1 Topic by jheikkila54

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Topic: Upgrading Filastruder

Hello All,

I just bought a used Filastruder on this forum and have been playing with it and enjoying it. I am not sue if the previous owner even ran it 8 hours, so I am going through that process right now. I have been roaming the forums and have uncovered that my verision (serial number FA61) is the original kickstarter release and that many updates have occured since then. I was curious if there are any parts that I should look at replacing as things start to fail or if I get bored type thing. I think the obvious thing would be eventuallying going to the beta motor. Looking at the v1.0 instructions, it doesnt really state if the nozzle has the intergrated melt filter or not. Anyone know if this is true or not? If it doesn't that may be the first thing I replace and sooner rather then later.

Any help would be appriciated.

2 Reply by richh001

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Re: Upgrading Filastruder

Keep it as it is, when it wears out then upgrade to the Beta motor and a new power supply, possibly by then you might want to extrude plastics that need more heat and you will need a higher voltage power supply........

If you like what it is doing now, then why change it?

3 Reply by jheikkila54

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Re: Upgrading Filastruder

I agree in replacing things as they wear and fail, just looking for what should be done when that time comes. I also like to change things cause I never settle, everything has room for improvment. The moto "If its not broke why fix it" is not something I usually follow, I love to tinker.

4 Reply by TheBaron

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Re: Upgrading Filastruder

If it ain't broke, fix it until it breaks again.

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5 Reply by jheikkila54

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Re: Upgrading Filastruder

TheBaron wrote:

If it ain't broke, fix it until it breaks again.

BINGO!

6 Reply by IanJohnson

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Re: Upgrading Filastruder

Getting a melt filter nozzle now is a good idea.

7 Reply by elmoret

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Re: Upgrading Filastruder

None of the Kickstarter models have a melt filter nozzle, it was created post-kickstarter.

Filastruder - the robust, inexpensive filament extruder
E3Dv6 All Metal Hotend - the premier 3D printing hotend

8 Reply by jheikkila54

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Re: Upgrading Filastruder

Also, does it hurt to insulate the entire auger shaft up to the hopper? Or is it best to just insulate the Nozzle. The inulation that is currently falling apart is pretty ragged, I have a bunch of quality insulation available to me at work.

9 Reply by elmoret

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Re: Upgrading Filastruder

Its a bit experimental, but I've been doing just that for a few months now without issue. You should see a small (~20%) improvement in output speed, but it will probably increase the load on the motor a bit as well as it is lengthening the melt zone.

Filastruder - the robust, inexpensive filament extruder
E3Dv6 All Metal Hotend - the premier 3D printing hotend

10 Reply by jheikkila54

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Re: Upgrading Filastruder

Sounds great, I will have to give that a shot. Thanks for the help!!

11 Reply by dineshwong

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Re: Upgrading Filastruder

richh001 wrote:

Keep it as it is, when it wears out then upgrade to the Beta motor and a new power supply, possibly by then you might want to extrude plastics that need more heat and you will need a higher voltage power supply........

If you like what it is doing now, then why change it?


If i increase the power supply (to say 15v), will it affect the gear motor and the electronics ?

12 Reply by josh.aeauto

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Re: Upgrading Filastruder

If i increase the power supply (to say 15v), will it affect the gear motor and the electronics ?

The motor will turn faster at 15 volts. What I did was keep the original 12v supply and connected it to only the motor, and added a 15v supply to just the PID and heater.

Tim now has a PWM controller for the motor; in theory you should be able to run the motor at 15v with a lower PWM frequency to keep the same RPM but he would have to confirm that.

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13 Reply by knowack

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Re: Upgrading Filastruder

jheikkila54 wrote:
TheBaron wrote:

If it ain't broke, fix it until it breaks again.

BINGO!

If it ain't broke, you don't have enough mods.

14 Reply by dineshwong

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Re: Upgrading Filastruder

The motor will turn faster at 15 volts. What I did was keep the original 12v supply and connected it to only the motor, and added a 15v supply to just the PID and heater.

Tim now has a PWM controller for the motor; in theory you should be able to run the motor at 15v with a lower PWM frequency to keep the same RPM but he would have to confirm that.

Was wondering if we can do something with the stall protect board ? there are 2 small screws to control the voltage and current. Can that be adjusted ?

Am not an electrical person, do you mind sharing the circuit diagram ? And wats the max temp you got with ur 15v psu ?

15 Reply by josh.aeauto (edited by josh.aeauto 2015-06-03 21:38:55)

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Re: Upgrading Filastruder

dineshwong wrote:

And wats the max temp you got with ur 15v psu ?

I was able to get up to about 270 for polycarbonate extrusion with no problem.

I will throw together a schematic when I return to the office tomorrow

Also, the stall protection board and PWM controller are one and the same. Refer to its documentation or maybe Tim can throw in his two cents if he sees this.

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16 Reply by dineshwong

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Re: Upgrading Filastruder

josh.aeauto wrote:
dineshwong wrote:

And wats the max temp you got with ur 15v psu ?

I was able to get up to about 270 for polycarbonate extrusion with no problem.

I will throw together a schematic when I return to the office tomorrow

That would be great, thanks.. thats almost the same goal for me..

17 Reply by elmoret

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Re: Upgrading Filastruder

dineshwong wrote:

The motor will turn faster at 15 volts. What I did was keep the original 12v supply and connected it to only the motor, and added a 15v supply to just the PID and heater.

Tim now has a PWM controller for the motor; in theory you should be able to run the motor at 15v with a lower PWM frequency to keep the same RPM but he would have to confirm that.

Was wondering if we can do something with the stall protect board ? there are 2 small screws to control the voltage and current. Can that be adjusted ?

Am not an electrical person, do you mind sharing the circuit diagram ? And wats the max temp you got with ur 15v psu ?

Sure, you can adjust the voltage and current all you like. The PID controller, heater,and stall protection board are all related for up to 18 volts DC.

The concern with giving the motor more than 12 volts is heat - if you can keep the temperature down, you can increase voltage. You can also reduce the PWM duty cycle by changing the CV adjustment if for some reason you don't want to use the included power supply to continue to power the motor.

The benefit to using 2 supplies is load isolation, so the heater does not change the motor speed when it cycles on/off. The effect this makes on the filament is almost negligible, but if you're going to have the stock power supply on a shelf, might as well. Using the stock power supply also means you only need a 5 amp supply for the heater, instead of ~8 if you wanted to power the heater and the motor at 15 volts.

Filastruder - the robust, inexpensive filament extruder
E3Dv6 All Metal Hotend - the premier 3D printing hotend

18 Reply by dineshwong

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Re: Upgrading Filastruder

The benefit to using 2 supplies is load isolation, so the heater does not change the motor speed when it cycles on/off. The effect this makes on the filament is almost negligible, but if you're going to have the stock power supply on a shelf, might as well. Using the stock power supply also means you only need a 5 amp supply for the heater, instead of ~8 if you wanted to power the heater and the motor at 15 volts.

When we are using 2 power supplies, is it going to be 2 independent circuits ?
If yes, how does it affect the connection b/w heater and stall protect ?

19 Reply by josh.aeauto

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Re: Upgrading Filastruder

dineshwong wrote:

When we are using 2 power supplies, is it going to be 2 independent circuits ?
If yes, how does it affect the connection b/w heater and stall protect ?

Yes, it becomes two separate circuits. The stall protection board is not connected to the heater in any way. Give me a few minutes and I'll put together a schematic for you.

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20 Reply by josh.aeauto (edited by josh.aeauto 2015-06-04 15:15:09)

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Re: Upgrading Filastruder

Here's a schematic that I threw together. It's a little crude, but hopefully it helps a little.

http://soliforum.com/i/?i3Ona4B.jpg

*EDITRealized that the power supplies were backwards. Fixed.
*removed grounds

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21 Reply by elmoret

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Re: Upgrading Filastruder

The above is correct, except that the power supplies don't have grounds.

Filastruder - the robust, inexpensive filament extruder
E3Dv6 All Metal Hotend - the premier 3D printing hotend

22 Reply by josh.aeauto

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Re: Upgrading Filastruder

elmoret wrote:

The above is correct, except that the power supplies don't have grounds.

My bad - that's an old habit from back in college where everything had to have a ground symbol or it was "wrong" haha

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23 Reply by dineshwong

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Re: Upgrading Filastruder

josh.aeauto wrote:

Here's a schematic that I threw together. It's a little crude, but hopefully it helps a little.


*EDITRealized that the power supplies were backwards. Fixed.
*removed grounds


Thanks Josh. think the fan is missing, But i got it.

24 Reply by richh001

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Re: Upgrading Filastruder

If you are going to do all that, you should think about upgrading to the Rich-josh-multi-material-mega-cooling-super nozzle.......as per previous postings.

25 Reply by josh.aeauto

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Re: Upgrading Filastruder

richh001 wrote:

If you are going to do all that, you should think about upgrading to the Rich-josh-multi-material-mega-cooling-super nozzle.......as per previous postings.

That's still working great by the way. I've gone through a couple KG without any tolerance issues.

Just to be clear for those that don't know - Rich helped me come up with a solution for 3mm PC extrusion. I was having problems with tolerance (probably due to a high flow rate on the material I purchased, nonetheless the mod worked great). You shouldn't need it unless you're having a problem extruding 3mm, but I do like how it's easier to change to/from 1.75 and 3mm quicker - I don't have to take off any insulation or deal with re-taping my thermocouple. Just unscrew a small tip and you're done.
Read it here.

-Prusa i3 MK2s
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-Custom built Solidoodle 3 clone w/ E3D v6+ Volcano    -Solidoodle Press w/ E3D Lite6
Filastruder #1577