[ Closed ] Filament Extruder - Convert pellets to filament (Page 17 of 58)

It looks like they are going from the nozzle thru PTFE to spool.

What is that cable before the heat band but after that heatsink, the thermocouple?

Large version of filabot image

The nozzle looks like what I just put together last night- coupler, hex plug, bolt sticking out from the plug with PTFE rod threaded onto it.  I don't feel a need to route the filament with a bowden tube, and it would prevent the use of a switch to regulate the spool uptake.  It's hard to tell, but I don't think his spool is even motorized.  From one of his videos it looks like he relies on the stiffness of the filament to push the spool around.  I would rather have something that puts some tension into the coil.

I have everything I need to build the spooler, but I seem to have fried something on my printer's board so I can't make the printed parts.

I wonder if this is going to shape up something like Solidoodle vs Makerbot.  You can spend $350-$400 to get a cool looking Filabot with a nice case, or you can spend $200 for a Filastruder that does just as well.   Some filabots would come with the grinder, but pellets are cheap enough that you would have to grind a lot of filament to come out ahead of buying pellets.  It would instead be an extra cost you pay for the satisfaction of being more "green".  I wouldn't be too interested in grinding plastic other than what was already printed.

I haven't been able to test my drilled out bolt nozzle.  The coupler was too jammed up with plastic to get it back on so I need to buy another.  I've drilled and tapped the hex plug to M6 and bought some brass M6 bolts (steel is too hard to drill).  This will make it easy to swap out different lengths of nozzle and see if I can find a combination of nozzle length and temperature that will produce higher flow rates at the right diameter.   I also bought a hollow version of the plug as well.

I believe there is a limitation to how many times plastic can be "recycled". So even if you can grind your own that doesn't mean you will have a usable product coming out the other end.

Tim, when you get your Kickstarter up, be sure you dress it up by painting the wood, and color coordinate your printed parts with it.   Also a shot of your stacks of spools will help, and maybe we can send you some shots of the beta units running.  That, combined with the fact that shipping is waiting only on part delivery and not redesign or manufacturing will help make the Filabot look that much more like vaporware. 

You might even be able to get kits going out for $200 before the post Kickstarter Filabot shows up at something like twice the price.  It may not really be $400, but I think he is going to run into some unpleasant realities when it comes to mass producing that design.

This would be super helpful. Ian, the video you did on youtube seems fine, but a couple others would help, too!

Already on it.

Good to hear your on top of things. Make sure we all get to preview the KS listing before it goes live.

During lunch I got a chance to test out the nozzle with the hollow cap.  It didn't really work, and I suspected it wouldn't.  The inside of the cap is flat, so the leading edge of the plastic goes from 12mm to 1.6mm.  Much of the force from the auger is getting push against the face of the cap rather than the opening.

There really does need to be a funnel shape leading up to the aperture so that all of the force gets redirected into it. 

Next I will drill a solid cap all the way through at 6mm with the end of the nozzle screw recessed a little into the hole on the inside.   I might countersink the end of the screw a little so it doesn't go straight from the flat 6mm end of the screw to the opening.  If that seems to be working ok, I'll start drilling successively larger bits into the cap and get as much of a cone leading in to the opening as I can.

i begin to print the Funnel and hopper v2. i use the include gcode ( Hopper v2 80percent.gcode and Hopper v2.gcode)

in the hopper V2 gcode, i see that you use a temperature of 220 degC for the extruder.Before printing, i change it to 195 because i think that 220 is a bit hot for the original solidoodle extruder no ?

apart this modification, the printing is perfect on my S2 ( i would like a copy of your slicer profil.. it's better that mine.. )

i hope that the gcode and the Stl are the same version of each part ?

Tim
I got my kit today and I am very impressed. You have done a great job thinking thru all the details.
I will get this built and working hopefully before the weekend.
Thanks again - really good work

no problem.. i just print hopper v2.gcode for the moment (photo ASAP)... and for a hopper, (no mechanical stress on it), i think that it is correct to use it...  there is at last 5 or 6 layers for the bottom with a pretty narrow hexagonal filling .. (20% seem to be good..), and two 'wall' for the circular part (with a one-third wall space between the two)... seem solid for me..
but you'd better to remove all the .gcode files from the final archive...

The problem is, there can be significant mechanical stress on it:

That's a hopper I printed at 20%. It did fine, until one day I turned it on before getting up to temperature, and the gearmotor tightened the pipe relative to the flange, rotating the pipe 90 degrees. I didn't realize this until the hopper split a little later.

There's actually some significant stress around the auger. The first hopper/nipple I made was open all the way around the auger. This split hoppers within minutes, even printed solid. The pellets on the sides and bottom of the auger had nowhere to expand into, and easily split the hopper. The new design, as you all know, has metal on the bottom and sides (only part of the nipple is cut), so that these stresses are contained. The pellets are free to move upwards, of course.

Done.