Fully Assembled Feedback

Generally happy with the design. The only suggestion is that the bottom of the case should be more rigid so that the Filastruder can be operated while open. The current design requires the case t be fully assembled to operate, because the torque requires the full 'box', which makes 'tweaking' slow. If the top and side could be off when operating, it would be easier to see what's going on, and to make changes, then put the case back on.

Aside from that, the assembled unit has been fine.

I've run with the top panel off, so there's the bottom, the sides, and the three vertical walls (nozzle, middle, motor mount) and it worked but there was enough wiggling around (when I had a blockage) that I don't leave it that way because it felt like it might bend enough to break the next time the motor had to 'work'.

Ideally what I'd like would be for the machine to be able to run 'bare' (just the bottom, the motor mount, and the augur mount) to work on it, and have the front, top and sides be non-structural, to the point where I could pull them off/on while it's running. That would make it much easier to do things like rewire and test, swap nozzles, make sure that the motor is driving the augur properly, etc.

I'm running the original motor - I couldn't get the new motor to drive the augur - the new motor's shaft is slightly smaller than the original motor, so after I upgraded I couldn't get traction with the pins, so I went back to the original motor. I'll probably give the new motor another try, since faster is better, and I have plenty of washers. :-)

Now that I think about it, it'd be good for the assembled unit be designed so that the Filastruder can run easily vertically as well as horizontally. To do that, it should have a longer necked hopper, run at a 45 degree angle back until it's higher than the back, with the hole in the top cover further back to accommodate the angle. Attached to that would be a 45 degree bend piece that you could turn whichever way is 'up'. Then the 'sturdier could be run either vertically or horizontally pretty easily, by turning the bend 'up' and rotating the PID controller (which is square).

Perhaps this weekend I'll mod my case to see what I can come up with that I like better than what I'm doing now. Which is that there's a bottle in at a 45 degree angle, held into the hopper with an elastic band. Which works, but it's not elegant.

I have made some changes and I wanted to show you guys what I have so far. Some of the pictures are things I tried out.

http://imgur.com/VXj4Vsx
I tried splitting the back panel. That way you could remove it and work on the machine easily. I was not happy with the way it looked back together. With the addition of a spine, I found you could remove the whole back panel instead.

http://imgur.com/8vs15MM
This shows the two pieces on the back. I did not like the way it looked. I was not happy with having a seam.

http://imgur.com/oQ8hXhZ
This shows the new guide assembly. I made it so there is a threaded insert on the front panel and you just screw it in. This way the guide assemble will be taken off for shipping. The guide works great and I am seeing 1.75 +-.03-.04. I have had no issues printing with the filament.

http://imgur.com/iGdg0Gf
This shows the new enclosure front (without etchings). I shortened it by a few inches and also gave it a lower profile. This way it can fit into a box and still have space on the edges. Don't mind the burn marks, we will be using masking material for the final versions.

I also added a spine to replace the bottom panel. That way the back panel can be removed while the machine is running. This really adds strength to the machine.

Let me know if you guys have any comments or anything else you would like to see. Thanks

Rob