Fixing initial mis-alignment

Metal flakes aren't a problem in the first few hours, and are in fact expected. Just keep purging.

If it turns out something is actually bent, happy to work out replacement parts via email.

Actually, just measured instead of estimating.  The metal flakes are clearly part of the auger and are over 1cm in length.  You can see the curvature where they were attached to the auger.

A small butane torch is a good tool to have on hand.  If you ever need to take the hot end apart, including the coupler, you will need a source of heat other than the band.  I usually use the heater band to heat it up enough to at least take off the nozzle.  If the wires are long enough, you can take the barrel/flange/auger off while the heater band is attached and powered up, then twist the auger out by hand.  Then turn it off, pull off the heater band and try to get the coupler unscrewed before the plastic goes solid again.  Or once the nozzle is off you can remove the band, take off the barrel/flange/coupler and use a torch to melt the plastic inside until you can twist the auger out.

Once you have the barrel clear, roll it on the edge of a table to see if it got twisted.

I took off the bolts that hold the central column assembly to get a better look at what got destroyed, and you're right it looks like the thrust bearing got destroyed.  One washer is completely gone and it looks like the back part of the shaft collar (I think that's the right name for it) got chewed up.

Since the first picture is a bit fuzzy, here are a few more pictures.  Again, this is after i took the bolts off to get a better look, it's not as if I ran the filastruder disassembled like this. I also initially forgot in my last post that the thrust bearing wasn't just one washer shaped piece, but several -- it looks like they are all destroyed. All that was left is a thin circular piece shown in the picture below.  The wooden plate (I think it's called the thrust plate in the instructions), looks chewed up around the edges of the large central hole.  A piece of the thrust bearing is lodged in one corner of it as shown in the picture.  I notice that now the hole in the center of the thrust plate is large enough for the auger (with the shaft collar on) to slide easily through it -- I can't remember if this was initially the case.

I'm guessing I need a new thrust bearing (all 3 parts), and likely a new thrust plate and/or shaft collar. 

Also, can you comment/confirm on whether the initial misalignment could have caused this?  I'd like to make sure that when I fix this there isn't a dumb mistake I've made that will cause this problem all over again.

I think you are right that the steel bearing hit the flange -- I can see that the threading on the back flange is partly stripped now that I look at it.

Worth noting: this thing did not run for hours unattended -- it happened in at most 30 minutes of run time.  I was checking at least once every 15 minutes when I noted the initial misalignment, and I ran it for at most 15 minutes after I got everything re-mounted. I'm not sure how it managed to happen so fast, but it did.

I did pre-drill, and the wood didn't crack in front of/behind/beside the screws. The wood was pulled partway *UP* off of the screws, and then the screws were bent at a weird angle as the motor was trying to turn. Sorry, but I didn't think to take a picture when I initially saw what had happened.

I'd like to order all the parts you mention including another auger and barrel -- it's going to be much easier for me to just spend $40 on a new auger/barrel then to soak it in acetone for 2 days, and maybe then discover it's bent. Yes, I know I'll have to regrind the barrel but that's going to be easier than procuring a lot of acetone and soaking for 2 days.  I don't at all mind spending a (reasonable) amount of money just to re-order the broken parts and avoid hassle.   Can you sell me another flange (so 2 flanges) too?  That way I don't have to unscrew the barrel from the flange it's currently attached to -- it is in there really, really tightly.   

Not sure how you want me to handle the bill, but I'm happy to pay for the replacement parts.  Just send a paypal (or any other payment service) invoice to my email (which you should have on file -- pm me if you need me to update you) and I'll pay it right away. I'd like to get the replacement parts as soon as possible.

So the screws pulled out? What size did you pre drill? How far apart were they?

Ah - that makes sense. Two problems afoot:

1.) not spaced far enough apart. Torque = r x F. The closer the screws are, the more force is on them. I usually space them 2.5" apart.
2.) 1" lumber is actually 0.75" thick. You lost 1/4" of engagement.