I run "reverse bowden" PTFE feed tubes out of my dryboxes to my printers, and when switching filaments I find I always leave the tube on the previous box with the filament end poking out, expecting I'll use it again soon and that opening the drybox to rewind it would introduce more moisture than what could enter through the tube.... and then it sits there open much longer than I expected, and the filament gets wet, and the desiccant gets wet, and I end up wasting lots of time, effort, and electricity re-drying it all.
This printable end cap fits snugly on the end of a PTFE tube without pushing the filament back into it, and has a compartment for a very small amount of desiccant (recommended: 4A molecular sieve) to guard against any moisture leakage through the press fit, pores in the printed plastic, or the threaded interface.
Recommended print settings: 0.2 mm layer height, 0.4-0.5 mm line widths, no supports, 4 perimeters, 5 top/bottom layers, 20% infill (any type).
| tubecap.stl | 280.6KB | |
| tubecapcap.stl | 296.1KB |
