1 Topic by natester (edited by natester 2017-06-25 06:52:16)

  • natester
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Topic: Nub with a diy-filastruder.... trying to extrude PETG

Hi Guys,

I've built my own DIY extruder out of an old mobility scooter motor, a pwm driver and a pid controller.

http://www.soliforum.com/misc.php?action=pun_attachment&item=10545

I got one great (but short) segment of filament at around 1.53mm +/- .03mm, but since that short piece of filament (with which I made this benchy), I haven't been able to get consistency.

http://www.soliforum.com/misc.php?action=pun_attachment&item=10544

Diameter varies between 1.3 and 2.1 mm now... and I'm not sure why. I do see a lot more bubbles, which makes me think I need to dry out the pellets a bit more.

Also, I want to make this whole thing smaller if anyone has advice on getting a good gearbox/motor and possibly a motor driver that can give constant rpm w/ some encoder input.

Oh, and I have 55lbs of Eastar GN071... which is waaaay too much for me to ever use, if anybody wants some...

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2 Reply by genesat1

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Re: Nub with a diy-filastruder.... trying to extrude PETG

PETG needs to be very dry - if you're seeing air bubbles you need to do more drying.  To make it larger you would need to lower your temperature, increase nozzle size, or reduce the amount of filament hanging between your extruder and your winder.  Lower your temperature first, and see what kind of size improvement you get from that.  The lower the temperature the more consistent things are most of the time too (there are exceptions - polypropylene can get more inconsistent at lower temperatures - for that only drilling out a larger nozzle size worked for me.)

3 Reply by natester

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Re: Nub with a diy-filastruder.... trying to extrude PETG

Thanks for the advice genesat1!  I'll try drying it out more.

I think I need a better gearbox and a filter. The motor was drawing 10a... Until it killed my pwm driver. I'm going to try to 3d print a planetary gearbox.

I am also getting a lot of particles in my filament. Is anyone using a fine filter from a sink (or similar)?