Rev 3 Nipple and Thrust Plate Question

Sure, you can trim the collar on Ian's hopper. I've worked with slightly different cutout placements, which is the reason for the variance you see. It really didn't change much.

Yes, the wooden thrust plate either needs a bigger washer to spread the load from the thrust bearing (less than a dollar at the hardware store) or replacement. If you opt for the latter, just shoot me an email at [email protected] and I'll get you taken care of.

Well, you could also trim the enclosure. It is of note that Ian's hopper is a "aftermarket" part so to speak, I don't keep track of all the add-on parts on thingiverse and I can't guarantee compatibility.

As for the thrust plate, any washer with a ID of 0.5" or so, and an OD larger than 1".

The other option is to move the spacers to the other side of the enclosure. This moves the flange outwards, giving you more clearance for Ian's hopper. As for the "cloud" of options, all that matters is that with the thrust bearing compressed (pushing the auger into the barrel from the hot end), the auger tip sticks out 1/4"-1/2". A variety of spacers are provided to accomplish this in different ways, as some people have reasons for doing things a bit differently (like you needing to move the flange away from the face of the enclosure to accommodate Ian's hopper).

No worries. If you're concerned, post some photos before you fire it up and I'll let you know if I see anything worrisome.

similarly, i have a very new (rev5?   1154) design, and I too found that the breach cut in the nipple was too close to the threads.

For me, with little/nothing to grip on to when tightening it, and a hopper purchased from filastruder slid back as far as I can, Im still mis-aligned by 1/4 - 3/8 inch... the cut is just too close to the threads, I cant fit the hopper on evenly.

Might see what I can do about ignoring the instructions and putting the hopper flat-side-in... getting rid of that nubbin might give me enough clearance to line up properly.

I've torn mine up and down so many times trying to get the alignment correct I can do it in my sleep.  Whn it would turn I'd have to tear it down and rotate it.  I am now very familiar with how to assemble and unassemble.

Just wanted to give feed back on the placement of the cut since it seemed like a variable.

Just out of curiosity, how far up from the brass end is the plastic melted when at a steady state?

How much room should there be between the inside face of the brass plug and the end of the screw?  I saw your suggestions for how far it should stick out of the nipple.

Just trying to visualize what is actually happening in the tube.

Up and extruding.  84 inches in 5 minutes was a test strand I pulled.  Getting between 1.73 and 1.50, but I see why I go thin- I'm vertical and it has to do with draw weight.  I'm looking to get a more stable collection after I get the purge done.  I think a filawinder is in my future.

I was surprised by the amount of metal shavings in the filament since I had scoured the inside of the nipple pretty well to prep it.  It is bright metal, one hunk was about the size of the filament and I heard the motor strain as it 'passed' the metal.  Is this just from random hits of the auger bit on the nipple causing gouging and the metal bits?  Like I said, I cleaned up the metal parts pretty well during assembly.

It really is interesting how you get 'tuned into' the extruder running.  The more rapid on/off of the heater when it's ramped up to temp.  Like I said, the strain of the motor with gunk, or just how the pitch of the motor changes when the heater comes on.  Even how feeling the filament and its surface topography giving indications of what is happening in the there a if there is gunk.  I just run it thru my fingers and fell rough spots or bumps where there is a metal shaving.

A lot more qualitative than I thought it would be.

Thanks for all the help!

i think it was from my floor feeding.  The amount of pressure from the material on the floor seemed to be the main driver.  I could never get it to lay consistently.  I wasn't managing it well since it was the purge.  I bought a beer key bucket hoping that would help it to loose coil, and I couldn't get it to work.   I did run some real filament afterwards where I payed closer attention and I was getting a lot less variance- 1.68-1.72 for most of the run with some readings out of that which I think came from my bad gauging technique since an inch or so away was fine.  I did hand roll it as a psuedo filawinder and that helped alot.  Definitely see a Filawinder in my future.

I'm using the vertical set up and I do find that the beads don't feed perfectly.  Right now I only have the throat on since I wanted to keep things simple and run a couple of test colors and materials.  More feed above might help it feed better.  15 seconds of tapping every 10 grams of filament gets it to feed better.  I do think after I do this that I hear some pellets perhaps 'grinding' on the hopper, perhaps between the screw and hopper.  Can you over feed the screw?

I'm thinking about printing something that would attach to the screw on the flat section and as it turns have it cyclically prime a spring driver kicker that would tap the throat.

That's why I asked about over feeding it since that would affect the design- 3-4 whacks per rotation, or just one.

I think the filawinder and the feed knocker will remove a lot of variation and make it hands off.

The only other thing I think I would do if I would get two power sources and move the heater and motor off of the same set-up. I can definitely hear the effect of the heater on the motor.   I don't know what the effect is on the filament and it definitely affect the cost.  The motor doesn't have to be connected to the controller, does it?  It could just be on a separate power supply with a switch?

Between those additions (not even the dual controller)
Either that or finding a 12V motor with an offset/unbalanced shaft and wiring that into the motor circuit to act like a constant buzz.

Distinct, larger taps or a constant buzz- What do you think will work better.

One thing I've found is that just because the extruder is up to temp doesn't mean that the plastic is ready to be extruded.  It takes my extruder about 12 min to get to 180C.  I need to let it settle for about 10 more minutes so that the plastic is melted and the extruder doesn't try to twist itself apart or slip the power coupling.  I stop and start it a few times rather than just turn it on.  That sound Kosher for ABS?

Just out of curiosity, how do filament manufacturers get the filament to wind so perfectly on the spools?  If they are doing it by hand, I understand why filament is so expensive!

I'm having a bit of trouble with my system. It goes for a few minutes, but then pushes back really hard on the motor mount plate. It's actually bending it outward.
I'm afraid I may have installed the thrust bearing wrong. Does anybody have a picture of the inside of their system? Or can you describe a little more the washer you're using to distribute the load?
Thank you!