Feed from the top of filament reel or the bottom, what is best?  

RE: Feed from the top of filament reel or the bottom, what is best?

Posted by: @gwen-p2

Hi

I realise that this is probably a very stupid question. But since I am only used to the way the filament is taken of the reel on the MK3 I am not sure what the best way to take the filament of the reel to a Mini. So best to take it from the top of the reel or feed it from the bottom of the reel?

 

 

Depends on where your spool is in relation to the Mini, if its on the same level as the Mini then take the filament off the bottom of its spool (the feed into the extruder is angled down)

If your filament is above the Mini then i think you will need to take the filament off the top of its spool before feeding it down to the mini.

I'm going to try having a spool above the Mini (in a LACK enclosure) tomorrow 😉 

S

RE: Feed from the top of filament reel or the bottom, what is best?

I think reducing friction and tension in the feed is most important. Reducing or eliminating tight angles and drag is helpful. Excessive slack and length of the feed can also cause uneven feed.

RE: Feed from the top of filament reel or the bottom, what is best?

I have printer and spool on Lack table pretty close to the printer and was feeding it from top, but I had a feeling it was bending tube with sensor too much so I turned it upside down (spool, not printer - but that might have helped too). I haven't seen issues extruding in any case, just that now when the spool is unwinding from the bottom the filament tends to unspool and slack more.

BTW it's not a stupid question - it's the type of question where everybody goes like "I'd like to ask but I may sound stupid by asking it so I don't and never learn the answer".

RE: Feed from the top of filament reel or the bottom, what is best?

Confusing: I thought I read somewhere that the stress on the system is the lowest when it is feeded from the top but in ERRF video from 3DMN you see that PR all choose to feed the Mini's from the bottom...

RE: Feed from the top of filament reel or the bottom, what is best?

Thanks folks.  That's really useful to know.