Pellet Extruder
Blog Released.
Introduction Video is on YouTube.
And Files are up on @YouMagine https://www.youmagine.com/designs/universal-pellet-extruder-reprap-3d-printing
Have Fun !
Originally shared by Richard Horne
Universal Pellet Extruder - Adventures in Granular materials - community project #3dprinting reprap
That looks very interesting. Have you made any parts with this? If so, did you get retracts to work satisfactorily?
Looks good. I hope this is the way of the future: overpriced filament is an impediment.
Well, people have made their own filament too. If this approach can’t do good retracts to control stringing, then maybe personal filament extrusion is a possible answer for budget builds. As it is, the cost of usable finished filament is still going down, so how FFF goes in the future is still possibly in flux.
@Shauki ??? I really don’t understand any of that one, sorry. What am I missing from your comment?
Manufacturer’s filament extruder machines do cost you something, you’re paying into the amortized costs.
If the pellets were filament, they were probably cut off of rejected filament at worst. I doubt that would have been sellable filament, maybe out of round or out of diameter.
@Shauki, it’s not a waste of resources whatsoever. There are plenty of thermoplastics out there that aren’t available in filament form yet. Or, there are mixtures (like PC-ABS) that haven’t been discovered, and there’s a huge premium from buying pre-extruded filament. (To put it in perspective, I’ve been able to get 5lbs of ABS pellets for $20, and there’s no way I can find that in filament form at that price)
Moving technology forward (and making that technology available to everyone on top of that) is never a waste of resources O_O I for one got all giddy this morning when I saw this blog post, thinking about all the possibilities in mixing materials and making materials that are not commonly available in the form of filament (the mentioned isomalt for example) available for 3d printing applications. Plus think of the advantages of pellet extruders over filament extruders regarding handling. No more stuff that can knot. Material running out during the print? Just add a couple of cups into the grinder bit (sorry, forgot the correct technical term of that again). I’m very much looking forward to see where we’ll be with that in a year, so big kudos to @Richard_Horne for the work that already went into that!
@Shauki , nearly everything you said is incorrect. Pellets are not cut off filament. It is much, much cheaper to make pellets than it is to make filament (dimensional control matters on the latter, not the former).
This is very interesting. I’ve been curious how packing density of pellets affects the flowrate of extruded… uh…filament
flow equability and size?