Garden Railway Forum

Has anybody had experience with splicing PLA filament?
I have a number of reels with small amounts on them that I would like to splice together to get a usable size reel.
Any suggestions welcome.

I've not tried it, but there are a few methods described here. That Amazon gadget looks interesting.
https://www.3dsourced.com/rigid-ink/how ... -together/

Rik

I've tried several times using various methods but never had any success. They either don't fuse properly and fall apart, or the joint diameter is over size and won't go into the nozzle. In the end I decided that for the cost of a couple of feet of filament, it's more economical to just bin it than spend hours trying to reuse it.
Alternatively, depending on the design of the printer, its possible to watch it like a hawk and feed a second length of filament into the extruder as the first one runs out. Works best on a printer with a decent length of Bowden tube so you have a small time window to poke it in and catch up with the tail end of the first bit!

I'm looking at this, it is a bit fiddly and wasteful (you have to cut and throw away some ptfe sleeves) but so are most of the others that I have looked at.
https://www.inkstation.com.au/2731/sunl ... iant=28110

Reviews have raised a few issues but this bloke may have found a solution.




Being a cheapskate I am loath to throw away something that may be of use.
I have spliced filament before with success so when I have some spare time I may have another go.

GAP wrote: Tue May 06, 2025 10:09 pm I'm looking at this, it is a bit fiddly and wasteful (you have to cut and throw away some ptfe sleeves) but so are most of the others that I have looked at.
https://www.inkstation.com.au/2731/sunl ... iant=28110

Reviews have raised a few issues but this bloke may have found a solution.




Being a cheapskate I am loath to throw away something that may be of use.
I have spliced filament before with success so when I have some spare time I may have another go.

After many many hours of trying to splice filament I finally lashed out and bought the sunlu splicer.
I followed the youtube video and to my surprise it worked first up.
I printed the recommended holder and I used the clamps in the remix in printables.
So now I'm on to splicing the 5 small part rolls I have to make one larger roll that I can use.
Keeping waste to a minimum is what I am after.

philipy wrote: Tue May 06, 2025 3:14 pmAlternatively, depending on the design of the printer, its possible to watch it like a hawk and feed a second length of filament into the extruder as the first one runs out. Works best on a printer with a decent length of Bowden tube so you have a small time window to poke it in and catch up with the tail end of the first bit!

I've tried that...it worked....sort of.
I could see on the print where the change happened and it worries me that might cause a print failure which would be worse than just binning a short length of filament. So a technique only to be used on less important small prints.
I've also read of poor splicing that has resulted in comprehensive jams needing replacement of heaters etc

My strategy is to keep a record of spool weights, full and empty, so if I weigh a part used spool I can have a pretty good idea of how much is left and use any small lengths for small parts. The estimates of filament that will be used for a print that the slicer gives seem pretty accurate for that.