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Topic: Best way to disassemble? (Vertical Hopper Upgrade)

Got my filastruder up and running yesterday in horizontal mode and extruded a little bit of ABS but it coils poorly and would bunch up around the nozzle.  Not pleasant. 
So I attached a ceiling-tall stud to the end of my workbench and mounted my filastruder vertically. 

What is the best way to get it apart so that I can switch out to a vertical hopper?

I'm currently following instructions to change nozzle in the hopes of also removing the coupling and deal with it at that end because the nipple is screwed extremely tightly into the flange and I can't get it off on that end.

Thoughts?

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Re: Best way to disassemble? (Vertical Hopper Upgrade)

The easiest way would be to print one of the 2-piece hoppers on thingiverse which have a top and bottom half that bolt together.  Cut the old one off with a dremel and bolt the new one on, no need for disassembly.  If you want to change back to horizontal, it will be easy to switch hoppers after that.

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Re: Best way to disassemble? (Vertical Hopper Upgrade)

If it is bunching up at the nozzle, the guide is in the wrong place. Otherwise, what Ian said is correct.

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Re: Best way to disassemble? (Vertical Hopper Upgrade)

That's probably for the best.  I got the nozzle off but there's no way I can get that coupling unscrewed without injury (even with gloves and oven mitts). 
Printing your Hopper v2 as we speak. 

Thanks!

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Re: Best way to disassemble? (Vertical Hopper Upgrade)

Tim, I'll adjust that once I get it operational again.  Is there a need to (or a good reason not to) reinforce the wood mounts with a small strip of wood on the top?  The wood piece that the motor is mounted to has flexed back, perhaps a tiny bit more than I would like.

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Re: Best way to disassemble? (Vertical Hopper Upgrade)

That means you assembled it wrong. Do not run it. I'll post more soon.

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Re: Best way to disassemble? (Vertical Hopper Upgrade)

Understood.

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Re: Best way to disassemble? (Vertical Hopper Upgrade)

Here is more information, hopefully it helps:
I have not yet installed the angle brackets as I am waiting for you to send me the silver screws.  Since I never got a response to my last email to you, I apologize if that request was worded ambiguously. 

That said, if I understand the directions correctly, the brackets are to go on the main wood piece, which I understand to be the one with the flanges.  This piece has barely flexed at all. 

So far I have only run the filastruder for about 1.5 hours (yesterday).  When I first turned it on, the barrel/ nipple rotated 1 -2 revolutions and ended about 45 degrees clockwise off the vertical, as viewed from the front of the unit.  This is also when I noticed the motor-wood piece flexing backwards.  I presumed this to be normal as pressure built up inside the barrel.  After the initial flexing, everything stabilized and extrusion began shortly after.

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Re: Best way to disassemble? (Vertical Hopper Upgrade)

A picture would help.  The shaft collar, spacer and thrust bearing should push up against the back flange and prevent any more backward movement before the auger has a chance to push against the motor.  If you didn't have them held against the back flange while you positioned the motor, you might have left enough space for the auger to press the motor shaft before the thrust bearing pressed against the back flange.

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Re: Best way to disassemble? (Vertical Hopper Upgrade)

Images here:  http://imgur.com/LZ2hR0Z,GnH1Fdb,IDVrNTB#0

You are correct.  When I assembled, I was pushing the auger in the other direction, the lock collar was flush against the 'front' flange, and the auger was 1/4" past the barrel/ nipple as per the instructions.  I thought that was the necessary alignment. 
Again you are correct, once it flexed the amount you see, the nylon spacer is now pressed against the back flange.

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Re: Best way to disassemble? (Vertical Hopper Upgrade)

At a computer now, sorry for the delay.

I emailed asking if you needed screws sent to you, you replied yesterday that you did, they're already in the mail (went out yesterday). I didn't see a need to reply, I'm sorry.

raykholo wrote:

Tim, I'll adjust that once I get it operational again.  Is there a need to (or a good reason not to) reinforce the wood mounts with a small strip of wood on the top?  The wood piece that the motor is mounted to has flexed back, perhaps a tiny bit more than I would like.

Do not do this. This will allow thrust load to be transferred to the motor, for which it is not rated. You did not follow steps 21 and 22, which resulted in your uprights being too close together.

21.)    Attach the two angle brackets to the bottom of the main support using silver screws.  Position the main support such that there is a 2-3mm gap between the end of the feedscrew and the interior edge of the socket. See the cutaway view to the right. Note that the motor shaft is not shown in this view for clarity.
22.)    Line up main support on the base, slide feedscrew into coupling, ensuring thrust bearing is compressed, then attach angle brackets to base. The goal is to make sure the boards are far enough apart that the bearing will be in compression before the screw bottoms out on the socket.

The brackets provide nearly no force in terms of keeping the uprights vertical like you are thinking. Properly assembled, all of the thrust load is handled by the bearing and the 4 main bolts. By assembling improperly, the feedscrew and motor became non-coaxial, meaning that there was force pushing the feedscrew against the barrel. This probably caused the barrel rotation you noticed (or the barrel wasn't tight enough to begin with).

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Re: Best way to disassemble? (Vertical Hopper Upgrade)

elmoret wrote:

At a computer now, sorry for the delay.

I emailed asking if you needed screws sent to you, you replied yesterday that you did, they're already in the mail (went out yesterday). I didn't see a need to reply, I'm sorry.

raykholo wrote:

Tim, I'll adjust that once I get it operational again.  Is there a need to (or a good reason not to) reinforce the wood mounts with a small strip of wood on the top?  The wood piece that the motor is mounted to has flexed back, perhaps a tiny bit more than I would like.

Do not do this. This will allow thrust load to be transferred to the motor, for which it is not rated. You did not follow steps 21 and 22, which resulted in your uprights being too close together.

21.)    Attach the two angle brackets to the bottom of the main support using silver screws.  Position the main support such that there is a 2-3mm gap between the end of the feedscrew and the interior edge of the socket. See the cutaway view to the right. Note that the motor shaft is not shown in this view for clarity.
22.)    Line up main support on the base, slide feedscrew into coupling, ensuring thrust bearing is compressed, then attach angle brackets to base. The goal is to make sure the boards are far enough apart that the bearing will be in compression before the screw bottoms out on the socket.

The brackets provide nearly no force in terms of keeping the uprights vertical like you are thinking. Properly assembled, all of the thrust load is handled by the bearing and the 4 main bolts. By assembling improperly, the feedscrew and motor became non-coaxial, meaning that there was force pushing the feedscrew against the barrel. This probably caused the barrel rotation you noticed (or the barrel wasn't tight enough to begin with).


You're right, there was no need to reply, but it occurred to me that my wording could have been ambiguous, so I wanted to be sure.  Thank you!

I just posted a reply to Ian with pictures, but everything said here makes sense now.

I will move the motor upright back to create the proper spacing and screw it in again. 

Thank you for addressing the barrel rotation.  I think it was a combination of both factors - it was tight but clearly could still rotate because it did, but the offset axis of the motor shaft caused the rotation.