1 Topic by MyMultiExtruder

  • MyMultiExtruder
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Topic: Hello, just diving in!

Hello!

I am a proud and excited owner of a RoVa3D with 5 nozzles!  In the last month and a bit, I have become brand new at the following:

-Owning a 3D printer with five nozzles
-Being given experimental potato starch pellets to create an extruding/printing mix
-Designing children's educational toys for 3D printing
-Blogging
-Youtube channel
-Owning (delivered two days ago) a Filastruder kit and Filawinder kit

Phew!!

A little about me: I bite off a lot more than I can chew at once, and tackle very slowly and detailed with all my might smile I am nothing if not passionate about my interests. I'm very shy, but act the opposite so you'd never know it. I am an electronics technician of the basic variety, and a very proud wife and mom of two young ones.

RoVa3D with five nozzles (first nozzle down, four to go)
Slic3r and Pronterface
Filastruder and Filawinder - soon enough
Current hurdles - humidity, offsets

2 Reply by heartless

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Re: Hello, just diving in!

Hi, and Welcome!

5 nozzles, huh? interesting... I would like to hear more about that.

and it is nice to see another female around here! big_smile

SD4 #1 & #2 - Lawsy carriages, E3D v6, Rumba controller board, mirror bed plate, X motor fan, upgraded PSU & Mica bed heater
SD4 #3 - in the works ~ Folgertech FT-5, rev 1
Printit Industries Beta Tester - Horizon H1

3 Reply by MyMultiExtruder

  • MyMultiExtruder
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Re: Hello, just diving in!

Thanks!

Turns out I was wrong about my filastruder and Filawinder kits. They aren't the packages that were delivered. The packages were my pellets and colorants, so just as important!

I'm super interested in the designing aspect of multiple nozzles. Being able to have a few colors going, along with a flexible filament, and a support filament! I hope, that once I really get my bearings and get comfortable with what it can do, the possibilities should be pretty amazing!

Right now, I'm only just at the starting stages. If you think calibrating and tweaking one nozzle with the bed can take ages, it's crazy fun with five! I had one nozzle scooping off the prints at one point, lol. At the moment, I'm learning how to calculate the offsets of each nozzle, and I'll be learning to get them as close to perfect as I possibly can. I am a painfully detailed perfectionist, and I'm finding my tweaking and test prints are more fun than anything else so far.

RoVa3D with five nozzles (first nozzle down, four to go)
Slic3r and Pronterface
Filastruder and Filawinder - soon enough
Current hurdles - humidity, offsets

4 Reply by heartless

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Re: Hello, just diving in!

I can just imagine the fun of trying to calibrate 5 extruders! LOL

I have a simple, single extruder Solidoodle 4 that has been "slightly" modified - to the point where it really isn't an SD4 anymore... wink

The quest for perfection never really ends, tho... I hope you know that. big_smile there is always something to modify, tweak, or otherwise tinker with.

SD4 #1 & #2 - Lawsy carriages, E3D v6, Rumba controller board, mirror bed plate, X motor fan, upgraded PSU & Mica bed heater
SD4 #3 - in the works ~ Folgertech FT-5, rev 1
Printit Industries Beta Tester - Horizon H1

5 Reply by IanJohnson

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Re: Hello, just diving in!

I'm curious about the potato starch pellets.  Is it the usual powder mixed with PLA?  Definitely get that up and running on consistently before you throw colorant in.

6 Reply by MyMultiExtruder

  • MyMultiExtruder
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Re: Hello, just diving in!

The pellets are already in pellet form, they have a melting temperature (not sure what it is just yet), and they can be injection molded. they behave very similar to plastic, and are currently being used to make very bio-degradable throwaway parts like golf tees, eating utensils and plates, or coasters, etc.

The manufacturer told me they add various percentages of PLA to strengthen it, or extend its biodegrading time. I have a cat genie machine to use the pellets in, but they are a bit too weak for that purpose with the washes they go through. So I'll be adding PLA to get them to the desired life of use I want. I'll also be testing them in the filastruder to see at which point they become suitable for printing. Whatever isn't suitable goes back into pellets for my cat genie smile Pretty perfect, if it all goes according to plan!

I know they have used similar pellets and turned them into filament for 3D printing before, but it was done overseas by a high school, and the prints came out feeling very soft to the touch. They said it was difficult to work with. I'm looking forward to seeing where it takes me smile

I hope to color code it, so I can observe how it does in the genie for breaking down. If the weaker ones are certain colors, and the stronger ones are other colors, I can monitor them over time in the same conditions in the machine. Hopefully the color takes well. I'm thinking since these pellets are already used in injection molding with PLA to make products, they must already be taking color quite well. I can ask the manufacturer for tips if I'm having trouble.

I want a way to see how well the PLA is being mixed with the potato starch pellets. I'm thinking of first adding the color to the PLA strictly, that way I'm adding color PLA to non color potato starch pellets, and I would get an accurate view on how well they mixed. do you think that would be a good way to go about it?

RoVa3D with five nozzles (first nozzle down, four to go)
Slic3r and Pronterface
Filastruder and Filawinder - soon enough
Current hurdles - humidity, offsets

7 Reply by MyMultiExtruder

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Re: Hello, just diving in!

heartless wrote:

The quest for perfection never really ends, tho... I hope you know that. big_smile there is always something to modify, tweak, or otherwise tinker with.

That is exactly why I got this machine. I could calibrate all day long, and love the Hell out of it. I think I have the right personality for it.

RoVa3D with five nozzles (first nozzle down, four to go)
Slic3r and Pronterface
Filastruder and Filawinder - soon enough
Current hurdles - humidity, offsets

8 Reply by pheube

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Re: Hello, just diving in!

Im with heartless... tackling two is enough for me! Kind of like one child was enough for me instead of 8! You can still modify, tweak, or otherwise tinker with a child its just more permanent.

9 Reply by LorettaLSchmitz

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Re: Hello, just diving in!

Hello everyone....