New User - Twisted the Auger Pipe and Stripped a Gear (Resolved) (Page 2 of 2)

The stall protection board arrived and my Filastruder is running right now and has been running hands free for almost two hours.  The filament median diameter is about 1.79 mm with min of 1.75 and max of 1.84 mm.  The extrude rate is 6 feet / minute.  I just now raised the temperature from 203 to 207 degrees C and now the diameter is reading about 1.77 mm.  I guess if I increase to 209 degrees C that I will get close to 1.75 mm.

I made a few modifications to my setup as can be seen in the pictures below.  I bought a brass square head pipe plug and drilled a 1.78 mm hole through it and inserted the filter screen locked it in place with the lock washer.  I also mounted the Filastruder on a camera tripod by drilling and threading a 1/4 inch hole in the bottom of the Fillastruder chassis where I can screw in the tripod adapter.  Finally, I added another PTFE tube for the filament to drape over because I read that it helps control the filament diameter by isolating the filament exiting the nozzle from the coiling movements below.  Oh, and I moved the fan farther away from the nozzle to cool off the filament faster.  For 2 hours there was no ramen noodle exiting the nozzle so it looks like it is a good setup.  The tripod puts the nozzle exit about 4 feet above the ground.  The tripod also allows me to quickly put the Filastruder vertical but so far, I think the horizontal orientation is working great.

6 feet per minute is a record. That's a kilogram in 3 hours!

Nice setup, glad to hear you're rolling again.

Before I show the printed result, I want to show the Filastruder settings I am using with my new offset-nozzle and the Eastman PETG.

The extruder height is 57 inches (see picture),  the temperature is set to 212 C, the extruder cooling fan is about 25% overlapped by the insulation (see picture), the current hovers at around 1.6 amps, the extruder nozzle hole was drilled with a 1.78 mm drill bit (9/128 inch bit I think). 

The extruded filament diameter averages 1.75 +- .05 mm.  The most sensitive setting with this new offset-nozzle is the length between the nozzle hole and the Teflon tubing.  Increasing the length increases filament diameter and decreasing the length decreases filament diameter.
The filament temperature and Filastruder height didn't affect filament diameter so much.   

Update ...

The PTFE tube was replace with a 1/8 inch diameter brass rod to prevent snags that cause filament to pile up on top of the exit fan.  It appears that the hot PETG filament sticks to the PTFE but not the brass.  The brass rod is hot glued as shown in the image.  The top of the rod needs to be long enough (and have a clean surface - all hot glue scraped off) for the filament to travel back and forth as it coils up on the ground.  Also the Filastruder height above the ground had to be lowered to 3 feet because the weight of the coiling filament can stretch the exiting filament more easily now that there is no sticking to the exit rod.   A full, 2 liter bottle of PETG filament was extruded in about 5 hours with no problems. 

Update....

I just discovered over the last 3 days that the hole needs to be drilled at the center of the nozzle. When the hole is away from the center then the plastic shears the drilled hole and creates filament that is elliptical shaped.  I discovered this when I measured the diameter of the coiled up filament on the ground at North, West, East, and South locations.  I noticed that North and South were 1.85 mm and East and West were 1.65 mm consistently.  I thought it was because of the way the filament bent over the brass rod at the extruder exit.  Then one time I accidentally twisted the calipers while measuring the filament and discovered the elliptical shape.  Also, the PETG filament had a hazy look when it is supposed to be transparent.  This too is because of the shearing action.  So I went back to the nozzle hole at the center of the nozzle and the elliptical shape is all but gone and the color is transparent.  I don't have the pig tail issue either (which is why I switched to the offset nozzle in the first place) because I now use the brass rod and the PETG filament doesn't stick to it like the Teflon tube.  This has all be a great learning experience and I believe it rivals a post graduate class I started last Winter but that class was way more expensive!

Jinxycob, Thanks for the humor.   For me, North is the front and South is the rear of the coil and the diameter was bigger which is opposite of what you would expect.  However, when I used the new nozzle with the hole in the center, I saw what you described.  I added a second brass rod about 8 inches down and 6 inches toward me (if I am facing and looking at the Filastruder) to reduce the bend variation during coiling at the first brass rod.  This helped give a consistent filament diameter.