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.
]]>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.
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 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.
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.
]]>Thanks!
]]>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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