Filament Extruder inconclusiveness.

Hi!
I am Uwe!
For art-Purpose I built this polyethylene extruder:

[www.youtube.com] (watch in HD)

Someone asked me: Why don't you put ABS or PLA inside to produce filament for 3D printers?
First of all I need to adjust the shaping unit to form a round string. After that we will see.
Now I am not shure what to do.. do you think there is demand for a machine like this?

Yours

Uwe

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/05/2013 01:14PM by Uwe_S.

I would be interested.

Roy

Hi Uwe,

There's a few similar projects under way to try and produce filament from granules in the home. Some are starting to yield results, and in fact I am building a Lyman's extruder myself at the moment.

I think any information you could share - including both what worked and what didn't - would be appreciated.

It looks like your machine produces a band where precision is not really an issue - with filament extrusion the tolerances are quite exact - but any insight into what it was like to build the machine will no doubt be interesting to hear!

Cheers,
Gary

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garyhodgson.com/reprap | reprap.development-tracker.info | thingtracker.net

I've made one here:

[www.soliforum.com]

And I've made the whole thing available in kit form. Email me - filastruder@gmail.com.

Hello guys. I can see that are people with a lot of mechanical experience. I got an idea. What about making a hight temperature nozzle from an used old benzine engine spark plug. It is cheep, sustain very hight temperatures,
mechanical stress, vibrations etc. It may hold easily 550 C for a very long time.It has a cooper or a metal inner rod which can be drilled to make a nozzle. It is somebody wiling to try and post the results?
Best regards,
Octavian

I see that there is a lot of extruder-work in progress. Did you tried PLA pellets yet?
Why there is no one who won the 40k$ so far?

Yours Uwe

@greenman100 - I've been following that forum thread with great interest - it seems like you're having good results - well done!

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garyhodgson.com/reprap | reprap.development-tracker.info | thingtracker.net

Uwe_S Wrote:
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> I see that there is a lot of extruder-work in
> progress. Did you tried PLA pellets yet?
> Why there is no one who won the 40k$ so far?

Thats a good question. Currently there seem to be 21 registrations, how that corresponds to actual submitted entries I don't know. Unfortunately the Desktop Factory Competition seems to be another that launches with a splash of publicity then disappears into a black hole. There is no indication what entries have been made, what assessments have been made, nor any sign that the organizers are still running the competition.

The rules seem to imply that the organizers will build and validate entries as they are submitted, and the first "valid entry" wins the prize. It is unclear to me whether the entry is just the plans or if a working prototype needs to be sent. Perhaps the entrants get more feedback than the general public.

Hugh Lyman seems to have a viable entry, but as that was resubmitted over 2 months ago and there has been no announcement of a winner I conclude that no entries have so far been deemed valid.

I think a prototype is necessary.
All the machines I found so far may work but are not suitable to sell them as a "professional" kit. I guess they want a kit or machine like this. The Kauffman foundation (where the money comes from) wants to support entrepreneurship and they may are not interested in a handcrafted machines.
When calculating with 400 itmes the designer should feel free to use job order parts and stuff.
As ABS AND PLA is required none of the machines I found tried PLA pellets. The same with colored masterbatches.

Yours

Uwe

Uwe_S Wrote:
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> As ABS AND PLA is required none of the machines I
> found tried PLA pellets. The same with colored
> masterbatches.

The rules say "ABS or PLA" which is ambiguous.

AFAIK simply adding colored pellets into a white mix is sufficient to provide coloring, the rules don't say the output has to have any consistent color, I guess the assumption is that it does. Presumably, to get consistent color you need to carefully control amount of white and color and mix it inside the extruder. Again, rules don't really say whether that must be done automatically or can be done by the operator.

But someone needs to try it!
I will order some ABS pellets and masterbatches samples to put them into my machine soon. We will see what happens.

Uwe

I started a blog for documentation purpose:

[stringmate.wordpress.com]

I thought STRINGMATE is a good name for the machine.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/11/2013 04:10PM by Uwe_S.

Hi!
Today I got the new rolls to build a new shaping unit.
I hope it will work!

You should be fine without rollers for shaping. It will come out of the nozzle round, at a higher diameter than the nozzle opening due to die swell. The actual diameter will depend on the speed of the auger, the temperature, and how hard it is pulled and stretched out of the nozzle. You can run it cool enough that the plastic is too firm to be shaped or altered within 10-15mm of the nozzle opening if there is a fan blowing on it. You should still have gripping rollers to apply a constant tension to it You can leave the auger speed and temperature constant, and then adjust the speed of the rollers to achieve the diameter you want.

That is true if you work with ABS. But if you use PLA or PE it is still very flexible after leaving the nozzle. Tension rolls without a groove might queeze the filament.
Without rolls at all it just works if you dont want to get the produced filament winded on a spool. This is the reason why I want to try those rolls.

Uwe_S Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------.
> Without rolls at all it just works if you dont
> want to get the produced filament winded on a
> spool. This is the reason why I want to try those
> rolls.


I did not use any rollers on the output, I let it pile on the floor, then spool it up with a drill:




Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/12/2013 01:12PM by greenman100.

Nice work!
But I am planning to spool the filament automatically right after extrusion.

For a haul-off or pinch rollers, how about using those tiny drum sanding attachments for mini drills, they are about 10-12 mm in diameter and dead cheap
Like these:
[www.anvil-trading.com]

I've come to the conclusion that haul off rollers need to be powered by stepper motor. The slightest variation in speed will affect the diameter of the filament. If a DC motor is used, it should have a high enough gear ratio to the rollers that slight variations in rpm will have a small effect at the rollers.

Way back when, LP record changers were plagued by inconstant motor speed. One method employed was to use a very large mass, once up to speed it had a tendency to overcome slight variations in drive motor speed.
The platter of the turntable was extremely heavy, storing energy and producing resistant at the same time. Simple, not high tech or expensive.
I am very interested in the implementation of this technology, in my area of North Florida. This area desperately needs economic opportunity (jobs). I have the facilities and the capital to move forward.

Thanks!
Walter

Hey guys I saw the band extruder video... Very cool...

Can any one tell what they actually did with the band? Where can it be actually used?

And I am trying to find out if there is a way to extrude fast like the extrusion bot... any ideas on how to extrude fast with maintaining the accuracy of the filament.... Thanks... Cheers