the command to extrude some mm!

3dprintingguy · 2016-04-06T14:51:18.000Z

1M is allot then

Sara_Scott · 2016-04-06T19:20:33.000Z

Hi, only just realised I didn’t say! It’s a XZY junior

Sara_Scott · 2016-04-06T19:21:27.000Z

I have an XYZ junior an it automatically does a test extrusion when loading the filament.

radiovan · 2016-04-06T21:32:32.000Z

The only problem I have with leaving the spool in the machine is that the filament will start to absorb water vapor. The print quality starts degrading after about 3 days depending on the humidity. If you have your spool inside an airtight box with a desiccant this isn’t a problem.

I keep some scrap lengths of filament of the various colors I use to manually push through the extruder/hot end to clear out the previous color. I don’t waste more than a half meter of filament when l manually clear and then run the spool load procedure. My printer is a Fabtotum with a 0.35mm nozzle for 1.75mm filament.