[ Closed ] Filament Extruder - Convert pellets to filament (Page 20 of 58)

Here is what I have been working on all weekend- It's working pretty well so far.  I need to fuss with the nozzle some more.  I want to set a larger die size, and use the rollers the stretch it down to the right diameter.  I ordered another 5 hex plugs because I keep messing them up.  Also I think the gear needs teeth, the friction isn't quite consistent enough.   Does anyone have advice on how to make proper gears?

Cool!

You could use the herringbone gears from the Wades extruder files on thingiverse, and scale them as you need. There's parametric versions too, if you have OpenScad.

Ian, a couple questions -

I see you're still using the v1 design. Do you want me to mail you an 8" nipple?
Are you seeing any contamination?
How consistent is the spooled filament?

Gears:

http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:1336

More pictures if you have time, closeups of the winder and filament would be great! What nozzle design did you settle on? Are you using sensing switches?

When I worked in a transmission re manufacturing plant, the drain plug on some honda (or toyotas I dont remember) had a magnet on the end. That way all the metal and crud stopped there. For the extruder, you would just have to clean the magnet every now and then. If it was pressed into the brass nozzle, that would be easier to manage.

Yeah, it's REALLY tough to remove the nozzle. I've not yet been able to do it. It's tougher than an extruder nozzle for a couple reasons:

- The internal pressure is higher.
- The threads are larger in diameter. If you assume the cooked plastic in the threads has the same frictional force, the larger the threads, the more torque needed to remove the fastener, or plug in this case.

Both on the outside, one before the melt zone where the pellets are still solid, one in the melt zone, next to the heater.

I built a filament maker that looks mostly like the picture in post 326 using 2 flanges with 1/4 bolts and stainless spacers to maintain parallelism for thrust bearing alignment. forward flange  faces forward with one standard hardware store black pipe nipple (the kind with the ugly seam running up the inside).The auger centers perfectly and there is no metal contaminants (48 hours continuous so far) . My hopper is a 1-1/4 pvc tee plugged at the end with a pvc reducer (I.D. Reamed a bit) to fit the O.D of the black pipe nipple (tee held against flange with a hose clamp..not shown at time of picture evidenced by some pellets escaping at front bottom).The 2.5 liter pop bottle reservoir is cut to slide over the pvc tee. Running  my PID at 190 with a 1/16 hole (couldnt source#52 drill bit ) and my ABS filament is right on at 1.75 mm with fan blowing on filament at exit. Filament feeds over a brass cartridge that is spaced just down from the centerline of the nozzle and the arc causes the filament to self-coil  in a radius that  looks tight enough to fit into a 5 gallon bucket (that i will try as soon as i find one). Tried the filament tonight and it  prints perfectly in my brothers SD. Parts were right at $60 (already had several PID's and shaft collars) with lots of scrounging and deal shopping off ebay and Amazon .I can make a BOM if anyones wants. Got the pellets from ebay user carlsievering for $3.75 per pound shipped. Very happy with all the posts and fresh ideas here. Thanks!

iowacattails,

The 5gal bucket idea did not work to good for me, let me know if you have better luck.

100c? Most I've seen puts the Curie temperature of Nd2Fe14B at 300-400C.

Preface: I knew nearly nothing of magnets before making this post.

http://www.kjmagnetics.com/blog.asp?p=t … um-magnets

So, it's related to the shape of the magnet, and its material. It looks like there are some grades/shapes that have no loss of magnetism until over 150C, at which point they begin to have permanent loss. Interesting stuff.

http://www.soliforum.com/topic/557/fila … t/page/19/

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