26 Reply by tomas0413

  • tomas0413
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  • Registered: 2019-01-14
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Re: Extruding PET (PETE, not PETG) plastic with Filastruder

rexxthephysicist, yes the temperature was in the hole. Since I took that photo, I also secured the sensor with the Kapton tape.
I also bought a few extra items:
1. a new temperature controller to troubleshoot temperature stability issues (or at least I can check if the problem isn't in the controller),
2. extruder feeder with a motor - I thought I could route the filament via the extruder.  I managed to extrude some PET filament if I make it dow down first, and then I raise it and cool it. I thought that having an extruder in this setup might help.

But yes, it is a lot of work. I parked this activity for a bit, but I plan to resume at some point. I started to work on an alternative approach - pellet extruder, so I could bypass making filament in a first place.

Murph, I'm not sure about the options in the UK. I was initially thinking to buy one tonne (1000kg) of PET plastic from Alibaba.com, but then I was able to get a sample of 50Kg from a PET factory in Lithuania - https://neogroup.eu/.
If I can make PET work for me, I would have to buy 1000Kg or more, but I'm not at this point yet.

27 Reply by treii28

  • treii28
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  • Registered: 2020-08-20
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Re: Extruding PET (PETE, not PETG) plastic with Filastruder

I didn't have any of the magic-yellow tape on hand, but I did have some aluminum ducting tape still around from when I built a turbo gasification stove. Since wood gasification doesn't begin until 650-700F (about 350C), I figured it would work and it seems to hold the sensor in place pretty well.

28 Reply by treii28

  • treii28
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  • Registered: 2020-08-20
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Re: Extruding PET (PETE, not PETG) plastic with Filastruder

tomas0413 wrote:

Hi, thanks for the reply.

To be clear - heating element is the only item that I connected to 18V.

The motor and all the fans are still on 12V.

I have one 18V power supply and a step-down unit from 18V to 12V.

You are aware that the motor controller is basically a buck converter right?  While you may need to convert the fan voltage, the motor control is a constant-voltage/constant-amperage PWM buck converter.

https://www.okystar.com/product-item/co … oky3497-7/