1 Topic by cckens

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Topic: Anyone ever hear of this happening?

I'm using the horizontal filabottle feeder and yesterday I came out an found that my filastruder wasn't pushing any output.  I removed the feeder and stirred the pellets in the hopper and then filament started coming out again.

Anyone ever have this happen?  Seems like the feed was interrupted by "pellet lock" (for lack of a better term and then created an air pocket and didn't drop pellets anymore.  Once I resumed the flow it came back to normal.

I'm not sure how long this was going on while extruding, but I'm monitoring the output by dotting it with a sharpie every hour or so to make sure the flow in normal.  I may just file down the opening to make a larger aperture for pellet feeding and that should be enough.

Also... anyone know why filament would start to go all "figure 8" on coiling?  I was fine the last time I fired her up, but now for two sessions straight I get weird coils.  Not that the filament is bad, just not a nice coil is all.

2 Reply by elmoret

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Re: Anyone ever hear of this happening?

I've never used the filabottle hopper, but I experimented with smaller hoppers and had pellet feed problems like you describe. You need about 1.5 sqin for them to feed well.

Figure 8 vs. circle seems to be a bit random and a bit of guide placement. Not an exact science.

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3 Reply by cckens

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Re: Anyone ever hear of this happening?

Sounds about right... There's nothing wrong with the filament, just a weird occurrence.  Funny thing is, there was no discoloration on  the filament that came out after the pellets started to re-feed.  I would gather that the problem didn't last long before I caught it otherwise I'd probably get some yellowing on the filament that was stuck in the barrel and nozzle.

4 Reply by cckens

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Re: Anyone ever hear of this happening?

Oh, yeah... that's what it should be doing...

http://www.kenzden.com/download/coiled.jpg

Just adjusted the guides a little and wham!  Nice coils. 

Just wish you could get this without having to fiddle with the guides all the time.  A little nudge and they go out of alignment so easily.  I know that a vertical placement coils nicely, but I don't have the room or location to mount it easily.

5 Reply by elmoret

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Re: Anyone ever hear of this happening?

Can you post a picture of your setup? Maybe some dimensions of how you have the guide set up, and distance to the floor?

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6 Reply by cckens

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Re: Anyone ever hear of this happening?

Late getting back to this...  48" from the floor.
http://www.kenzden.com/download/struder-hotend.jpg

So, I'm figuring on trying to get the filastruder vertical mounted to prevent some of the ramen I've been getting on start up.  Once I get the guides set correctly (go figure, my kids keep playing with them), I get consistent output, but I want to be able to get it on startup.

So I have a few questions, particularly what distance from the wall should I be and what distance from the floor.
http://www.kenzden.com/download/VertMount.jpg

I can assume that I have to be at least 48" from the floor, but does being lower or higher make much of a difference to the output?  Should I be at an angle or does true vertical help for the output?

7 Reply by elmoret

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Re: Anyone ever hear of this happening?

I run horizontal, one guide, no ramen ever. The fully assembled guides overconstrain. Look to emulate more of the kit guide setup.

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8 Reply by cckens

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Re: Anyone ever hear of this happening?

So removing the lower guide could ease tension on the filament thus reducing the appearance of ramen? I'll download the assembly guide and see where the differences are.

I'll report back after I finish today's run.

9 Reply by cckens

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Re: Anyone ever hear of this happening?

OK, so I did some checking and testing with the Full Assembled model from the Kickstarter (mine's like v1.1 or so: FA-20).

As an initial test, I ran with a single guide from the FA models with the other bent out of the way.  The feed onto the guide was simple and started out with no kinks or major bends.  Fall from the guide went circular and dropped into coils neatly for the first 5 minutes or so, then... ramen.  Removed the ramen and then repositioned the guide.  Same result.  I would get about 2 meters worth of usable filament, then the filament would start waving and producing ususable kinks. Tried various positions putting the guide both toward the nozzle and farther away.  Same results.

Without completely redesigning the guide attachment to be a solo guide, using only a single guide post tends to lead to ramen.  Not that this is a big deal for a couple grams of pellets for testing... but it's something that can't be done out of the box.

I'll need to rebuild out the guide attachment to the fan to allow for a single roller that will allow for the filament to lay across it.  I'll check the STL for the kit to see if I can start there.  Then placement and testing.

It may be a while before I can complete this as the kids and wife are taking most of my time right now, but I'll report more when I get a mock-up up and running.

10 Reply by elmoret

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Re: Anyone ever hear of this happening?

Okay. Post some pictures of where you're at when you get a chance.

If you do decide to go vertical, you'll probably want a6 least 6" from wall, and 36-48" from the floor.

Then again, I've never run vertical. All of my 80kg+ came from horizontal mounting, and I can't remember the last time I saw ramen. I use guide positioning just like the kit instructions.

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11 Reply by cckens

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Re: Anyone ever hear of this happening?

I'm beginning to understand why OSP is using 2 guides with their setup. The dynamic fan pitch allows for better positioning of airflow, but it interferes with the way filament falls.

The kit version assumes a stationary fan with static guide. There seems to be  very little room for consistent failure in this, so my mockup will have to try to mimic it.

The guide is very thorough, though, so it makes a perfect companion for my efforts.

12 Reply by cckens

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Re: Anyone ever hear of this happening?

Ok, I've built a new fan-guide plate for the Fully assembled models. I've still got to do some testing to make sure that it functions as expected, but it looks promising.
http://www.kenzden.com/download/newfanplate.jpg

It uses the existing parts from the FA fan plate (screws, nuts and guide roller) so you only have to print it.  Drilling out the holes for the fan screws is advisable as the holes are modeled at 4mm. Only about 13m of.1.75mm filament and a 2 hour print time (at 100mm/sec).

13 Reply by elmoret

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Re: Anyone ever hear of this happening?

Nice! Guide looks far from the nozzle, but might be fine?

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14 Reply by cckens

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Re: Anyone ever hear of this happening?

I built in a second set of screw holes.  If it's too far, I can move it back by about 10mm.  I'll just keep adding holes in the CAD if I need to keep moving it back.

Testing will show what I need to see, but I didn't see the need to run it for 10 minutes only tonight, so I'm waiting for the morning, so that I can see the effects over the course of a full day.

15 Reply by cckens

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Re: Anyone ever hear of this happening?

Ok, so far I've had about 6-7 hours of extrusion with no ramen. My initial screw holes were too far (ramen after about 2 meters) , so I switched to the secondary set and they worked. I'm having a bit of an issue with coiling, but it's looking good.

I had to adjust the fan pitch as the nozzle temp drops when it's straight up.

Once I'm done with the extrusion tonight, I'll post the STL.

16 Reply by cckens

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Re: Anyone ever hear of this happening?

OK, so after about 12 hours of 'struding, I'm happy to report that this one produced no ramen.

Attached is the STL for the replacement fan-guide plate for a Fully Assembled model from OS Printing LLC.

It is set up to use all OEM parts from the fan, to the bolts, nuts and guide roller. 

There are 4 fan holes, but you only need to use 2 of them and you'll want to drill them out a little bigger than the 4mm size they print at if only to make assembly easier.

There are 2 sets of holes in the sides for mounting to the unit.  You only need to use one set of them as this will allow you to verify fan distance from the nozzle.  This also allows you to pitch your fan away from the nozzle so that you don't lose temp from the airflow.  Height of the fan will be up to you, but I have mine mounted about 1" from the top of the mounting slots.

http://www.kenzden.com/download/FanPlate-20140322.jpg

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