Join 3D Printer Filaments Easily Sunlu Connector Splicer Review

[@theromeog]

You know those products you didn’t know you needed till you see it. This is one of those. Great review.

[@greedy3d480]

Lol I totally agree 👍

[@SUNLU]

Thank you for sharing the video about SUNLU Filament Connector FC01! We're delighted to see users interested in our products. And we're truly grateful for your trust and support.

[@greedy3d480]

It's an awsome bit of kit... as a 3D printer of many many years I wish this had been created sooner lol 😆

[@3D_Printing]

More for consumables than for a spool of filament maybe ?

[@greencoffeecup]

Great video! Thanks!

[@greedy3d480]

Thank you 👍

[@AlexanderSmith600]

6:30 'spools of resin' 😜 great video as always, can't wait to buy this when it's available in the UK!

[@greedy3d480]

Hahaha...just testing you

[@robertm8779]

thanks for video - but looks like high potential for clog in extruder/hotend intake Need 3d printed cutting jig Reminds me of cassette tape slicing kits - hahaha

[@greedy3d480]

ive used a few splices and had no clogs so i dont agree :) - im old enough to remember those cassette ones though lol

[@RusakovLA]

I would just buy the plastic tubes and use any heat. I wonder if they would sell them separately.

[@greedy3d480]

That's a fair point I did look on the website I could see anything I just like the ease of how this machine does it for you

[@Camaro45th]

I just ordered and for $6 you get 200 pieces. I couldn’t tell how many the basic one came with but I decided to just give those a shot for now. As time goes on they may have better pricing on them. But still 3¢ each isn’t bad.

[@RusakovLA]

@@Camaro45th Where did you order and what was the name of the product? I did not find them on sunlu store and on aliexpress.

[@greedy3d480]

Post the question to Sunlu you never know they probably sell spares

[@CraftyPadawan-gh2ou]

This is great, so pleased I found your channel. Out of interest do you use/recommend a filament winder? Seems like the next step to combine two half reels

[@greedy3d480]

To be honest I've not used a filament winder so don't feel I'm in the right position to advise and I've also see people just print a bit for their drill and do it that way I guess that would be the cheapest option

[@CraftyPadawan-gh2ou]

@@greedy3d480 ah yeah I’ve seen those too - good start point to looking. Thanks man 👍

[@darrellhood5430]

I can't wait to use this... I've tried joining filament and it's not easy

[@greedy3d480]

I was so pleased when they sent me this and I was even happy when I used it it's brilliant

[@mrgunn2726]

Brills!

[@greedy3d480]

Ta 😁

[@blalesnail3098]

Ams Users: "Look what they need to mimic a fraction of our power"

[@greedy3d480]

Lol

[@Therandy06]

I see it being more useful at making your own rainbow or multi color filament then re spooling

[@greedy3d480]

That's a good idea

[@3D_Printing]

Only works with sulu filament?

[@greedy3d480]

No any filament

[@stevesteve-ei8zu]

I’m pretty new to 3D printing, and don’t manage to end up with part full spools. I just use filament until the spool is empty. If this is part way through a print, the printer pauses and I can just load on a new spool and resume the print. I didn’t realise that I needed to join the filament. Can someone tell me what I am doing wrong?

[@josephrumpsa180]

Us old heads never ran runout sensors, and plenty of machines still don't have them. This latest gen of Core XY printers have made the barrier to entry super low (if you have the money). It's also super handy if you don't want to babysit a machine when you have a bunch of tails you want to run out.

[@greedy3d480]

Nothing wrong it just saves the hassle of manual swapping ..and lots print all night so manual swapping isn't really an option

[@MisterkeTube]

It depends on where your filament sensor is. Several modern printers have the sensor just above the extruder, allowing you to feed in new filament without having to first extract the filament still stuck between filament sensor and extruder. Older printers often had a long (reverse) Bowden tube between the filament sensor and the extruder and then when filament out was signalled there would still be that piece to be taken out before new filament could be added (as the extruder can only pull that new filament once the new filament has reached it). So, apart from being a pain and hence being avoided by many (read: only starting a print when known to have enough filament left and hence changing spools before they were empty) it would leave you with 30cm or more pieces of filament. So far the history lesson on why some would welcome such a "filament welder". This is also not the first attempt at it. On AliExpress there are some metal "arms" that perform a similar job, but you have to supply your own heat in the form of a candle or lighter and hence that is not very well temperature controlled. So, I have to applaud Sunlu on providing the best execution I've seen so far, but compared to the simplicity a modern printer with filament sensor in the print-head brings (with or without AMS), this still seems too much hassle to me. I would prefer an "extruder" which you feed a first filament through and which spools that onto a spool until it detects that the end of the filament is reached (via built-in filament sensors before and after the extruder). If you then feed a second piece of filament in, the detector before the extruder will detect this and slowly (allowing you to press the new filament into the old one, will advance just enough to get the "break" up to a heating element, which will then heat things up while the extruder pushes things slowly along until enough time is passed and the heater is turned off. After a short time cooling, the extruder then pushes again and the welded filament is spooled onto the spool until again the end is detected and the cycle can repeat. That would offer low-hassle welding of many pieces of filament onto a spool without cutting or PTFE-tubes having to be thrown out. Unfortunately, with 2 steppers/motors and other parts, it would probably also be even more expensive than the Sunlu solution and with more and more people getting an AMS, I wonder if there's any market for that ...

[@theflew]

So this is a very manual and lot less costly Mosaic Palette automatic filament splicer?

[@greedy3d480]

I'm not familiar with that one

[@NSCXP2005]

You can’t purchase for the UK. It says it’s out of stock

[@greedy3d480]

its coming soon my friend ....

[@ninjach1]

Are the connectors ptfe tube? Is the ID of tube 1.6mm or 1.8mm?

[@greedy3d480]

I'm not sure tbh ...check their website may say 👍

[@DavydAtkins]

The page just says "PTFE sleeves" and says you get "about" 200

[@jeffwhite9001]

Only downfall is having to buy the little plastic pieces all the time, they should be cheap, but yea, bit of a pain as that way they have you tied to always buying their product.

[@greedy3d480]

But they supply you with so many of them and realistically you can use the same one a couple of times

[@jeffwhite9001]

@@greedy3d480 true, yup, still looks to be a good machine.

[@dragonheadthing]

Indeed! And then if they stop making the little tubes, the product becomes useless.

[@greedy3d480]

You can use them more than once if ur careful..

[@MRBP3D]

If you are adding a lenght to your current filament, then you can probably work the sleeve so you can just slide it off and not cut it?

[@TashiMortier]

That seems neat, but what is the advantage over just reloading during the print? I always do that :D Doesn't every printer have a runout sensor? :D

[@greedy3d480]

If you printing things during the night you don't have to keep swapping over filaments you just let it run makes more sense and save time

[@bambootaco4901]

It's not meant for reloading during a print. It's meant to combine all those almost used rolls of filament everyone has they've thrown in a box. If you mean just wait until a roll runs out while printing something and change it, personally I'll change a roll that has a little left but not enough to finish a print before starting a new print. Changing filament during a print can lead to layer shifts that can possibly ruin a print so might as well start with a fresh roll.

[@TashiMortier]

@@bambootaco4901 Ah okay. I never had that issue with my printer so maybe that's why I don't get it, but I see those concerns. I usually just print some stuff like glue spreaders or such that I always need when there is very little left on a roll. But with this thing you can definitely do some more useful stuff yes. :D

[@ImaginationToForm]

Its less scary than many of the DIY solutions I've seen over the years.How much is a resupply of those tubes?

[@greedy3d480]

Of that I'm not sure I did look but as it's so new no sign of them.. you can use them more than once if your careful

[@sorenac]

On Sunlu's website they state that you get about 200 of the tubes with the machine. And you can get bundles with 1x200 or 2x 200 extra tubes for maybe 5-10$ more. Main package is on pre order for 35$ currently until August 14th. :)

[@ImaginationToForm]

@@sorenac Thanks for update.