Very nifty. It would be cool to do a multi-media thing if you could time it right, like fusing multiple colors amd even varieties of filament
Yes well you could try TPU for a rubber base and then print the thing of your choise
@Samer_Najia @VolksTrieb Easier to just pause the print and change filament, isn’t it?
well no its not. cause you have to be there at the right time. For example you have a 12h print and need to change the filament while at work? You COULD pause it by gcode but well hell no i dont want to. And also you will get blobs left behind 
@VolksTrieb Yes, for an unattended print, you’re quite right. But blobs aren’t a problem if you do it right - I’ve done it many times: you pause the print, then use Repetier (or whatever control software) to move the effector to an open space. Retract the old filament, load the new filament, extrude until the new colour appears, pull free the extruded waste, resume printing. Repetier will actually remember that you moved the effector, and it will automatically move back to the original spot where you paused it, upon resume. I’ve done multiple colour changes in a single print this way.
OK so how do you remove the 2 tool pieces after you’ve made the joint?
One end is presumably short enough unless you can split each cylinder in 2.
I’m assuming that the short end is still inside the hotend and the long end is on a new spool. Am I missing something obvious?
@Evan_Nguyen you pull them off of course o_O
Awfully long pull then.
@Keith_Applegarth depends yeah if you use half a spool its a bit tricky but i did that today and it worked rather well. There are other techniques which clamp the two ends and heat them in the middle. But if you havent got the tools to make it yourself its much much more expensive
Probably leave them on until the spool runs out so you can slip them off. That’s a natural stopping point to fuse another color onto the filament train. 
I see the link refers to a German eBay and I have no German language skills. Is there an indication that the seller will ship to the usa?
Despite the compromises, it would certainly add some zest to an otherwise mundane print.
Sadly he doesnt ship to other countrys 
I’d like to see this properly done i.e. to not be forced to thread the parts but rather clamp them, making it easy to fuse longer pieced of filament
I spoke to a friend who owns a CNC small job shop. Small as in hundred to thousand part job lots. He and I will be working on building the trimmer to be sold in the USA at about the same price, depending on how long it takes to configure the job and troubleshoot some aspects of the design.
I discussed the idea of a split cutter and was told that it would be challenging to produce, wasteful of material and would probably retail closer to fifty dollars per unit.
If anyone is interested in the slide-on/slide-off type at fifteen to twenty dollars per unit, let me know. It’s likely to be free shipping at the twenty dollar level, buyer pays shipping at the lower price.
If anyone is truly interested in the split version, which might require a screwdriver to join and split, also let me know. If there is enough demand, I’ll pursue the design with the machinist and maybe have something workable. The first version has to be created and proofed before we’ll move to the split type.
I don’t do Google Plus, so please don’t send me invitations or whatever is involved in making that type of connection.
I’d prefer an email sent to my email address with the subject line: filament trimmer
email to be sent to (remove spaces, etc) obfuscated fred at gmail
uh, remember to put the dot com at the end.