xyz daVinci Pro - Replacement Filament Feed Panel

thingiverse

It is a known issue with da Vinci 1.0 Pro printers that the small hole where the filament enters to engage the extruder gears gets worn down. Filament being pulled over a plastic corner tends to wear it away over time. @ChatToBrian covers this issue in this video where he discusses his external filament holder as well as the filament entry hole on the printer getting worn. As you can see in my pictures I also have this wear issue. In addition to this, the first time I had to replace my Bowden tube fitting I broke one of the upper tabs on the little panel where the filament entry hole is. So, I decided to make a new panel to solve both issues. I created two versions. One is basically a direct replacement for the stock panel with a chamfered hole to insert the filament through. I imagine this version will wear away at least as fast as the stock panel did, but perhaps will last longer if printed in nylon or another high-lubricity material. The second version has a slightly larger hole that you can glue a short piece of PTFE tube in. I also provide a small cap for the other end of the PTFE tube to make it easier to feed filament into the tube. You can make the PTFE tube as long as you need. You could even try to incorporate the tube into an external spool holder similar to how Brian made his fix in his video.