Re: Filament Extruder - Convert pellets to filament
Ok I had it pretty much back to front lol,
It'd be good to put those pics in the instructions!!
Cheers
Re: Filament Extruder - Convert pellets to filament
R.J.A.Allen wrote:
Ok I had it pretty much back to front lol,
It'd be good to put those pics in the instructions!!
Cheers
What's confusing about this:
7.) Assemble auger by sliding collar all the way up. Tighten set screw as tight as possible by hand
8.) Next, slide thrust bearing onto auger, then black nylon bushing
9.) Slide auger into pipe nipple assembly. Check that auger can be rotated freely by hand.
10.) Thread bushing into remaining flange. Collar, thrust bearing, black spacer, flange with bushing, just like the picture...?
Re: Filament Extruder - Convert pellets to filament
Literally I had it back to front,
I only spent 30 mins having a quick look at it though,
I had the threaded bolts on the hopper side with nylon spacers hopper side,
Don't worry I was rushing and not paying full attention,
however those pictures are more useful than that paragraph! Might also be because I'm not exactly sure what parts you're refering too,
also the earlier pictures of the kit can be confusing as they were more complex!
No worries though, I'll get it sorted, hope to be running it tomorrow, got 25 kgs of ABS to burn through....
Re: Filament Extruder - Convert pellets to filament
R.J.A.Allen wrote:
No worries though, I'll get it sorted, hope to be running it tomorrow, got 25 kgs of ABS to burn through....
Thats a lot of plastic
SD2 with E3D, SD Press, Form 1+
Filastruder
NYLON (taulman): http://www.soliforum.com/topic/466/nylon/
Filastruder
NYLON (taulman): http://www.soliforum.com/topic/466/nylon/
Re: Filament Extruder - Convert pellets to filament
Makes sense. I will add a lot more pictures as part of the release instructions. I only put out a beta v1 and beta v2, but there were a lot of internal tweaks. If I spent time photographing and writing them all up, I'd be further behind than I already am. So, sorry for the confusion now, but it'll get better come release!
Re: Filament Extruder - Convert pellets to filament
Not the sort of amount you want to get caught with at customs 
Re: Filament Extruder - Convert pellets to filament
As some of you started to work with PLA read this:
plasticstoday.com/mpw/articles/polylactic-acid-handling-drying-and-reclaim-considerations-pla
It is not as easy to handle like ABS or PE..
933 2013-03-09 16:37:35 (edited by ysb 2013-03-09 18:44:27)
- ysb
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Re: Filament Extruder - Convert pellets to filament
elmoret wrote:
ysb wrote:another question from me..
when i set the distance for the motor wood board from the auger (for the coupling) , did the auger need to bet set at full left(toward the hot nose) , or at full right (toward the flange motor side)... or between (as the auger can move in place) ?
Assemble it just like this:
With the white nylon spacers on the threaded rods, and everything else will take care of itself.
nop...when all are in place between the white nylon spacers, my auger can move freely from one flange to the other on about 1/2 inch...
so i need to know before mounting the motor plate, if the auger assembly need to be against the left or the right flange
see included pictures (sorry, exchange the names between each pictures..)
in the first one, the assemly is against the right flange
in the second picture, the assembly is against the left flange
as there is a lot of pressure it's important to know this to put the motor board at the proper place
Re: Filament Extruder - Convert pellets to filament
The pressure from the plastic will push the auger towards the motor, applying load on the thrust bearing. Set the motor accordingly.
Re: Filament Extruder - Convert pellets to filament
Tim - Did you consider using an angular contact bearing for the auger? or just too expensive?
Ian - Are the goals of the control loop to adjust the long term average filament thickness? or provide "instantaneous" filament thickness control? Dropping filament on the floor probably works good enough, but I am totally in sync with you about trying to get the thickness into a feed back loop or running it through a secondary die.
How are sources of PLA looking? Outstanding work guys!
Cheers,
-Nick
936 2013-03-10 08:17:29 (edited by frozensoda 2013-03-10 09:26:14)
- frozensoda
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Re: Filament Extruder - Convert pellets to filament
Please excuse me for not reading all 38 pages, and search brought nothing up. Is anyone working on this project able/interested in supplying filament in small quantities? Anything cheaper then $33/KG would be cheaper than what I am currently paying. Thanks in advance.
I edit my posts a lot.
937 2013-03-10 17:14:13 (edited by bteeter 2013-03-10 17:14:46)
Re: Filament Extruder - Convert pellets to filament
Just a note: I just purchased 50 pounds of PLA from Open Source Printing LLC.
I just love it when a plan comes together. We have a plan right?
Now to finish the 3 extruders and get started created filament. Going to use the PLA for metal casting to complete my Horizontal Milling Machine.
Bob Teeter
Re: Filament Extruder - Convert pellets to filament
I got a potentiometer, planning on trying out a pivoting guide arm to adjust the speed of the spooler motor as the bottom of the loop is taken up and let down as the extruder speed changes. It was immediately apparent that it wouldn't work because the action of the pot is too stiff. If it is too hard to turn the pot, it will be hard to lift the arm. If it is too hard to lift the arm, it is more likely that the filament will pull from the die instead.
I was taking apart some optical mice to find a sensor that will work with the Arduino library that I found. Along the way I noticed that some of the scroll wheels used what looked like IR sensors. The scroll wheels have spokes that spin between the IR transmitter and receiver, and then then I assume it just counts the speed and number of blinks. I might try that as an alternative to the potentiometer if I can't get the mouse sensor to work.
Re: Filament Extruder - Convert pellets to filament
justnick wrote:
Tim - Did you consider using an angular contact bearing for the auger? or just too expensive?
I considered it. I wanted the auger to be as unconstrained as possible. The pipes are not perfectly straight, neither are the flanges. Leaving the auger unconstrained lets it float in the pipe. They are also more expensive, as you said.
Re: Filament Extruder - Convert pellets to filament
IanJohnson wrote:
I was taking apart some optical mice to find a sensor that will work with the Arduino library that I found. Along the way I noticed that some of the scroll wheels used what looked like IR sensors. The scroll wheels have spokes that spin between the IR transmitter and receiver, and then then I assume it just counts the speed and number of blinks. I might try that as an alternative to the potentiometer if I can't get the mouse sensor to work.
Yup! That's exactly how they work. Look up optical encoders, quadrature, and grey code.
Re: Filament Extruder - Convert pellets to filament
frozensoda wrote:
Please excuse me for not reading all 38 pages, and search brought nothing up. Is anyone working on this project able/interested in supplying filament in small quantities? Anything cheaper then $33/KG would be cheaper than what I am currently paying. Thanks in advance.
If everyone uses a Filastruder to produce their filament then you should start to see prices drop for commercial grade filament...at least thats how things should work.
SD2 with E3D, SD Press, Form 1+
Filastruder
NYLON (taulman): http://www.soliforum.com/topic/466/nylon/
Filastruder
NYLON (taulman): http://www.soliforum.com/topic/466/nylon/
942 2013-03-12 18:33:19 (edited by elmoret 2013-03-12 18:34:16)
Re: Filament Extruder - Convert pellets to filament
Finally got a chance to play with the PEEK/PTFE hybrid material I got from McMaster:
it's 1/4" OD rod, measured 6.45mm, so a little too large to put M6 threads on. I went with M7x0.75 - only have metric tap/die set. I drilled and tapped the brass plug as well. I drilled and tapped the already installed plug, which would turn out to be a bad idea...
Anyone need some 7mm filament?
Oh. That's a lot of brass filings. Explains why the motor was struggling so much.
Since the melt zone was now purged, I put another piece of PEEK in. It's been extruding for 15 minutes or so now, trouble free. One of the issues is I can't drill a 1.6mm hole in the PEEK longer than 45mm or so, because that's how long the 1.6mm bit I have is. Anyone have a source for longer bits? The other trouble is that 1.6mm bits will curve within the material, it's tough to get a straight hole, and since there's only 2mm or material on either side of the hole, walking much in either direction is a big deal.
Re: Filament Extruder - Convert pellets to filament
I'll have to give it another try. I couldn't get anything to come through the peek. It's possible that the hole wasn't straight enough, or it wasn't hot enough. It did smoke a little though which concerned me. Between this, the PTFE, and a longer brass bolt I'm finding that a little cooling of an extended nozzle will jam it.
What was the filament like coming out of it? Was it more rigid, or about as melted as is usually is coming from the plug?
944 2013-03-12 19:50:29 (edited by elmoret 2013-03-12 19:51:11)
Re: Filament Extruder - Convert pellets to filament
I'm still extruding at 12"/min, about what I saw before, and my motor current is about the same. If anything, I think motor load decreased slightly. I'm running at 185C, as indicated my the thermocouple in the brass plug.
No smoke at all. No ooze around the threads. Filament seems a bit stiffer - previously with the current guide placement I'd occasionally get ramen. I've gone hours now without ramen. I want to try a longer piece of PEEK. If I re-chuck the bit in the drill I might get another 7-8mm... but at the end of the day, even if the PEEK was at room temperature (it isn't), with extrusion speeds of about 8mm/s, the filament won't have long enough to cool down appreciably.
Ian - were you using PEEK/PTFE, or pure PEEK? What was the MM part number?
Re: Filament Extruder - Convert pellets to filament
It was the PEEK/PTFE 1/4" with tap and threads at 1/4" It might help if I countersink the inside face a little bit.
I'm still considering using a roller on a lever arm to measure filament tension. It occurred to me that instead of a potentiometer at the pivot, which is too stiff, I could use a rotary encoder that doesn't have detents. I don't know any way to test the stiffness of the movement however without actually trying it. An encoder made for motor control with higher resolution would be ideal of course, but those are over $30. The encoders meant for knobs are much cheaper.
Re: Filament Extruder - Convert pellets to filament
24 CPR is plenty for what we're doing here, in my opinion.
http://www.mouser.com/ProductDetail/Pan … ZPaYkYQ%3d
0 detents. 64 cents. Torque ratings are in the datasheets - in this case 3-20 mN-m. Assuming 3 mN-m is the no detent version, that's 30.6 g-cm of torque. Using a 6" arm, that's .196 grams of force acting at the end of the rod to overcome friction in the encoder. Given that 1.75mm filament weighs 0.024g/cm, that's about 10cm worth of filament. I don't notice an appreciable difference in filament diameter when the distance to the floor changes by 4 inches. So, I think that encoder would work just fine.
Re: Filament Extruder - Convert pellets to filament
I ran my beta filastruder for 48 hours last weekend straight thru no ramen. I let the filament cool with my three fan arrangement and flow without the copper guide to the board. I covered the end of the board with the kapton tape but left a 1" over hang that acts like a floating lever. I used two pieces of filament to keep the extrudant on the kapton tape.(like catfish whiskers) The floating kapton tape allows the filament to bounce around when coiling and flopping figure eights without any bends in the filament near the nozzle. The temperatures were 195 and the flow rate was around 6 inches per minute. I extruded over 3 pounds of very nice filament. This machine is awesome.
I was wondering if anyone tried to make an accumulator with thin film flaps that could accomodate the variation in flowrate between the extruder motor and the winders. Do we have any data on the variation in flowrate. (total range in flowrate and cycle time from peak to trough in flowrate)
Re: Filament Extruder - Convert pellets to filament
supra, can you get a picture of your setup?
Re: Filament Extruder - Convert pellets to filament
supraflyer wrote:
This machine is awesome.
950 2013-03-12 21:25:01 (edited by nickythegreek 2013-03-12 21:25:13)
Re: Filament Extruder - Convert pellets to filament
Printable gear bearing.
http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:53451
The author has a youtube video where he uses it attached to a spool and a drill. Thought I would put it up here as there might be applications to assist with spooling.