Guide: Convert your 3D printer from 3mm to 1.75mm filament!

3mm and 1.75mm 3D printers are incompatible - but it's pretty easy to convert to the more modern 1.75mm standard!

[MGrahamMakes]

Good Video, but for all the trouble of converting it you might as well just invest in two complete extruder assemblies (both hot & cold ends + stepper). Then you can switch it out quickly to suit your needs.

[itsmealextheme]

I have a direct drive extruder and I needed to convert 1.75 to 3.00 and all I did was to actually drill the part where the filament goes I forget how it’s called it’s like a screw with a hole through it and it worked

[someoneonly]

I thought you meant converting filament and got excited lol

[icon]

Hello

I have a LulzBot Mini - been watching several videos about it, your review sold me on it - The 3DPrinting Nerd said in one of his videos that all that is needed to run 1.75 is change the filament size in Cura - so i ordered a few 1.75 rolls instead of 3mm because like you said... lots easier to find certain colors - So without tearing down my machine - or messing it up with 1.75 - what you think about just changing the setting in Cura to 1.75 - Thank You!!

[KennethScharf]

I don't think 3mm filament is going away, but I agree that 1.75mm is a bit more popular. However I've still seen cases where a certain kind of filament was only available in 3mm, possibly because the seller ran out of 1.75mm and only had 3mm left in stock. So how does the prometheus print in comparison with the hexagon on the TAZ-mini? Does it handle Ninjaflex OK?

[guyteigh]

I am interested in buying a 3D printer but almost all the ones I have seen are 1.75 mm - and I would prefer (unless people can explain why I shouldn't) the 3mm version.

My reason is simply that in the UK, 1Kg of ABS 1.75mm seems to typically sell for around £15 - £18 - But 1Kg of ABS 3mm, seem to be around £6.50 of you shop around - between a third and half the price.

I am probably missing something important - but it would *SEEM* that running with a 3mm filament should make a fairly hefty reduction in print costs.

I would much appreciate a little guidance as I am aware I might not be taking something significant into account.

Many thanks.

[Theultimatelocksystems]

Question. I am converting my Taz 6 to 1.75mm. I purchased a new hexagon hot end to replace the 3mm one. I noticed that there is no PTFE tubing. Do I still need it? The hotends are identical with the only difference being the diameter of the filament it is designed for.

[Kezat]

Some good info that I found interesting about a 3D printer I do not own but it seems specific to the printer rather then a generic how to guide as the title suggests. Regardless I did still find it interesting, thanks Thomas, keep the videos coming:)

[ulaB]

1.75mm is the "more modern standard"? I'm an absolute newbie regarding printers and filaments, since I just started experimenting with my first printer - a Tiny Boy / Hobbyking Fabrikator Mini. It's a 1.75 mm printer and I had some discussion about Filament size where people mentioned that 3 mm is the more widely used and overall better choice?

Perhaps you can make a video on those two sizes, the pros and cons of both (like what relative deviations from the diameter mean for a print), what is more available and has the most options and different filament types available, etc?

[macbrycekong]

where did you buy your Hot end from? did you buy it from Lulzbot?
or is it from a different company? I use a Lulzbot Taz 5, and I want to switch to a 1.75 extruder. the one I want to buy is from RepRap. so this is want I'm wondering. do I have to buy the Extruder from Lulzbot?

[ChrisCanMakeStuff]

I'd love to see a delta printer tuning video. Mainly because I'm about to build one :)

[whatshouldibuildnow]

Hey, could you make a video with the new Printrbot Play upgrades?

[MidwestMusicEnthusiast]

Great video as usual Tom! I would love to see a video on Volumetric E Units, and Firmware Retract. I have a Tri-extruder setup with (2) 3mm V6's and (1) 1.75mm V6. I dont print the 1.75 and 3mm extruders at the same time, but use Volumetric E when switching filament and printing with the same gcode. I would love to see if I am doing this right.

[driversteve]

You should have specified what printer you were working on in your title!

[TheCodeCrafter]

Great video Tom. By using the Teflon tube in the hot end won't you loose the advantage of a all metal hot end? I am thinking of the temperature required for some of the "exotic" filaments. Or does the Teflon tube not extend into the melt zone?

[kcf]

I did not see you mention changing the M200 setting that OHAI has in their firmware? If I change this to 1.75 it completely messes up my esteps. I bought my toolhead from IT3D, and it seems to work if I do not change the default filament diameter set by the M200 in the firmware

[jacobf]

Hi, I actually have a couple of questions. I'm considering buying this same printer, the lulzbot taz 5, and I also want to buy it with the dual extruder upgrade. Is the process basically the same for the dual extruder or are there a couple of more steps involved? My next question is could you go a little bit more detail over the wiring and the coding or is there an article I could read? I want to make sure that I could do this before I spend the time and money into this printer.

[gwarrenster]

Do you really need to change the hotend or can you just insert the Teflon tube so that it doesn't bind up and adjust your slicer settings?

[mbeliv]

Hi. Thx. Does it build slower with a 1.75 mm? Also is the quality different? Thx for your time

[dannysreallycool]

What is the benefit of using 3mm instead of 1.75mm?