What have people seen for lifespan of their PTFE tubing and what material? Many mfg’s tell you change every few months but I’d like to understand by hours used.
I run mostly PLA and ABS with an AMS.
I’m using the originals received with the AMS when I’ve ordered my X1Cs (although I’ve also acquired a few additional sets of PTFE tubes, just in case), for about 2+ years now. No visible wear on any, yet, but I mostly print with PLA, PETG (various types) and ABS. I’ve got about 4500 hours on one and about 5000 on the other. Hope this info helps.
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More than 1500 hours. They last a long time. I am still running the originals and have had no issues.
It is cheap enough that you might as well keep a set of spares laying around just in case.
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I’ve had filament poke me in the eye. Literally. Twice in 5,000h of operation with many filament swaps.
But I do have a relatively sharp bend in the PTFE-path since I wanted it as short as possible.
The printer tubes last a long time due to the smoother sweeping curves. The ones you have to check are the AMS internal tubes, especially if you print GF/CF, glow or any other filament with additives. I would wear those out every 500-1000 hours with GF/CF, they usually split near the funnel where the curve is the sharpest. If you dont print those filaments, they should last much longer.
Speaking of funnels, the ones on the original AMS wear out with GF/CF as well and have to be swapped out every few thousand hours. The filament sensors inside start acting up when they wear out. On the new AMS they are ceramic so much more resistant to wear.
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Not seeing any wear on the AMS tubes, but that hard clip on the extruder chain in my X1C HAS scraped some PTFE material off the tube, I can actually see the tube has wear marks on it. The tube is supposed to be able to slide in that clip as the print moves about, so I don’t think a tie wrap would be a good idea.
I do not see any wear from this chain clip on my P1S, and it has hundreds of hours more than the X1C.
Internal AMS tubes, if you have an original AMS you have to unscrew the bottom floor to see them. On AMS 2 Pro they are visible, but you have to remove them to inspect them properly.
I do have a set of spares now - I just printed an AMS Riser V2 and need to add a longer tube from AMS to back of printer. That got me thinking so I ordered enough to replace all tubes. They all seem to look just fine and with what I’m hearing ill be good for some time. THX!