FilamentExtruder

Lyman Extruder

Reading: Where it's from: ebay store

Instructions for the general Lyman Extruder kit: pdf mediagoblin.tami

Instructions for the specific hardware that we have: pdf mediagoblin.tami

Datasheet for 2003D PLA pellets of which we have 25kg (in silver bag in cardboard box under main table)



Ian and Ilya have been working on this.

=status=

17.2.14 Ilya and moti managed to break the gearbox. Hint; when you hear a motor grinding down to 0 Hz, and/or it is pulling itself off its frame, maybe its time to turn it off. Moti's suggestion to print a plastic gearbox cover seems like a waste of time to me (jeremy). We can try cnc'ing a metal cover, a pic of the housing here

The PID temp controller works on a 150ohm power resistor for testing using 220V, now connecting controller to heater (130 ohms) also at 220VAC and not 110VAC. Yihiyeh beseder. Thermocouple has been tentatively identified as type K since it gives 1.1mV at 50C which squares with thermocouple tables (remember to subtract the voltage for room temperature since you are probably running the cold junction at room temp).

A switch is being added to allow user to turn device on / off. Physical framework finished except for something to hold the plastic hopper.

To get:

large wood parts: 1x 460mm x 200mm (not particle board) (done- I've cut 220mm x 460)

1x 255mm x 230mm (not particle board)

precision size and square edges 1x 90mm x 90mm square 2x 90mm x 90mm right angle triangles

220V to 110V Ac transformer. there's a 110V 100W band heater. Either I need to replace the heater or get a step down transformer (or be a dick and use a half wave rectifier.)

Jeremy's horrendous hack: use 220V and let the PID controller deal with things. It turns out the TA4 temperature controller has an auto-learn feature by default, it figures out optimal PID values on its on.

Raw material We need pellets of ABS and PLA. Someone who speaks hebrew.... please help. 25 kg PLA pellets obtained

Progress (latest at the top):

29 August (or thereabouts) The 90 degree bracket was mounted to the base

22 Augusts: cut the larger panel (220x460 instead of 200x460). Cut the 90x90 squares and triangles Assembled the 90 degree motor mount bracket. (glued and drilled for screws)





= tips from dan on succesful extruding = Dan ordered a filastruder from the US with a 3mm nozzle.

Dan bought ABS from  'toar plastic materials' in beit hannan, right next to rishon letzion which sell a whole range of different plastics. They have 4 types of ABS, I bought the one with the highest melt flow (Chi Mei 765A http://www.chimeicorp.com/en-us/products/plastics/abs/).

They sell it for 15.3 NIS per Kg and will sell a minimum of a 'sack' - which is 25Kg (its almost twice as expensive as their cheapest ABS at 9 NIS per Kg with half the melt flow - still respectable, but I went for best flow rate as price is negligible at this volume). They have natural, white and black colors. I also have about half a Kg of ABS masterbatch colorant waiting at the post office which I ordered from osprinting (http://store.osprintingllc.com/SearchResults.asp?Cat=1818).

Toar also have polycarbonate and nylon which I would be interested in experimenting with at some point. If you ever need to contact them, the woman to deal with there is Iris - 052.336.3537

Results obtained with ChiMei 737. Seems to be extruding nicely. I (Dan) found that extruding vertically with no impediment to the filament path and it will coil nicely and produce very consistent diameter - good enough for printing - I have printed with it and the results are as good as with my US imported filament.

I found it impossible to get any consistency extruding horizontally or at 45 degrees. I also baked the filament pellets at 80-85c for a 3-4 hours to dry it before extruding and baked the (hand drill) wound spool at similar temp for an hour to stop it from totally de-spooling after winding.

I'm now working on a winder (filawinder) as I understand that this will further improve the consistency of the filament.

Vertical is good, the filament should coil itself up on the floor. I extrude from a height of about 5 feet. if your doing 3mm you should give yourself some height because its quite stiff. it forms coils about 1-2 meter in diameter on the floor and it really is critically that it doesn't hit anything on the way down to the floor (like a wall) for best results. any friction on the filament on the way down can cause inconsistencies.

I use a filastruder which has a fan pointing just 1-2 cm away from the filament as it comes out of the hotend to cool it as it extrudes. Cooling the filament immediately after the nozzle stabilizes it alot. Theres only one hotzone and no cooling on the barrel itself. single feedback using a PID. see www.filastruder.com for more info on the extruder i have.

Forgot to mention. I bake the spooled filament after I have hand spooled a coil on the floor. I found that if I wound it tightly on to a spool it would entirely unwind itself as soon as I let go of the end. I'll try find my way over to Tami in an open day soon. Been meaning to stop by.