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SoliForum - 3D Printing Community → Filastruder → Filastruder Documentation and CAD/STL files
Bent barrel wouldn't affect that, though it is definitely a showstopper.
It does sounds like it was put together incorrectly. If the auger is still straight and you can extract it from the barrel, then you can reuse it, sure.
I finished assembling my extruder. It seems to work, but I have no pellets yet. First of all, it's great. Thanks everybody who participated. I am going to write a summary of troubles I had and I understand it will sound grumpy — well, it is not. Extruder is a fine thing, just a not-so-little rough around the edges.
*Since wooden parts are not surface finished, I have covered them with linseed oil. Only after the full assembly I realized I choose the most flammable finishing I could. Ouch!
*The bolt on the auger collar is grinding the wood. I hope it will soon grind a groove and run free. Had I placed the collar the other side up - the bolt would get stuck in the wood.
*The 'everything included to the last nut' claim is exaggerated. Had it not been there,I would have not mind it, but I needed some extra nails, hot glue gun, and, most important, 4-wire clamps. Those would require a trip to hardware store for most people.
*Electric box STL needs revising. It is wiggly, even with 75% infill, definitely needs a hole to screw it to bottom plate, and wire holes would be better being half-holes at the bottom (sorry, don't know the proper english word) so that you would not need to detach wire to move it to another side.
*Hopper STL in my case was not snug at all, it rotates freely and holds on duct tape only.
*Main pipe does not stop threading into flange — it goes all through it easily. I have yet to see if molten plastic would rotate pipe or not. If yes, I will need some extra clamps.
*Electronics is a mess. First of all, do you suggest people should connect wires by twisting them together? Inside the box? Especially that 5 wire intersection point? That's exactly what one should not be doing EVER. You must provide wire clamps like Wago. Three are required - one for 5 wire, one for 4, one for 3, to avoid twisting inside the box. I took all three for 5 wires, no problem.
*By the way, does this power supply have short circuit detection?
*And by the way, what will happen if thermal couple breaks loose while unattended? Will heater try to heat up to red glow?
*The bits used to attach wires to switches are of low quality — I broke three of them while installing. The average man who has a solder would revert to it in this situation. So I suggest you add a precaution to the list against this. Something like "You may not sold wires to switches, unless you know why you may not, in which case you may, but only if you know how to" 
I am serious.
*Motor sound changes when heater is on and off. This, and power supply being hot, suggests that power supply is overloaded, which is not good. I will measure the actual current later.
*I ordered 4 nozzle ends. One with 1.75 hole has it drilled at slight angle. I will have to test if it affects production.
*Controller would really use some fine tuning. It is too fast now. Again, I will post a guide on this when I get OK with settings.
*This forum has weird formatting buttons, so I use asterisks.
Bolt on the collar grinding the wood usually means the flange isn't centered. Not a big deal.
I have never used a hot glue gun, wire nuts, or nails. Not sure why you needed to.
If the hopper STL is loose like you describe, your printer probably needs calibration. Of course, you can scale the STL instead if you like.
No, I do not suggest that people twist wires together. Nowhere do aI say that. You can put up to 2 wires on each side of the screw terminal.
Power supply has overload protection.
If the thermocouple breaks loose, there's only enough heat to get to around 240C. I intentionally limited heater power for safety. Filastruder is the only extruder on the market to do this, everyone else uses extremely powerful heater bands that will hit 400C+ easily in the event of sensor or controller failure.
You mean spade terminals? I've used dozens of those and never broken them. They come from a reputable US supplier. No other customer has mentioned breaking them.
Motor changing sound is fine. In reality, the voltage only sags a few tenth a of a volt, but human ears are very sensitive to changes in audible frequency/speed. This does has a negligible effect on filament quality - perhaps 19 microns of variation is attributable to this.
Slight angle is no problem. The non melt filter nozzles are done on a drill press, melt filter nozzles are CNCed.
Instructions recommend PID autotuning. If you are speaking of control period, it needs to be fast to minimize control error. If you want to slow it down, be my guest!
I used hot glue to fix wooden pieces on the base board before screwing, and to fix loose wires. I needed two nails and a piece of wire to fix "filament guide" assembly in place.
That 3d printer was calibrated as can be — an expensive industrial machine. May be that was the source of problem.
In my book, trying to tuck 4 wires under 1 screw is somewhere near twisting them together. If 1 wire is thicker because it has a knot or some trash at the end, the diagonal ones are sure to come loose.
About "spade terminals" — mine where easy to break with fingers. Bad luck may be.
I used hot glue to fix wooden pieces on the base board before screwing, and to fix loose wires. I needed two nails and a piece of wire to fix "filament guide" assembly in place.
That's what the included zip ties are for, you are to drill a hole through the wooden block.
That 3d printer was calibrated as can be — an expensive industrial machine. May be that was the source of problem.
Hmm, strange. The diameter of the hole in the hopper is the same as the OD of the barrel. Mine always fit snugly. Sorry about the spade terminals, I've ever experienced that!
Hi there,
I've had issues with my filastruder build, I thought I had finished it and checked it with the pictures on this forum, but then the hopper/nipple assembly turned as I was extruding abs! (it ran for about 1.5hrs, only extruding about 2meters
I've taken it apart and am attempting to rebuild although there is still ABS stuck inside the nipple/feedscrew. I noticed that the thrust bearing/shaft collar was not pushed up against the thrust plate. This seems to have moved forward as I was extruding because the feedscrew was pushed right up against the brass nozzle. I can pull out the feedscrew from the nipple with a wrench at the right place (not damaging the nipple) however, I don't think that'll hold the thrust bearing hard up against the thrust plate.
Is the thrust bearing suppose to push up against the thrust plate during operation, or is there something I am missing? Because it seems that my feedscrew had gone toward the hot end, meaning there was no compression on the thrust bearing.
It says explicitly that the thrust bearing should be compressed. It sounds like you assembled it incorrectly, potentially with reverse polarity to the main motor.
It says explicitly that the thrust bearing should be compressed. It sounds like you assembled it incorrectly, potentially with reverse polarity to the main motor.
Thanks for your reply.
I understand that the thrust bearing is suppose to be compressed, I just can't contemplate why it moved outward. I've checked that my motor turns clockwise from the nozzle side facing toward the motor. I'll just rebuild and try again. I forgot to mention, but I also noticed that my bolts on the flange were not tight although I do not think that was the problem.
Perhaps my flange wasn't threaded onto the nipple tight enough, so when the pressure got really high, the nipple tightened more.
If the nipple tightened in the flange, the cutout would no longer be facing upright.
I don't understand how the thrust bearing wouldn't be compressed if the motor is turning the correct direction. There is roughly 200lbs of force generated pushing the auger away from the nozzle during operation. Post some photos of your setup and I'll see if anything jumps out at me.
If the nipple tightened in the flange, the cutout would no longer be facing upright.
I don't understand how the thrust bearing wouldn't be compressed if the motor is turning the correct direction. There is roughly 200lbs of force generated pushing the auger away from the nozzle during operation. Post some photos of your setup and I'll see if anything jumps out at me.
Thanks again for the quick response.
Yes, the cutout was no longer facing upright. Is it possible that the feedscrew went forward after the nipple tightened? I don't see why it could have, but I'm certain of the direction of the motor since I triple checked it. I'll finish my rebuild (without the filastruder case enclosed) tomorrow as I have work now.
Thanks for your help!
Yeah, I don't know how that would have been possible. Post some photos, I'll let you know if something looks wrong.
I've run into a problem: when I turn on the fan, I can't reach 230C. I'm trying to achieve the best insulation. Tell me please: Is it OK to run heater and termocouple wires along the barrel, inside the insulation? Will they withstand the heat?
Yes, they should withstand the heat, though there is no reason to run the thermocouple wires there.
You should not need to hit 230C - what are you trying to extrude?
I want to try russian polimer ПА6 - a mix of nylon with something. It is in abundance around here. It has a melt temp of 220C, so I wanted to try if I can heat empty barrel to 230. Found out that I can, but turning on the fan immediately drops temp down to 180C
Melt temps advertised for industrial extruders are not the same temps the FIlastruder uses. For example, the MG94 included with the kit recommends a nozzle temp of 225C, but we extrude it at 180C on the Filastruder. I would guess that polymer would do just fine at 180C. What are your ambient temps? If they are less than 20-25C, you may not need the fan at all.
If you can't get above 180C, then I would guess the insulation is not installed properly. It should come all the way out to the face of the nozzle, installed tightly with the included zip ties.
Hey, I've just rebuilt and ran the filastruder again. I tightened the nipple as much as I could, then got a wrench to lightly tighten it a bit more, however with the filastruder case, the feedscrew comes out of the nipple too so when I apply the coupling on with around 3 threads, the brass nozzle cannot fit.
To resolve this, I got some pfte tape and made the threads on he motor end of the nipple thicker so it will tighten in the flange earlier without coming loose and not have the feedscrew sticking out of the hot end nipple too much (With the filastruder case, I can't simply pull it back :S). I managed to pull back the feedscrew a bit so the brass nozzle can fit in and the result is shown in the pictures. I noticed some metal/metal grinding sounds, which may be the feedscrew grinding against the nozzle - this happened because the nozzle tightened itself as the ABS plastic came through (it was originally only hand tightened as I did not want it to hit the feedscrew). Is there a huge issue with this?
I ran it for around 1hr, after the initial tightening of the brass nozzle, there was no more unexpected movement/rotations, although there was occassional sounds of metal on metal contact. The filament seems to be coming out quite not as smooth as I had hoped, and the fan cools down the temperature reading quite substantially, unless I pull the ran away from the nozzle quite a fair bit. Please refer to my picture to see if my insulation is placed correctly or not! It is flush with the nozzle from my interpretation.
You can't use that hex socket with the Filastruder case, it is too long. I never ship those sockets with Kit Enclosure orders, at least I never mean to.
You should not run the case partially assembled, it isn't strong enough.
Feedscrew needs to be 1/4" out of the nipple. Hitting the nozzle is bad.
Fan should not be able to hold the hotend below 180C - it will dip under 180C, but should come back up as the PID controller responds. If the ambient temps are much under 20C, the fan is not needed.
Your filament guide is too far from the nozzle for ideal filament production.
You can't use that hex socket with the Filastruder case, it is too long. I never ship those sockets with Kit Enclosure orders, at least I never mean to.
You should not run the case partially assembled, it isn't strong enough.
Feedscrew needs to be 1/4" out of the nipple. Hitting the nozzle is bad.
Fan should not be able to hold the hotend below 180C - it will dip under 180C, but should come back up as the PID controller responds. If the ambient temps are much under 20C, the fan is not needed.
Your filament guide is too far from the nozzle for ideal filament production.
Thanks for your response, that's wonderful information. That makes more sense, but I did order the two together but not directly from you. I bought this as a package from my3dmedia so I will contact them directly. As to your previous response, I might not be skeptical but I'll give them the benefit of the doubt. In the event that they do not respond, can you give me the specs to see if I can buy it locally? Also, how much would it cost to ship a part like that to Australia?
I shall post the response of my3dprint media soon!
Its just a normal hex socket, 3/8" drive. Match the size that's printed on the socket with one that is locally available and shorter.
Its just a normal hex socket, 3/8" drive. Match the size that's printed on the socket with one that is locally available and shorter.
I set mine up initially with just the normal boards and not the case yet. So I haven't run into this issue yet. Wanted to work out the kinks before putting things behind boards that I can't see things working.
So, when I put mine in the case I should use a short socket. Right?
Yes indeed. I use all short sockets now, no more long ones so this shouldn't be an issue moving forward.
Does the clamping screw really go up against the flange or do I have something out of place. Are there supposed to be 4 black washers or 8? My kit only has 4 and I think it says put them on front and back of the flange
By "clamping screw", I think you mean shaft collar. No, it should not touch the flange. You should on;y have 4 black spacers, not 8 - 8 was from when I shipped longer bolts, the instructions state the serial number cutoff for 4 spacer kits.
A photo of what you have so far would help, I can comment accordingly.
Here is an image let me know what you think.
Flange on the right needs to be flipped the other way.
SoliForum - 3D Printing Community → Filastruder → Filastruder Documentation and CAD/STL files
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