[ Closed ] Filament Extruder - Convert pellets to filament (Page 54 of 58)

I am admittedly only an EE student, so not very strong on mechanical theory, but has anyone looked at motorized fishing line winders? The look like the work similarly. The only problem I see there is they twist the line...

The regular  fishing reel is just like the hose winder and does not twist the line unlike a spin casting reel.

Ian, check out traverse winding guides. (You could use that second dc motor to turn a threaded rod with a guide on it. Probably could use that ardunio to reverse it somehow after so many turns)

I have built my extruder, bought neutral abs, at 220C tried to extrude. 1meter extruded grey, then there is nothing coming out, so I have dissambled the nozzle, cleaned, and run it eithout nozzle but abs burned, and cannot feed abs, because the abs stay in front of auger.
What can be the problem. I cleaned the whole auger, tomorrow I will try again.is the temperature high, so burned abs clogged the end of auger ?
Should I stop extruding without cleaning the whole abs on auger.?

I don't hink it would make sense for anything other than indexed to the spool rotation.

Extruding out.

Think I found some filament variation magic.

Just ran 20ft with essentially the same set up with OSP better than +/- 0.05mm variation,  only diff was the auger was pushed 1/4" more into the melt zone which should bring it even with the end of the nipple.  I did not dissassemble. so that is an estimate from where I remember it being.  The filament had a nice smooth surface to it and it was much less wavey.  I need to run more but first want to get the capstan speed regulated with an Arduino similar to what Ian is doing instead of controlling it manually. Intersting point of this setup and Ian's is there is no fan or guides.

BTW eyeballed a short piece of 618 Nylon.  It is running better than +/- 0.03, but a lot of it was out of round by 0.02mm.  The ABS filament we are extruding tends to generally be more circular.  I need to measure more when I get the logger going.

When I went to push the auger further into the mix, I first heated to 200C and ran some filament.  I then loosened the split collar and reversed the motor a touch to take tension off of the auger.  I could not turn the auger by hand or push it further into the pipe.  I finally resorted to vice grips on the auger hex shaft with a C clamp on the pipe flange to lever it further into the melt zone.  Took a lot of of force, and when I finally did get it to move, filament oozed out.  That poor thrust bearing and gear box!

Don't sweat it, but I am afraid to run more in case the magic disappears.  In a way this is really good because it gives us clues about what is happening in the melt zone and mechanical sensitivities.  Another observation is that even though the filament was noticably better, I still saw the motor lugging down for 10-20 seconds at a time, and when it did, the extriusion rate would increase.  Following the slow down, it would speed up for a similar amount of time and the extrusion rate would drop below average.

Also after wedging the auger around and pushing it forward, there has been an increase in black particles in the filament.   I have a shinny piece of stainless waiting in the wings.

Without dilusions of ego, a new chapter is being written in the literature.  All the "pro" stuff is optimized and has evolved to solve the problem of volume throughput, and as you said this project is about price point and I'd inject -at virtually the same quality.  This setup uses the heater to define what part of the screw will be in the melt zone, without having to vary the pitch of the screw.  Almost like an electronically variable pitch screw.  We also turn so slow that gas bubbles are not being trapped at the pellet/melt interface (guess).  And based on my last filament pull, I am becoming a believer that this extruder delivers....now off to the next set of evil experiments....

SS barrel, auger and coupler for $25 + ship would be a good deal.  Tim - are you planning to set up a web store?

On the subject of barrel changes, does anyone have a good procedure right now?  I was thinking about dumping loose pellets, flaming on, removing the nozzle, and very seriously, filling the hopper with popcorn kernals.  Might need a quick disassemble and acetone flush afterwards.

Also found a source for a 2lb bag of JB501 pellets for multi color filament at Target.

Just got this message on Kickstarter:

Google translate says:

Bad idea. To "get rid of" the ABS, it needs to be near 150C or higher - otherwise it sticks to the steel. If you flush with something with a lower melt temp, then it gets really runny before the ABS melts. If you flush with something with a higher melt temp, then that "something" is left behind. Theoretically you could flush PLA with ABS, but then you're stuck - unless you wanted to start extruding nylon polycarbonate, ptfe, peek, etc. (disclaimer: I have no experience with those plastics)

I run until empty, pull the nozzle off while hot, and reach in there with needle nose pliers.