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When I use the MehrleWeld (the process shown in this video), I remove the silicone with a single edged razor blade. Easy as pie, comes right off. If you've ever used shrink tubing, you might be tempted to heat the silicone in the same fashion. Don't do it. Just makes it hard to cut off. Only heat the joint, then cut off the rest, check the joint, move on to the next one. I've been using about an inch of tubing, but I'm going to try 1/2 or 3/4.

What's your last name if you don't mind giving it out. We need to label this method with your name.

Sir, you have provided a game-changing solution for the 3D printing world. I ordered the silicone tubing right away and got the splicing right on second try. I used too much heat the first time. A little dab will do ya. There are several devices one can purchase with differing opinions as to how well they work. Your method works 100% of the time and is almost free. I'll be posting this on Bambu Labs forums which hopefully will lead to an uptick in your views. Thank you very much.

Hi Mike, thanks for this tutorial! I was searching for a tool which helps me, but all are somehow difficult to use. Especially those which force you to slide all the filament back through it. For short lengths it might be ok, but if you want to weld a new spool to the ongoing print, it is impossible. Luckely I was able to order the same silicone tube (1/8-1/16) here in Germany. Again thanks for sharing your idea here.!

Awesome Mike!!!! Thanks So Much Man!!!!

Is this the 60" or 72" backboard? I know the anchor system helps immensely with the installation but how much heavier and harder would it be to stand up the 72" backboard?

This is a great idea 🙏 thank you for sharing

What temp is your soldering iron?

BUT you must cut a piece of tubing for every slice??????????

Had to subscribe... I had been searching all day about this, and found many videos on DIY-ing this to expensive heated joiners, and all had flaws and some had many flaws, but this looks amazing, and after reading through the comments, I am confident that I finally found the best way to accomplish fusing two pieces of PLA together. Used your link to order the tubing, and looking forward to a fun time putting this idea to use. Thanks for taking the time to share your experience with others, as that is what I like to do myself, so 3 thumbs up for sure... 👍👍👍

Will a bad capacitor cause the treadmill not to power on ? I open the cover up and you can see it blew its in little pieces ?

Hello I would like to offer our services (Assembly, Packaging, Rework, Sorting, Final Mile Delivery) We are located in Alvarado TX, between Dallas and Fort Worth We have a 4,000 Sqf Warehouse with Various assembly/packaging stations to support any needs any Advance on where to look for work?

Could the same effect technically be achieved with a thin metal tube of around 15mm length with an inner diameter of 1,75mm? That might conduct the heat from the soldering iron better. I was thinking of putting that in one of those soldering helper tools to hold it.

Is the refrigerant from the canned air functional, or just for impatience?

How can you ensure that the front arrow is directed straight towards the playing surface?

Thx for sharing! This is genius!

Pretty nice! I'll give this a try because that other thingy you showed does not work at all. Thx Mike

I've tried this and it works well except that the joint becomes very hard and won't always pass through the extruder, leading to interrupted prints. Am I doing something wrong? Is there a solution?

That's not exactly how that little black filament jig worked, You dont shove the filament ends together so they mushroom. When you heat the ends and melt them. You then push them into the white nylon piece and move it back and forth which smooths and rounds it. Then if Necessary you can pull it back through the other side which can shave it down. The screws are there so you can easily take it off a long line. Still its a little fiddly because it's small. A handle or mount in a vice helps.

I never thought about that but I wanna thank you so very very much for that information because I was going to buy them but I’ll make sure if they have it thank you

thank u sir

Mike, you are a genius. I've tried some of the "tools" for doing this and been very frustrated and disappointed. Your method is easy and foolproof. Thank you for posting this.

Is this tubing available in metric?

hey, question--so i finally have a soldering iron and i have to agree it makes the process SO much easier, but now ive been dealing with an issue where spliced filament will snap at the splice point when i have it feeding from a drybox to the extruder. is there any reason this happens? does it have to do with splicing temperature or moreso the angle at which its being fed from the spool?

Hey Mike, thanks for the video. My Nordiktrack treadmill starts and belt moves for a few seconds then stops. Incline motor and display screen work fine. Tried this suggestion and unfortunately no luck. Any ideas? Thanks I would appreciate it

Thanks Mike. I tried this tonight and without a doubt is the best way. I adapted a little like using both hands to press together with the iron in a vise and rolling on a flat surface.

I've found that using a straightedge that's steel instead of aluminium is much safer. Most of my cutting blades are steel. This means when I push a steel blade against an aluminium edge, it's possible for the blade to "catch" and ride up and over the aluminium straightedge, since the steel blade is noticeably harder than the aluminium (see: Mohs hardness scale). Since I've switched to steel straightedges, I've never had the blade jump up over top of the straightedge. If you ever use an especially hard blade (per Mohs scale), then that might even warrant a straightedge that's been specially heat-treated to be harder than your average chunk of steel.

I own a mobile bicycle repair business and want to expand into assembly

Excellent, Mike...best solution so far! Thank You!

Having tried several of the techniques for joining filament, with varying rates of success, I can very confidently say that using silicone tube is by FAR the easiest and most succesful of all the methods I used. I'd never have thought of it if I hadn't seen this video. Thank you for the insight.

I was this many years old when i learned what the second set of 'teeth' on the chain tool is for

Would you recommend trying anything else besides this? This procedure produced the exact same results you show in your video. I assume that means the control motor board is bad. But would you suggest continuing to try other sensors or wires?

You just saved me some money!! That hair dryer worked like a charm.

awesome video, definitely trying this ASAP. one question though, does this method not work at all with a heat gun or is it just not not as effective as with a soldering iron? i have both a heat gun and a pyrography tool but the heat gun honestly seems safer and easier to use to me, so i really want to see how well that works anyways

I have a saying.... trust experience! Normally older people have that. My respect 👏

Do you have the stl file available anywhere? I’d love to try and make one of these! Thanks

This is the first time I have seen any of your videos, and I immediately liked and subscribed. This looks like the easiest, and cleanest fusion of filament I have found on CZcams. GREAT VIDEO!!!!!!

This is the best method out there ❤

You’re a genius. Your thing works great. (I use a hot air gun.) Thank you very much. :-) Juste one more precision, I tried with 3mm (/2) heat shrink jacket and it's also very good.

How hot for the soldering iron?

Thanks for the technique. I have been able to join filament in a pattern to print alternating colors. Only had one failure so far out of at least ten welds. So much easier than welding blocks.

one amazon referral coming your way, brother. a+

Mike, thank you VERY much for this tutorial. Worked like a charm! I've tried a number of other ways but this was the most economical and convenient and yielded the best results! GREAT JOB!

Thanks for the video! Been researching this very problem!!! Great Job!!! Which size Silicon tubing did you use? 1/16" ID-1/8" OD or 1/12" ID-1/4"OD? The 1/16" ID-1/8"OD is equal to 1.58 mm ID and 3.175 mm OD. That will be the one I order! The 1/12" ID-1/4" OD would be 2.12 mm ID-6.35 mm OD which would be to large!!! Thanks again for the video!!!

Very well done. I'm be trying this technique out for sure

this is so much nicer, the clamp thing was so annoying because the filaments natural bend from being on the spool would always make them a pain in the ass to line up. i had been using a piece of ptfe tubing i cut 80% of the way through to heat the ends and stick them together which got a similar result (just sliding the tube off as i respooled it) but this seems way nicer to do.

Very good. I am ordering tubing thru your affiliate link. Thank you. You did not say what kind of filament. I hope it works with the higher temp ones like ASA and PC-Nylon. But the iron temp is so high I expect it will.

Does it' matter how hot the soldering iron is?

I cheat. My printer has a direct drive extruder. All I do, if I want to change color, is right at the top of the extruder, the filament is first fed into a PTFE tube (about 2"). When I want to make the change, I just cut the filament right at the top of the PTFE tube and as it is feeding down into the extruder, I just insert the new color (also cut straight across) and manually keep light force on it so it's touching the filament already in there. (keep them touching). As the 1st one feeds, I can feel/see the new filament following. Once it gets into the gears, the extruder just takes over and they feed through the hot end and blend. Works a charm.

awesome!!!