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Any progress on the wood screw extruder?

Posted by Miertam 
Any progress on the wood screw extruder?
September 05, 2014 10:43PM
As I was fighting with my current rather badly designed extruder I was thinking of ways to improve it. Hitting it with a hammer a few million times was at the top of my list. But right below that was increasing the amount of surface of the hobbed bolt/drive gear touching the filament. I thought of a wood screw right away and then dug around and found out that someone else had already thought of it. [reprap.org]. But the wiki entry is just a stub with no real details or plans. Does anyone know anything about the state of this project?

Thanks Mike
Re: Any progress on the wood screw extruder?
September 06, 2014 12:23AM
Well I heard a similar thing from berrybot but i dont see it working with a normal woodscrew. thats just to sharp and would need a specialized part. the hobbed bolt mk 7 or 8 you can buy normally and there is no shortage of printable housings on thingyverse. or you buy one of these metal clamps similar to what the printrbot is using.

on the other hand if you want to develop a new idea. i have something in the back of my mind with 2 hobbed bolts for maximum surface on 1 motor. leave me a pm if you´re interested
Re: Any progress on the wood screw extruder?
September 06, 2014 01:55PM
I don't think it has been made, but here is an interesting design. Screw/ Worm Drive Filament Extruder


[scara3dprinter.wordpress.com]
Re: Any progress on the wood screw extruder?
September 06, 2014 04:58PM
I did some experiments with it and there are some problems.
Trying to slide the filament past whatever drives it is a challenge. The other issue I ran into is that it twists the filament as it spins. While not an issue between the extruder and hot end really, it is a problem for spools, where it causes a rats nest.

Frankly, after lots of testing, wild contraptions, and having nothing but problems, I've come to the conclusion that geared extruders stink. The geared stepper motor setups are just a lot easier to deal with, no worries about gears failing, no noise... It's just dead simple, leaving all hassles confined to finding a good hobb. Find the right hobb and all is well. Geared steppers aren't cheap, but considering how much hassle I was having with extruders, it was worth every penny.
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