C(r)apricorn tubing...

I will just leave this here.

Nice to be vindicated as I have been saying for years this stuff is snake oil.....

dc42

I use Capricorn tubing on my delta, and it allowed me to reduce the retraction by about 1mm. But I print almost exclusively with RigidInk filaments, which have tightly controlled diameter. I can well believe that Capricorn would not be appropriate for use with cheaper filaments that have more variation in diameter.

DADIY

Very curious, I've been having similar perimeter quality issues with my Delta, it was built from day one with the bondtech and capricorn tubing. I always thought that I haven't got the retraction dialed in just right but perhaps its time to go back and try regular tube, its a cheap enough test.

thanks for sharing.

richardmckenna

I've just ordered some for my Delta while I'm waiting for the Nimble/Flex3Drive to be in stock. Will be interesting to see how it performs. Though it does say you get the most benefit from it when using the more flexible filaments.

I generally stick to Polymaker and RigidInk. I tend to stay away from the cheap stuff, as it is just that - cheap.

deckingman

I tried some on one of my Diamond hot ends. Didn't give me any benefit with my shortish Bowden tubes. I did have problems with it slipping in the Bowden fittings due to it being slightly smaller OD. Maybe Michael had the same problem but didn't notice?

helluscorus

Haven't had any issues with it here for both bowden and feeders/guides for direct drives using 3:1 gearing, not really noticed any real difference pushing through by hand either.

Danal

Very interesting, and the pictures appear compelling.

At the same time, I have a large-ish delta that has about 1100mm (yes, 1.1 meter) of Bowden. Bondtech extruder, smart effector with the V6-ish hot end.

Bowden on that printer has always been Capricorn. That printer prints very well, including at the edges. It also prints flex, where my other printers, including a Prusa i3 Mk3, won't.

So... conflicting data... I'd be very interested to see some hard facts, force measurements, travel measurements, etc.

Phaedrux

@danal It would seem bend radius plays a major roll. On a delta the extruder to hotend path is more of a straight shot. On the E3D tool changer it's much more of an arc. I'm surprised E3D themselves haven't noticed anything similar though.

kraegar

@phaedrux You nailed it. The issue was specifically with using it for the feed tubes between the spools and the extruder. The bend radius is the issue. E3D uses 3mm ID ptfe in that capacity for their build.

Phaedrux

@kraegar said in C(r)apricorn tubing...:

E3D uses 3mm ID ptfe in that capacity for their build.

I suspected.

Wyvern

I use it in my MK10 hotend, printed 265C no issues, normal ptfe would be smoked.

brunofporto

I use a Chinese clone from TriagleLabs - that the only difference is that it is blue and have the internal diameter of 1.9mm. It reduced the retraction by 1mm.

I only have a small segment of the original Capricorn that came with the Filament Laser Monitor and it looks and feels completely different from my fake one. It is more rigid and slippery by tact. I am not able to compare friction of such a short length.

But even with that clear difference I still think it is overpriced.

gavatron3000

I can agree with the bend radius conclusion, when I was running a 500mm Bowden with a 90 degree bend had occasional issues with this tube and also it pulling out of the bondtech qr. Now run direct BMG with about 50mm of Capricorn tube and it's for all intensive purposes perfectly straight I haven't had a single problem with it, retraction now below 1.0mm