Frank just sent us another update on his filament extruder. Some progress has been made, and he’s almost ready for testing. This is shaping up to be one of the more ambitious projects from one of our members and we’re excited to see it in action.
“I am nearing completion of the clutch for the extruder and have completed the adapter to be able to turn the extruder with a variable speed drill. My thoughts on the clutch are to place hose clamps on each side over top where the slots are cut. The tighter the clamps the higher the torque until it slips (that is the theory anyway). If I need more torque applied, I am thinking of a steel can with bolted flanges to tighten down on the plastic coupling. There is a floating steel rod inside (not shown) that maintains the alignment between the aluminum halves. The plastic is a PVC pipe union connector with slots cut so clamps can compress the plastic coupling. Progress has been slower than I hoped due to other projects, but I am getting close to being able to conduct the first trials which I plan to do at the space. “
“The clutch assembly is complete and the extruder end has been drilled for a pellet hopper and a small aluminum hopper added. My plan is for a full-size hopper would set on top of aluminum block. The only thing I need to do to allow an initial test is to make some nozzles to fit in the “T” connection. I am going to try to drill some brass plugs with a 1/16″ drill as a start. 1/16″ (0.0625″) may be close to what is required to get a 1.75 mm (0.069″) figuring it will swell as it comes out the nozzle.”
