“Wellzoom” filament extruder review.

[Timaz]

Last week I came across this “Wellzoom” filament extruder on Taobao: http://item.taobao.com/item.htm?id=36088377887

There was some interest so I contacted the factory owner Mr. Zhang and he was nice enough to bring it over for a demonstration.
I won’t get into the whole license and attribution thing, it’s a well known issue. The device is interesting as a finished product, I’m not endorsing it- just reviewing it.
Photos are here. http://imgur.com/a/JyrzN

The enclosure is ABS plastic, we spoke at some length about the issue of breakage in shipping, the box and foam packaging seems sufficient to the task. Both 110v and adjustable feed are available at options- as is some sort of winding apparatus which I did not see.

The Wellzoom does not solve any of the standing usability issues with filament extruders. Like most, some means to pick up the extruded filament needs to be rigged. As you can see from the images the first meter will have some kinks in it until there is sufficient weight to feed cleanly.

Our first batch of PLA came out slightly undersized and yellowish since it had just been previously used to test wood based filament and some oversize particles remained. After cleaning out the die we tested with ABS, the size was about 1.68 +/-.04 over four meters. There were no voids, blemishes or particles. After trimming off the first rough meter it was not particularly distinguishable, either with the naked eye or caliper from other Chinese filament I typically use.

I used an Up Plus 2 for testing. The Up lacks both a spring loaded idler and adjustable temperature so is notoriously finicky about filament. I was able to print the several meters I had without issue. Likewise my Leapfrog Creatr and Printrbot Simple extruded a meter of the filament without slipping or jamming. Both of those printers have spring loaded idlers and adjustable temperature so are far more forgiving than the Up.

[old man emu]

This is the one we were discussing about a week ago, wasn't it? It sells for about $499?

OME

[Timaz]

This is the one we were discussing about a week ago, wasn't it? It sells for about $499?

Yup, same one. About $450 at the current rate.

[DrLuigi]

Seems to be a pretty nice filament extruder afterall,

I would personaly rather buy this wich is alot more clean, Then a DIY kit, also since the price is pretty good.

I would only like to get some system that also rols it on a spool tbh, i personaly dislike plastic that are lose :P always gets itself between each other.

I guess you also get your money out of it with ease if you would have a company/print alot with 3D printers.

Pellets are like 3-6 euro a kilo, when your typical spool of a kg is 20 euro (28 with shipping for me personaly)
So (28-6=22 , 326 / 22 = 14.8 spools and you have your break even point) after 15 spools you will gain profit over classic spools.
Of course this isnt with calculating the eletricity. But i also calculated it with one of the more (expensive) pellets i have seen, so if you used 3 euro pellets/kilo you would get a break even at about 13 kilos.
You could also of course even sell a few on the internet for like 14 euro if you have spare. talking about doubling your money ^^ (well of course this is again without thinking about how much eletricity this is asking)

I personaly would have bought one, But as i don't print THAT much, i doubt i would get profit out of it,
Also as this type of printing wont be for a long time anymore in my opinion, i dont think i would use it longer then a 2 years,
As when my makerfarm is broken, hopefuly not soon, i guess that SLS printing will become alot more cheaper and that will be the next thing.( rough guess 2-4 years from now )
As the peachy printer just become the cheapest printer, i guess it wont take that long till its more polished and when China mass producer will start creating it for the average person.
Oh well i'm starting to go off topic ^^