Extrusion rate issue (Page 1 of 2)

Can you post pictures of your setup?

-os3dp

After having spent approximately the last 10 hours trying to get the machine to extrude correctly. I managed to at least get feedscrew to pull the filament, although at what feels to be a cost. The filament I'm extruding has been highly inconsistent, alternating between 1.2mm up to 2.3mm. It doesn't seem to matter the amount I adjust the extrusion temp, the motor voltage and amperage, it just doesn't seem to want to operate consistently. I have roughly 2 lbs worth of ABS left before having to process and regrind the failure extrusions, if anyone does have an idea of how to get the extrusion width to be fairly consistent, I'd love to hear how.

I've kept a fairly detailed list of every setting and every slight change I have made. As you mentioned, I've only made one change at a time, if a result was better, I wrote that down and continued from there, reverting those changes back before making another adjustment. Here are the included photos you asked for. The included band for the Heater element didn't fit in the slightest and as it was, it was nearly impossible for me to get it off after I put it on.

I have also tested each change I have made in the Vertical position as well, ended up putting a shelf up and made sure it was level prior securing the filastruder beneath it. I also use a Filawinder as well.

The ABS pellets I have been using is Sabic Cycolac FR15U Virgin ABS

Hmm, would there be any recommendations for going about this issue? I'd hate to waste 60 lbs worth of ABS pellets that was delivered about a half hour ago. Although that being said, would that account for such a low amperage draw from the DC motor though? I had the same issue with the 1 lb sample batch that was provided with the Filastruder.

Oh I know that fairly well. Although I haven't used any recycled resin quite yet with it. I figured a 50/50 blend may be a decent start then refine the mixture from there. Trying higher temps was something I have done, I've gone as far as 220C based on the spec sheet although I haven't pushed any higher in fear of degrading the virgin ABS pellets. If I could find a decent supplier for MG94 with a decent price range, perhaps 50 to 60 lbs for around 130 ish, I'd be willing to take that route and pick up some. When it comes to storing the abs pellets, I'm using a few large air-tight container and running the pellets prior to use through a dehydrator since its usually a humid climate here.

I've managed to get the extrusion rate back to around 10 inches per minute, although the thickness of the filament has still been the issue. It seems to fluctuate between 1mm and 2mm regardless of the speed settings and temperature. That being said though, I've noticed this sestos PID doesn't like to hold a consistent temperature though. Constantly alternates within +- 10 degrees of the current set temp. I've followed the auto calibration guideline and that still hasn't resulted in much success. I may try a bit of kaowool instead of the insulation blanket although wondering if its due to a faulty Type-K Thermocouple or if its just the unit. Although until then, I'm going to take advantage of a large roll of Kapton that came in.

Hmm, well I may try something experimental in that case. I have a bit of thermal paste remaining I need to get rid of, may try putting that under the heater then secure the band on top of it. Who knows, perhaps more consistent temps.

That does sound about right. I've seen conflicting information stating its an MFR of 3.3 to 4.0, I'm still impressed it extrudes as well as it does.

I had taken the advice regarding the heating band and have added it, along with a pipe clamp to the nozzle to prevent the Thermocouple from shifting around in case it was causing the reading issues. That has resolved the issue regarding the temperature fluctuations. Regarding the thermal paste, the only one I do have is a liquid metal compound which I decided against in fear of galvanic corrosion.

Having taken the advice of os3dp, I have cleared the existing pellets I used and have tried switched over to MG94 pellets after purging as much of the other ABS as possible, the extrusion rate is roughly a foot per minute now. The only issue still now is the inconsistency of the pellet feed rate. I've tried both the horizontal and vertical method and see no difference in feed rate. I do believe that may be the issue and the reason why the filament is constantly undergoing those sudden diameter changes. I noticed when its feeding correctly, I see  0.8 to 1.2 amps, yet it would abruptly drop to 0.5 and 0.6 in which I notice thinning of the filament until the feed rate became constant again.

I would make the attempt to print a replacement hopper for both vertical and horizontal, although until I have filament to re-calibrate my printer and print replacement ones, that will have to wait.

I'll give it a shot, any particular recommendations? Other wise I may just salvage the vibration motors from a few busted controllers.

Well, I learned something interesting regarding my Filastruder. Apparently if I have the hopper at a 45 degree angle in the direction of the rotation, it will feed just fine, even though the cut in the barrel is pointing directly up. Not sure if its a defect with the pre-made hopper or something else. Shame the one I purchased had an issue. Could something be off with my barrel or is it most likely the hopper?

That also being said though, if I were to find an auger with a deeper flute, would that possibly solve the issue? I'd think it would create higher pressure within the melting chamber, although I could be mistaken.

Jessenwn,

Maybe you need this wedge in your hopper?  An image is included to illustrate.  The wedge restricts the plastic pellets from regurgitating back into the hopper from the auger to maintain more uniform pressure into the melt chamber.

I've considered that and I'll give it a shot once my other extruder comes in. Usually the first 20 minutes after the preheat period and the 20 minute wait just to make sure the excess in the barrel is heated, it runs just fine. Although it does reach that point to where it suddenly stops feed after that point. I've been told to perhaps check for a clog, or insulate the barrel a bit better, yet that hasn't been much help.

Been trying to figure out some solutions not involving having to go out or ordering a roll. But I may just do that if I can get this thing to work. Outside of that though, if I can't figure it out I may just store it in a bin and consider it a failure until the next version comes out, if there is another version. Other then that, I may just have to bite the bullet and order a hopper online for a vertical setup.

I do apologize if I seem frustrated given this, just having gone at this for nearly 2 weeks now has gotten me kind of annoyed. Its one of those I've could had ordered 40 spools online for the same price as both the filastruder and filawinder while waiting for the VT100 to come in. I was hoping to just have both up and running this way I can keep roughly 4 printers fed.

I'm going to revise and condense a majority of the information through out this thread.

The first issue I experienced after building the filastruder seemed as if it didn't want to pull any of the ABS pellets. I'm referring to the ABS that was provided to purge any debris out of the Auger, barrel, coupler, and extruder nozzle. The moment there was only 50% of that existing bag left, and that the filastruder had been running for nearly 12 hours up to that point, I decided to shut it down and let it cool down. After deciding to make a wall mounted attempt, the feed rate seemed to had returned to normal for a short period before reverting to the same issues it had when horizontal. I took the system back down, dismantled it then replaced the existing wiring I used when assembling it. After reassembling it and running it once more, the slow feed-rate continued to exist.

Over the course of a few days, I had made the attempt to use the rest of the provided abs, where I had gotten inconsistant feed-rates. As mentioned in the first post I made, the amperage pull was the primary indication along with the sudden stop in production of ABS filament. I noticed the moment the feed-rate seemed to decline, the thickness of the ABS slowly grew thinner until it it reached the values I mentioned before.

After having made a few slight modifications to the existing hopper, removing a small amount of material from the sides so the hopper held a bit more secure to the extruder, the feed rate became a bit more constant, this time lasting for up to 20 minutes before having the sudden decline.

Now the information I'm certain I've neglected to mention, but if this helps, I'll include. The temperature I was able to extrude the FR15U at 196.9C before switching over to the MG94 at 193.3C. Average ambient temperature within the room is 32C. Average Humidity has been at 15%. The average weight of material I put into the hopper at any given time is roughly 3/4th a pound of ABS, given that its not explicitly shown to be that amount currently within that photograph. Now for the things I've done to the unit to get it this far.

After the last disassembly, I cleaned up and removed all of the built on ABS inside of both the nozzle and coupler via an acetone bath. Removing the barrel & flange, I verified it was clean and there was no damage. It appeared to be perfectly straight. I checked on the Auger, verifying everything was clean and well lubricated around the bearing. I moved onto the internals at that point, verified that the Hex socket had the 1-2mm of play to verify it wasn't applying the pressure back against the motor. I replaced most of the existing wiring and carefully reassembled the full unit once more following the provided instructions.

After having been given the advice to replace the heater band, I secured it along with the thermocouplier using a pipe clamp. Temperatures began to hold steady within a single C. I verified the cut in the barrel was facing upwards, still verifying the barrel wasn't bent at all before adding the insulation to it once more. I'm looking at picking up replacement Insulation to cover more of the barrel, although for now the current insulation will have to do.

Earlier today, when attempting to run the setup after finding out about the odd little factor regarding how my Hopper was positioned, the average amperage pull was sitting at 0.8A, filament was being extruded consistantly without any issue. After letting it run with the filawinder drawing in the ABS, I went to check in on it via camera, noticed the filawinder was no longer pulling ABS and returned to see that the amperage draw was 0.5 and that it was only extruding approximately an inch per minute. After replacing the filter and resuming extrusion, the extrusion rate remained unchanged. Deciding to see if the angle mattered much, I carefully propped the Filastruder up at a 10% angle, the extrusion rate remained un-changed.

I'll be using the Filawinder with the VT100 once it comes in, I still need to wait for its own winder to show up.

Here are the included photos, if there are anymore that are needed, let me know.

Yes, I realize I don't have the fan plugged in right now. I'm planning on putting the fan on a mount beside of it instead of beneath.