SUNLU Filament Connector

| Fusion Splicer | 240°C |

SUNLU has been releasing wise accessories and addons for 3D enthusiasts like their recent Bambu Lab AMS Heater addon and their filament driers; this time though they have introduced a tiny and affordable but unique machine, the SUNLU Filament Connector.

As the name suggests, this is a machine created to seamlessly connect 2 filaments, allowing users to avoid filament waste and reutilize the last shorter meters of filament left on a spool.

You might find the device with its full name: SUNLU Filament Connector FC01.

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SUNLU Filament Connector Review

Tests & Scores

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ACCESSORIES & PACKAGING
⁴^_/5

The SUNLU Filament Connector comes in small cardboard box including also:
• Power cable
• 200x PTGE sleeves

DESIGN
⁴^_/5

The SUNLU Filament Connector is significantly smaller than what we thought it would be; and this is a positive thing. In fact, the device is so small and light weighted that you can easily bring it with you anywhere or to a pal/gal 3D enthusiast and assist them with some handy filament welding.

On the front you will find a well-sized, dual-color display which is backlit and makes use of large and easy to read fonts, numbers and icons.

Regarding safety, the brand has also thought about it, designing a transparent top lid with hinges that can be used to protect you from touching the main welding piece while it is scorching hot.

Do consider that connecting filaments requires the use and sometimes disposal of one PTFE fusion sleeve per task, so you need to buy and re-stock them. The good thing is that you already get a whopping 200 of these sleeves bundled for free with the device.

OPERATION & CONTROL
^4.25^_/5

The whole control and setup of the SUNLU Filament Connector is done through the display; this screen is touch sensitive with a fairly simple but intuitive user-interface.

Basically you have 4 touch buttons that will allow you to navigate the built-in presets, override temperature targets, start/stop the welding/heating and power on/off.

The main central section of the welding area has a dedicated button that opens the place where you need to position both ends of the filaments that you want to weld. These ends need to be temporarily joined together by one of the PTFE fusion sleeves.

After this you need to close the welding lid and start the filament connection task.

Once the welding is finalizing you will hear a beep noise, at this moment you need to grab each end and push the inwards until you hear the next beeps or you can count until you reach the seconds recommended for each filament type – you can see the user manual to find the timetable.

The target and current temperatures can be seen in real-time through the display.

It is fair to highlight that the connection of 2 filaments is not always flawless and you will probably encounter a couple of failed “welding”; just try again until you get comfortable with the handling details and more efficient steps to get optimum results.

CONSTRUCTION & BUILD
⁴^_/5

The machine is made mostly of plastic with, of course, metal sections that correspond to the pieces related with the hotend.

Despite being made of plastic and the insanely cheap MSRP, the device does not feel cheap nor flimsy.

It is, also, remarkable that the brand was able to design the filament connector with a simple and low consuming power system that needs only a USB power supply capable of producing 5V 2A.

VERSATILITY
^4.5^_/5

The device has a welding capability that can cover most popular type of filaments (diameter 1.75mm)

The main feature might be thought as solely a way to avoid dumping some meters of filament left but it can also be used for creative purposes by connecting several different colors of filaments and creating your own one-of-a-kind multicolor filament spool.

Also, the device can be a “life saver” if your filament cuts in the middle of a printing task; allowing you to pause the print job, grab the SUNLU Filament Connector, weld the 2 ends and resume your printing; thus, avoiding throwing to the bin your current print job.

PERFORMANCE
⁵^_/5

This little thing should not be underestimated by its super affordable price and tiny size, as the SUNLU can reach 230C and in a matter of seconds.

In fact, during our tests we saw the SUNLU Filament Connector reaching and finalizing the welding process for PLA in around 7 seconds. It is remarkable how fast the unit is able such high temperatures.

Even when we tested to weld polycarbonate filaments that needed 230C, the SUNLU hit the temperature target in less than 10 seconds.

Thanks to this filament connector we “recycled” plenty of abandoned spool leftovers that had just come meters left, which not only combined them into a usable length for small prints but it also reduced the footprint of several semi-empty spools into a single spool.

We were skeptical about the quality of the weld, if it would hold up and if it would be clean enough to avoid jamming the printer; to our surprise the welding was always seamless without any weird “scars” nor deformities that could alter the smooth rounded 1.75mm of filament diameter. In fact, we tested some of our welded custom filaments and no print task was halted nor ruined and resulted in the exact same print quality as a normal factor spool.

Moreover, the device includes dedicated presets for PLA, PETG, ABS, PCL, PA with the common temperatures needed to “weld” and connect them.

A details about the design is that the correct procedure involves a precise placement, cutting and handling of the 2 filaments ends; so this means that you need some careful attention to do it appropriately or you will grant yourself an unsuccessful filament connection.

This SUNLU Filament Connector is the perfect example that not all 3D printer gadgets need to be expensive to be awesome.