this post was submitted on 05 Sep 2024
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76
Replace your bowden tubes occasionally. (files.catbox.moe)
submitted 2 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]
15 comments fedilink hide all child comments
 

Was having clogging issues so I thought I'd replace and get the mythically good capricorn tubes. This is a good sign that I needed to.

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[–] [email protected] 12 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) (2 children)

Tighter fitting tubing is actually likely to cause you more issues. It's a myth that capricorn tubing is better in any way. In a way, you want a somewhat loose fitting tubing; especially if you're cheaping out on PLA.

So, say you've got a partial clog -- The thing that usually happens is the feeder will skip/slip or tear into your filament. This causes the filament to go out of round, and can even push the sides of the filament out further than the tubing is wide. This causes the filament to then take more pressure to push through the tubing, adding to the already existing problem.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 months ago (1 children)

With direct drive, I would say it doesn't make a difference.

For bowden there is a benefit.

I also think that direct drive is superior to Bowden setups in nearly every situation. The current generation like the Orbiter v3 is a very light direct-drive extruder.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) (1 children)

For bowden there is a benefit.

There is not. I can empirically prove it to you as well. Half of the 'capricorn' tubing you get from Amazon isn't even genuine - yet everyone there is clamoring on about how it made a difference.

Turns out, that confirmation bias and placebo effect share a lot of overlap. I get it, nobody wants to admit they've been bamboozled. But hey...stay critical of your observations.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 months ago

Go the other way and buy 3mm tubing and see what it does :)

Fair enough bowden has a lot of issues like filament compression (which can't be fixed with tubing) making it difficult to maintain a steady flow when conditions aren't steady (e.g. acceleration and so on).

With larger diameter tubes the issue of filament compressing gets worse. In a nutshell, a larger tube diameter for "rigid" materials somewhat is similar to the effect of a softer filament/material.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 months ago

It’s a myth that capricorn tubing is better in any way

I'd call it "successful marketing" :) But yeah, they're really managed to convince a lot of people that it has near magical properties, and I've seen a lot of random people recommend it to others for all sorts of issues.

[–] [email protected] 38 points 2 months ago (2 children)

What you’re seeing is the smaller inner diameter of the dark blue Capricorn. The light blue Capricorn would be similar to your current tubing.

[–] [email protected] 13 points 2 months ago (1 children)

and even if it were worn down that much it wouldn't cause any problem as the entire tube is made of the same slippery stuff, it's not a coating.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 months ago (2 children)

Would a larger inner diameter not cause the transmission of movement to be less direct due to bending and coiling inside the tube? This is probably mostly an issue in bowden systems

[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 months ago (2 children)

The hysteresis that the tubing imparts on the movement of filament is negligible at best. We're talking fractions of a millimeter of difference; and it's something that can be accounted for in your retraction quite easily. Remember that this hobby is LITTERED with people trying to sell you stuff. Be critical in your observations, because even most YouTube channels will tell you that [X] thing is GREAT because if they don't, they stop getting free shit.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) (1 children)

When it comes to pressure advance the difference between a bowden extruder and a direct extruder is more than tenfold. So no, it's not "negligible at best".

If the difference was negligible no one would put the extruder on the toolhead where the weight has a big impact on maximum acceleration

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

You don't really use pressure advance in bowden systems because the bowden system is flexible enough that it actually negates most of the advantages of pressure advance. As the pressure increases, the bowden tube itself stretches lengthwise. This has little or nothing to do with the interior bore of the PTFE tubing. The reason you are increasing it so much is because you're overshooting due to the length of the tubing, not the internal diameter.

We're not comparing Bowden vs Non-Bowden here, regardless. We're comparing generic PTFE bowden, to "Capricorn" bowden anyhow.

So you've managed to argue the completely wrong thing to begin with, AND you were wrong on the thing you argued. Congrats.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Did you measure that? Would be great if it was only fractions of a mm.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

The tubing diameter difference is only fractions of a mm, and now you're talking about a 100mm length along. You don't need to measure it, it's literally in the dimensions and tolerance info of the product.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 months ago

on a bowden system yes, but just ever so slightly. not any more than you could fix with retraction and other settings, and prolly only nylon and other flexible ones you should be doing in a direct dirve anyway would be affected.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 2 months ago

And if you’re doing direct drive the more constrained path wouldn’t be a benefit. I’ve already purchased wider ID tubing for my trident build.