You might find that the steel roller you used over constrains the filament, and causes it to kink. If not, awesome!

Hope you're feeling better soon!

Feeling better

Thanks Chris!

Update:  I have made temporary progress tonight.  I didn't feel like drilling and upon looking around decided to stack a 20mm wide extrusion on top of a 40mm wide to my a 60mm tall support instead of using the supplied piece of wood.  Then using right-angle brackets secured a steel V-Wheel in place of the copper rolly.  The fan is also secured in the same bracket manner but on the side.

Here is a pic that does a better job explaining...

I also printed out the extension that would help secure the electronic enclosure.  That took 16 minutes... 

There is nothing wrong with the bottom of the image.  It is a piece of plastic I slipped under to separate it from the extrusion.  It aligned so well I have to tell myself there is nothing wrong there in the image.

I'm OK with the way the thermocouple just goes in deep enough into the nozzle that I'm sure it will stay there.  Just got to be careful it does not dislodge with the way it is set up.

The heater band wires were different enough that I just connected them with quick connectors outside of the enclosure.  Lastly, I installed the BIG RED button at the end of the Filastruder.  This was my own doing because I wanted one and when I had everything wired and powered, I clicked the switch that turned on the motor and fan and SLAMMED the red button with great satisfaction that I had "cut" power...:)

Here is my "temporarily" assembled Filastruder...

It was exhilarating having everything connected and come to life twice when both switched were clicked ON and worked.  I mentioned "temporarily" assembled because as you may have noticed, I have two long pieces of extrusion supporting a V-Wheel.  This may or may not work and in avoiding drilling this evening, I may end up needing to cut those extrusions but this may not be for awhile as the next step is to find a good place to start filastruding and see how this setup behaves.

More pics can be found in the album I'm keeping updated: http://imgur.com/a/GaaBt#0

Glad to be back here posting.  This is still fun and exciting for me.

-Will

Edit...I knew I forgot something.  The heater band and surrounding area were wrapped in Ceramic Insulation, Kapton tape and finally wrapped in something called "DEI 010408 1.375" Cool Tape".

PS, Will: so fancy!  It looks nice with the extruded aluminum base.

-chris

I also have a nice surprise coming my way in a few days that will add a bit of a nice touch to the Filastruder.

Cool! Hope you're feeling better soon!

Sorry for the lack of update folks.  I'm recovering from the flu.  So while I'm not "feeling" up to putting things together, I have plenty of time mentally visualize how things are going to be put together.  I also have a nice surprise coming my way in a few days that will add a bit of a nice touch to the Filastruder.  Whether it will work or not I will share when completed.

Take care and stay healthy folks!

-Will

• Female DC Power adapter - 2.1mm jack to screw terminal block

• In-line power switch for 2.1mm barrel jack

• Wire stripper

• Screw driver for first item on list

• 12V power supply

and went to work connecting all the parts.  This is the first time I'm running the motor, so I have no idea how it behaves or sounds.  I went with the standard RED to + and Black to - on the Female DC Power adapter - 2.1mm jack to screw terminal block, clicked the ON switch and heard a buzz.  I quickly  turned it off.  Since nothing dramatic happened, I turned it back on to see what was going on and saw the motor internals spinning.  That was it, time to test the new info gathered in the previous post.  I decided to flip the wires so RED to - and Black to + (temporary setup) to see if this should be the way.  Clicked the ON switch and the gears in the gearbox started to come ALIVE and very slowly, the auger was spinning in a clockwise direction that would push my imaginary pellets forward.

tl;dr

Motor connector on the red dot side is for GND wire...Just like elmoret (Tim) stated in the post above.

Hopefully more progress tomorrow!

-Will

Red dot is decieving. You won't hurt the motor with incorrect polarity, but we need the motor to rotate CW as viewed from the hot end, so the red dot terminal is GND.

Dang it...I had a 50/50 chance of getting this right on the first try just like the decisions I made with the switch and bending of the thermocouple pins.  I'm three for three on doing the opposite.  I'll be sure to note the rotation of auger when I test the motor tonight and adjust accordingly.  Appreciate the tip

-Will

• Check for desired ON/OFF behavior of switches.  I wanted to push up to turn ON which meant the bottom two pins get the connections.  After I installed, I tested for continuity and found out pushing down turned ON and had to rotate 180 degrees to resolve this issue of mine.

• Thought there was no polarity on the motor but after research and reviewing the actual motor, I saw a red dot that should indicate +12V connection.  (Correct me if I am wrong folks...)

You could have just moved the outside terminal to the other outside terminal - or rotating the switch - whatever's easier.

Red dot is decieving. You won't hurt the motor with incorrect polarity, but we need the motor to rotate CW as viewed from the hot end, so the red dot terminal is GND.

Great documentation Will! This makes me want to build one.

Thanks 2n2r5!   It's been fun putting together all the parts so far...taking pics every now and then gives me an opportunity to slow down and "verify" what I'm doing.

-Will

Tonight I tackled how I was going to handle connecting the motor and cables.  The solution for me were smaller size quick connectors that I pinched slightly with pliers so that it would grip the motor connectors securely and surely enough they do.

Another thing I worked on was taking out the GND power distribution bus.  I was at another local hardware store and found these 4-port Push-In Wire Connectors and was suddenly inspired to have two joined together to have enough ports to handle all the GND connections.  Best of all, I can hide them in the box.  I also purchased a plastic sheet that will eventually go under the enclosure.

Finally the other BIG change was taking out those right-angle corners and replacing them with the last two pairs of right-angle brackets I had.  Prior to this change, the board would give when pushed back and forth unlike the motor board so both boards have two pairs of right-angle brackets now.

Well, that's all for now folks...

-Will

Lessons learned tonight and thoughts:

• Pay attention to how the thermcouple pins bend in order to install them into screws #7 & #8.  You don't want to bend them in a way that covers the screws.

• A simple wire connection from #4 to #1 was all it took to connect the two while the previous attempt had too much going on.

• Check for desired ON/OFF behavior of switches.  I wanted to push up to turn ON which meant the bottom two pins get the connections.  After I installed, I tested for continuity and found out pushing down turned ON and had to rotate 180 degrees to resolve this issue of mine.

• Thought there was no polarity on the motor but after research and reviewing the actual motor, I saw a red dot that should indicate +12V connection.  (Correct me if I am wrong folks...)

• Had this emergency STOP button sitting around doing nothing so I designed a box and cover to hold it that took a little over 1 and a half hours to print (I decided NOT to buy the $6.99 box and 1.99 cover at the store).

• Since I have Aluminum extrusions supporting the Filastruder, I opted for insulated quick connectors.  I do plan to place a sheet of plastic underneath the enclosure for added precaution against shorts, etc...

Next steps:

• Decide how to connect the motor wires.

• Install emergency STOP button so I can figure out how long to cut the +12V wire.

• Wrap the hotend of the Filastruder.

• Figure out how to secure the thermocouple tip on the nozzle.

Here is a look at the progress tonight  (Not highlighted is the wire going from #4 to #1):

As always, more pics can be found in the album I'm keeping updated: http://imgur.com/a/GaaBt#0

Thanks for stopping by.

-Will

Why the power distribution bus? You can put multiple wires under the PID terminals if you like - that's what I do. Those wires are beefy! The heater only draws 3A, so 18 or 20 AWG is fine.

When i started, I looked around and found some extra wire.  As it turns out, it's 16 AWG and one thing lead to another.  Also, I wasn't in the mood to modifying the power supply.  I may go back and revise with 18 or 20 AWG and hopefully it won't feel so crammed.  Thanks again for another helpful tip.