2023/02/09
The Adverse Effects of PTFE Restrictions
Dyze Design (2023).
Objectives
The goal of the present study was hence to determine if the PTFE tubing restrictions are severe enough to cause issues and find which factors influence the most. We initially believed that length of the PTFE path, total bend angle and the bend radiuses of the PTFE would greatly affect the friction forces in the tubing, to the point where the extruder would lose efficiency.
background
Working in the 3D printing domain, we often hear stories of people having extrusion issues. The best known issues are nozzle clogging and extruder slipping. A well-working extruder can slip when pushing forces are too high in the hotend of the extruder (printing at high speed can be a cause) or when pulling forces are too strong (for example, when the filament gets stuck). Following this reasoning, it seemed reasonable to think that restrictions in the PTFE tubing might cause extrusion problems or, in the very least, losses in the extrusion process.
The challenge
We initially believed that length of the PTFE path, total bend angle and the bend radiuses of the PTFE would greatly affect the friction forces in the tubing, to the point where the extruder would lose efficiency.