Filament homeproduction fails due to lack of good spooling?

Being actually able to recycle prints would be a nice contribution to reduce plastic waste, but the issue of good spooling is still an issue with home production.

3-4 years ago I had a filastruder + filawinder. Which I never got working because the spooling was simply not working.

Imho there needs to be a feedback loop between filament diameter and the spooling unit like it is done in industrial machines.

There were some attempt rigging a digital caliper to provide the measurement but I still not even Filabot has such a feedback loop for sale.

Is there anyone who has recently seen something similar?

... my idea around "filament recycling" was more around much thinner filaments (from 1mm down to 0.05mm) and not used in a FDM process, but "laser assisted direct fusing" - then the exact diameter is not so relevant and some more, totally different, options will be available too

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I recently have built this setup (filastruder+winder) and when I was focusing on the winder, I thought about much of the same things. It is possible to hook a digital caliper up to an Arduino (in fact, mine has a four pin contact pad on the side for just that), but I have never seen them in action with a filament winder. The issue for me was the speed in which filament was being extruded and the placement of the calipers. Too close to the nozzle and they would smoosh the filament. Too far and the feedback system would not be beneficial. I ended up settling with the standard “hoop and laser” method of controlled winding. No diameter detection, but it keeps sync with the extruder.

I sure the first method could be viable with enough forethought. I might have to try that later on.

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Replicator 1 dual, Leadscrew based delta printer
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Winder and Caliper wont work indeed. The tension the caliper would cause is too much.
But I can imagine the hardware from the winder being used if the sensing mechanism is replaced by the caliper, and we add tensioning and a water bath.

[www.youtube.com] this guy tried it but the caliper wasnt suitable

[www.youtube.com] this guy has a pretty advanced setup but i havent figured out if he uses a feedback loop at all.

You can use laser measurement to avoid the problems calipers can cause. Or cool the filament quickly with a water bath after exiting the nozzle so you can have the calipers right after without causing deformation.