$20 hackable extruder for your artbot or 3D printer

A friend just sent me this:

[www.makezine.com]

At that price I think I will get one and give it a play.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/18/2007 08:59AM by nophead.

Aquarium pump... perfect. That's just what Adrian's support material extruder prototype needs to get rid of that big recycled plastic soda pop bottle.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/18/2007 09:13AM by Forrest Higgs.

In the distant past I used an aquarium pump to make a 400 CD jukebox. I converted it into a vacuum pump by sealing the case with glue and connecting a pipe to the air inlet hole. I had a robotic arm with a suction cup on the end to lift the CDs and place them in the player. I plan to scale this concept down to make a tiny pick and place head for my machine to place surface mount components.

that is pretty cool... i imagine you could use that just fine.

I have two plans: one is to do conventional SMT with a milled PCB, solder paste deposited by robotic syringe instead of using a paste mask, pick and place done semi-manualy using a suction head controlled by a joystick and magnifying camera (my eyesight is not up to placing modern parts these days). Soldering by hot air, or possibly a robotic soldering head.

My second plan is to extrude a plastic layer with depressions in it to match SMT component outlines. Place the components into these upside down using the aforemention pick and place head. Extrude more plastic over the top leaving canals where the tracks should be. Fill the canals with solder paste deposited by a syringe head, or perhaps just spread it over the top and scrape off the excess. Flow the solder with a tiny airgun head which follows the canals, or possibly wave a big airgun over the whole lot. Repeat for more layers of tracks and possibly components.

Only any good for low power low speed but could make quite dense circuits if it works.