Filament producing accessory
Posted by Anonymous User
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Re: Filament producing accessory July 29, 2008 01:04PM |
Um... so how are you planning on getting your molten plastic to flow down to where that roller mill you've designed can engage it and make your filament.
Years ago I read about LDPE and HDPE as being "wax-like" polymers. From that I decided that since they were waxlike that when I melted them they'd run a bit like candle wax.
I bought a toaster oven, an over thermometer and some corelle ware to melt my HDPE in and started chopping up HDPE milk jugs.
Well, they melted all right and the melted HDPE also ran. The problem was that it ran in something closer to geological time than real time. If I put a bunch of milk jug slivers in a corelle ware cup after 30-45 minutes the scraps had melted into a puddle at the bottom of the cup. There were still substantial, not huge mind, bubbles in the melt that looked like they might rise to the surface in a few hours, but certainly not in minutes.
The point is that unless you've got better patience than Job, you're going to have a VERY low production rate for your filament ... unless you apply pressure to your melt ... and if you do that you really don't gain anything by not just using a die with a hole in it to extrude your filament.
That's been my experience, anyway.
Years ago I read about LDPE and HDPE as being "wax-like" polymers. From that I decided that since they were waxlike that when I melted them they'd run a bit like candle wax.
I bought a toaster oven, an over thermometer and some corelle ware to melt my HDPE in and started chopping up HDPE milk jugs.
Well, they melted all right and the melted HDPE also ran. The problem was that it ran in something closer to geological time than real time. If I put a bunch of milk jug slivers in a corelle ware cup after 30-45 minutes the scraps had melted into a puddle at the bottom of the cup. There were still substantial, not huge mind, bubbles in the melt that looked like they might rise to the surface in a few hours, but certainly not in minutes.
The point is that unless you've got better patience than Job, you're going to have a VERY low production rate for your filament ... unless you apply pressure to your melt ... and if you do that you really don't gain anything by not just using a die with a hole in it to extrude your filament.
That's been my experience, anyway.
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Re: Filament producing accessory July 29, 2008 06:50PM |
Forrest Higgs Wrote:
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> The problem was that it ran in
> something closer to geological time than real
> time.
LOOOOOL.
white bearded people in front of oldschool toaster ovens that's a nice picture
'sid
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> The problem was that it ran in
> something closer to geological time than real
> time.
LOOOOOL.
white bearded people in front of oldschool toaster ovens that's a nice picture
'sid
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Re: Filament producing accessory July 30, 2008 03:07AM |
Hmm, okay.. maybe I ought to start doing some practical experiments before I think up any more designs 
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/30/2008 03:07AM by bjathr.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/30/2008 03:07AM by bjathr.
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Re: Filament producing accessory July 30, 2008 04:01AM |
If you haven't seen this already, you might want to take a look.
[builders.reprap.org]
The problem I've always had with these charge extruders is that even if you get everything right you don't actually have that much filament from a charge. You need pieces hundreds of meters long to do big prints, otherwise you are going to drive yourself nuts rethreading your extruder every few hours.
[builders.reprap.org]
The problem I've always had with these charge extruders is that even if you get everything right you don't actually have that much filament from a charge. You need pieces hundreds of meters long to do big prints, otherwise you are going to drive yourself nuts rethreading your extruder every few hours.
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