1 Topic by laird

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Topic: Report from Orlando Mini Maker Faire

I demoed the Filastruder at the Orlando Mini Maker Faire yesterday, and it was a huge hit. Hundreds of people saw it running, and I had extended conversations with people into 3D printing, people new to 3D printing, and even a university professor and ha group of his students, who use 3D printing in his research. Given that the Maker Faire was held in the Orlando Science Center, there was strong educational contingent, and tons of kids.

The "one sentence version" that seemed to work best with people was that the Filastruder let you buy a $7 bag of raw plastic instead of a $45 spool of filament. Many people were also excited by the idea of recycling old prints or using chopped up plastic bottles, etc. And a few people loved being able to experiment with materials, colerants, etc., to make unique new combinations.

The extruder ran great from 10 AM to 5 PM, extruding 3mm filament like a champ. The main trick was to clip it off every two feet, so that the filament didn't hit the carpeted floor.

One thing that I did that made a huge difference (IMO) is that after seeing a lot of 'weaving' Friday after I set it up, I made a support structure from PVC to hold the 'struder up at a 45 degree angle.

2 Reply by elmoret

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Re: Report from Orlando Mini Maker Faire

Cool! We're set to be at the Atlanta Mini Maker Faire in late October, so this is great feedback. We plan to have filament samples to hand out. Is there anything else you think would be helpful?

Do you have any pictures from the Faire?

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

3 Reply by laird

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Re: Report from Orlando Mini Maker Faire

I'm collecting pictures from the various devices, and will post shortly.

I posted a review of the Filastruder at http://kickrev.blogspot.com/2013/10/fil … nsive.html .

I gave out tons of filament samples. Basically, every minute or so I clipped off the filament at perhaps 8 inches from the hot end, cut it into pieces a few inches long, and handed them to whoever I was talking to. Pretty much every Maker that had a 3D printer came by to look at the Filastruder.

I also printed the Filastruder filament in the 3Doodler. So if you look at the 3Doodler review, all of the variations on green used in the 'bug' are from the Filastruder. It worked great, even better than spooled filament, because the 3Doodler really wants filament to be straight to feed through the pen, and spooled filament is curved and tended to stick in the pen.

4 Reply by laird (edited by laird 2013-10-14 06:00:25)

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Re: Report from Orlando Mini Maker Faire

Attached is a photo of the device that I constructed out of PVC that holds the FilaStruder at a 45 degree angle. At least for me, it's resulted in much more consistent extrusion when demoing the unit.

http://www.soliforum.com/misc.php?action=pun_attachment&item=3659&download=0

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5 Reply by laird

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Re: Report from Orlando Mini Maker Faire

The support is made from 1/2" diameter PVC. I bought one tube, and chopped it up with an oscillating tool.

- 3 short cross-pieces (about 6 inches) that run across the width of the Filastruder
- 2 very short pieces (about 2 inches) at the front of the filastruder
- 4 long pieces (about a foot) that run along the sides and up the back. The exact length will depend on the length of your Filastruder.
- 6 T-joints
- 2 L-joints (or T-joints, if that's what you have)

To assemble it, I started with the front. I started with the very short pieces, each with an L-joint and a T-joint, so the open ends face the same way. I put two short pieces into one, so it looks like an F, then pushed the other very short piece (and joints) so that it forms a rectangle. This is what will fit under the front of the Filastruder.

Then I put two long pieces into the open end of the T-joints, so they run to the back of the Filastruder. Then I put two T-joints onto the ends, with the end of the T pointing up.

Then I assembled the two other long pieces, the short piece, and the two T-joints into a very tall H. The back of the Filastruder will rest on the cross-bar of the H.

I finished the frame by pushing the bottom of the H into T-joints.

Then wiggle the structure around so that it lies square on the table, and hammer the assembly together so that the joints lock in place.

Put a tight loop of blue painter's tape around the two short pieces at the front. Then put the Filastruder's front on the tape, between the two front cross pieces. The weight of the Filastruder should be on the tape between the front cross-pieces, holding the front firmly on the table.

I had to move the fan up a little bit so that it cleared the front cross-piece. Then adjust the arms so that the filament comes straight out the nozzle and down.

From there, operate the Filastruder normally.

To pack the support for moving, pull the "H" at the back from the T-joints at the bottom. Then you can pack the two "U" shapes around the Filastruder.