DIY Filament Extruder

Hello Fellow Rep Rappers and DIY people.

First of all, i come from Germany, have built my first diy 3d printer successfully and now i want to tackle the task of making my own filament.
Coming by Plastic Pellets, is no problem in my region, because there is even a big plastic trader in my local (small) city.
But, because i have no real experience in metal working stuff, and didnt had someone to teach me such stuff , i seek some advise from more experienced users.
I have read various threads, instructables, watched youtube videos and know the typical filastruder, filabot, lyman extruder and so on.
I organized me good motor, a PWM controller and then began to search for barrel and auger.
I went with [www.instructables.com] this guide as a startingpoint in my adventure.
As it seems the 16mm auger fits good in the brass end tap , but the pipe fitting is too narrow to fit the auger bit....
Should i buy myself a set of tapering stock to cut a winding into a seamless steel barrel? or do i grind the 1/2 inch fitting a little bit? or do i just buy a 3/4 inch pipe?


Maybe some of you encountered similar problems.
Any advice of how to do it, or not to do it is appreciated

If i come home later, i will share some photos.

... where in Germany are you located?

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Viktor
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Aufruf zum Projekt "Müll-freie Meere" - [reprap.org] -- Deutsche Facebook-Gruppe - [www.facebook.com]

Call for the project "garbage-free seas" - [reprap.org]

I live in the "Sauerland" in a small place called Lüdenscheid , but i work in Dortmund.
Even though i have two left hands i have fun tinkering with such stuff

... I had the development group of the company Color-plastic in my city (then in Hessen, now they changed to a neighbour city in Bayern) - and had some exchange with the group leader for making filaments, dying and more.

It's relative easy to make filament, but it's really hard to maintain a consistent diameter, usefull for 3D-printing with the common extruders.

My idea is to use filament with really fine diameters of 0.3mm to 0.05mm (e.g. fishing line or filament used for making tooth-brushes) and melt/fuse the tip with a laser while it's touching the surface

This type of 'filament' ist easy to source as prefabbed (but it's easier to DIY than thicker filaments too) and it can have varying diameters without influencing the extrusion, as with the FDM/FFF process ...

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Viktor
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Aufruf zum Projekt "Müll-freie Meere" - [reprap.org] -- Deutsche Facebook-Gruppe - [www.facebook.com]

Call for the project "garbage-free seas" - [reprap.org]

As i have read through , the normal 1,75mm filament i would use for FDM Printers can be created with an "acceptable" tolerance.
If i can achieve similar results , like some people have with the filastruder, that would be more than enough for me.
tolerances within +- 0,1mm seem okay to me. Sure, other people have other standards.
I am not a metalworker, neither do i have a lot of metal working machines or even access to such machines (I am an IT guy , exploring the world of building stuff). But i liked the idea of using prefabbed of the shelf items for this kind of low cost filament extruders.
Like i said, with that little time i have, i still love tinkering. And after using up 3 to 4 KG of plastic, the price for a selfmade filament extruder is returned. (failures not included ).

One idea that i had, was to buy a steel barrel used for hydraulics. they dont have a welding line inside and can be purchased with a specific inner diameter and outer diameter.
But the problem i would face here, is the threads outside of the barrel. I have no thread cutter... and buying some of these ( Schneidkluppen in German) would be an investment into tools i might never use again ;P

Just some thoughts from me. Like i said, i am not quite sure how to tackle this task.

Quote
makerbro88
s it seems the 16mm auger fits good in the brass end tap , but the pipe fitting is too narrow to fit the auger bit....
Should i buy myself a set of tapering stock to cut a winding into a seamless steel barrel? or do i grind the 1/2 inch fitting a little bit? or do i just buy a 3/4 inch pipe?

Maybe some of you encountered similar problems.
Any advice of how to do it, or not to do it is appreciated .

Had the same problems while building a lyman extruder decided to go 3/4 because I thought that that would be easier then grinding the 1/2 inch. Looking back the grinding might have been a beter (easier) plan

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Looking back the grinding might have been a beter (easier) plan

what do you mean by that? Would it be a bad idea to have an 16 mm auger inside a 3/4" pipe because it leaves some room between the auger and the wall?

Thought about this aswell. Then i will have to change the 1/2" stuff at my local hardware store

It could have been easier because I changed the 16mm auger into 19mm for the 3/4 and then later also tested the 20mm auger. Because of that I also had to change the coupler. Because of the larger auger I need more motor power so changed that also etc, never ending story working on it for almost 18 months now...

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/23/2016 12:32PM by Frans@France.

Haha , seems like a lot of trouble you went through.
As for the motor, in the beginning i found it really hard to find the specifications for a good motor
Now i got one from Pollin which is kinda like a wiper motor, but at least i got some information on the values the motor has.
Like maximum Torque of 18Nm and ...the downside, power consumption of max. 27 A at 12V. But it's at least a cheap motor for 10 bucks, added the 5 to 7 euros for a PWM from China
AAND a good Power Supply (Salvaged from a computer ) i think i still run on the cheap side.

Maybe this side is useful for other people aswell.
I found it somewhere online and i want to share it with you guys.
[www.aniwaa.com]