FUSE Seeks Indiegogo Funding to Weld Two Spools of 3D Printer Filament Together Mid-print

Don’t we all just love sending a 3D model to our printers before bed, and waking up to the excitement of a finished product in the morning? I have been doing this for quite a while now, as it allows me to work on a model during the day, and then print it out when time has no meaning to me, when I’m unconscious.

There are issues you may face, however, when following this sort of time management philosophy. A power outage could be a catastrophe, perhaps one which would be unavoidable anyhow, even if you were awake watching a print. Other issues could be simple misprints, which if left unattended, can turn a ruined object, into a ruined object with lots of wasted filament. The biggest concern I usually have when printing out a large project is that I will run out of printer filament before my print has finished.

Depending on the printer in use, it is possible to try and feed a new spool of filament into the machine just as the old filament comes to an end. This process can be extremely tedious, and often leads to issues within the print. Other printers simply will not allow for new filament to be added during a print, which pretty much leaves no other option. That’s until now….

One man named Pedro M. Librero believes that he has a solution to this all too common problem. He has launched an Indiegogo crowdfunding campaign this week for a product he calls FUSE. FUSE is a clamp for welding filament rolls together, which he is trying to raise €3,500 in order to begin production of. Basically what it does is fuse two pieces of filament together mid-print, allowing for the quick addition of filament during long printing projects.

The device concentrates heat in the center of the clamp, while the rest of the clamp remains as cool as possible. As the two filament strands reach the center of the clamp, they melt together and quickly cool, so that they maintain their shape as they exit the clamp. Below are a few of the qualities of the FUSE device, as well as some basic specifications.

• Materials supported: ABS, PLA, PLA flexible, PVA, Nylon.
• Filament diameter: 1.75mm and 3mm (Two separate devices for each size)
• Power supply: 110V-220V
• No interruptions to prints
• Melt two rolls of filament together, pre or mid-print
• Experiment with different colors. A great way to print using two colors without the need for multiple extruders

Both the 1.75mm and 3mm versions of FUSE will cost 59€ + shipping and taxes via their Indiegogo campaign, which will run until August 6th. Have you backed the FUSE clamp? What do you think about this device? Let us know in the FUSE forum thread on 3DPB.com. Check out the artist render video below.