1 Topic by Fred (edited by Fred 2014-07-16 21:11:01)

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Topic: High speed filament pelletizer

Hi

I would like to share with you one 'thing' that i've been working on in the last few days: an high speed  filament pelletizer.
It is easy to manufacture, inexpensive and simple.

It transforms  1 meter of filament back into pellets in ~2 seconds:


(how can i post a live link here?)


It's designed around an 25mm 'wolfcraft' cutter drill,  one 30x30mm - 40mm long square steel tube, some m6 threaded rods, m6 washers and nuts, and 2 bearings (one 5x16x8 and one 10x30x10)
Works great and I think the photos and the videos are self explanatory about  how to build it and use.

I'll use it to recover the filament that is rejected from my small manufacture of 3d filament. > dowire.eu

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2 Reply by Fred (edited by Fred 2014-07-16 19:20:25)

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Re: High speed filament pelletizer

Here are the STL's for the case:

Parts:
- 3D printed case in ABS (3 layers and perimeters and 60% infill)
- 1x 25mm diameter 'wolfcraft' cutter drill ref:3260 000.
- 1x 30x30mm - 40mm long square steel tube.
- 5x 65mm long M6 threaded rods.
- 10x M6 washers.
- 10x M6 nuts,
- 1x 20mm Long M5 bolt.
- 1X M5 nut.
- 1x M5 washer.
- 1x 5x16x8 bearing.
- 1x 10x30x10 bearing

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3 Reply by elmoret

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Re: High speed filament pelletizer

This is really neat (and terrifying).

You can post links/embed pictures once you have 10 posts, its an anti spam feature.

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4 Reply by IanJohnson

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Re: High speed filament pelletizer

If you pinch the filament a little and slow down its feed rate do you get smaller pellets?

5 Reply by Fred

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Re: High speed filament pelletizer

IanJohnson wrote:

If you pinch the filament a little and slow down its feed rate do you get smaller pellets?

I didn't try that yet. Maybe using a power drill with more torque at lower rpms will be possible to adjust the size of the pellets.

The power drill that i used in this tests needed to be relatively high so it would not stall during the feeding.

6 Reply by IanJohnson

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Re: High speed filament pelletizer

Using a separate feed mechanism would probably create a more consistent output than letting the bit pull the filament in, but adding another motor plus power and speed control for it just adds complexity.  I wonder if there might be a way to drive a feed roller from the spinning of the drill.

Then again just restricting the filament with a little friction might be all it takes.  One advantage of having a pelletizer is that you can make pellets that are much smaller than usual, and which will work better with the small size of the Filastruder's screw.

7 Reply by bubbasnow

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Re: High speed filament pelletizer

holy cow that is fast!

8 Reply by cckens

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Re: High speed filament pelletizer

IanJohnson wrote:

Using a separate feed mechanism would probably create a more consistent output than letting the bit pull the filament in, but adding another motor plus power and speed control for it just adds complexity.  I wonder if there might be a way to drive a feed roller from the spinning of the drill.

Then again just restricting the filament with a little friction might be all it takes.  One advantage of having a pelletizer is that you can make pellets that are much smaller than usual, and which will work better with the small size of the Filastruder's screw.

You'd need to design or find some reducer gears to drive down the speed of the input, but it's conceivably possible.

So, some kind of tight drive gear to slow the filament down may be a better solution? A toothed gear wouldn't impact the pellets as they're just going to be re-melted into the next batch. Considering how many filament pieces that I have that are unusable in the 'doodle, this might just be a viable recycling solution.

9 Reply by tankueray

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Re: High speed filament pelletizer

elmoret wrote:

This is really neat (and terrifying).

Agreed.  That's pretty awesome.

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10 Reply by fredaxe

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Re: High speed filament pelletizer

great!!!!!!
nice product fred! .now you shoulded apply a gear motor before the pelletizer.

11 Reply by Fred (edited by Fred 2014-07-17 12:12:18)

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Re: High speed filament pelletizer

The consistency of the pellets is reasonable,
Most do not exceed 3 mm in length, which for our extruder is no problem.

One way to standardize the pellets may pass by reducing the  speed of the drill (increasing torque) and/or by the addition of a second cutter (geared with the first) > see attached image.

I will conduct more tests to see the need for that change.

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12 Reply by grob

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Re: High speed filament pelletizer

Love that you've modeled the pellets there smile

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13 Reply by bobnojio

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Re: High speed filament pelletizer

If you dont mind me asking:  Why?

only use I know of for Pellets is to melt them to make filament.

each heat cycle degrades the pastics

you Already have filament

Whats the end-game for this?

is it basically just to shred and re-extrude the short bits left over at the end of a spool?

14 Reply by elmoret

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Re: High speed filament pelletizer

Reusing short bits, converting filament from one size to another, or to better be able to mix colors.

Heat cycle degradation isn't as bad as most folks think because we run cooler temperatures than the big boy industrial extruders, with nearly zero shear.

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15 Reply by jamesshuang

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Re: High speed filament pelletizer

I have to say, that thing is pretty awesome. However, that wolfcraft bit seems to be incredibly difficult to find in the US -- the only source I've found is on Amazon's UK page. Anyone have any alternatives that might work?

16 Reply by elmoret

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Re: High speed filament pelletizer

A keyseat cutter would probably be suitable:

http://www.mcmaster.com/#standard-milli … rs/=szygcp

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17 Reply by milehigh3dII

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Re: High speed filament pelletizer

If I understand, the cutter pinches it against the square metal piece.  How critical is that gap and how did you set it?  Too far and you'd just dimple the filament and too close and you'll chatter and dull the cutter on the metal?

Cool design.

18 Reply by Weekend Avenger

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Re: High speed filament pelletizer

jamesshuang wrote:

I have to say, that thing is pretty awesome. However, that wolfcraft bit seems to be incredibly difficult to find in the US -- the only source I've found is on Amazon's UK page. Anyone have any alternatives that might work?

4006885326002 is the number to search for on Ebay (it's EAN number). I bought mine for $23.66 US dollars shipped from England.

I just saw nothing else that looked very close to it as a cylindrical cutter that I could buy locally. I doubt it would be much cheaper even if a local supplier was available.

19 Reply by Ggalisky (edited by Ggalisky 2014-08-15 05:55:25)

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Re: High speed filament pelletizer

Anyone know where I can get all the bearing, nuts, and screws?

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20 Reply by elmoret

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Re: High speed filament pelletizer

McMaster.

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21 Reply by Ggalisky

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Re: High speed filament pelletizer

Thanks.

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22 Reply by Ggalisky

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Re: High speed filament pelletizer

Built one smile

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cTB6cUEUJzE

Works great!

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23 Reply by AndersE

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Re: High speed filament pelletizer

I built one too. But with a smaller 2 blade cutter. Also works great and fast as h**l.

24 Reply by CFTechno

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Re: High speed filament pelletizer

Very nice! Thank you for sharing!

Did you do some additional testing like the design with the two cutters?

25 Reply by CFTechno

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Re: High speed filament pelletizer

Based on the above I'm building something similar but using gears and rollers to push the filament into the cutter. As soon as it's working I will post some images. The first version did not work because the filament blocked the cutter but I think I understand why (placed the cutter to low)