Plastic Pellets?

[3dm]

Hi, @DT,

I think the requirements for a stand-alone filament maker vs. an on-machine pellet extruder a little bit different.

Firstly, a stand-alone machine needs to go as fast as it can, and that forces some engineering decisions, like size and power, that don't need to happen in an on-machine extruder. So our implementation will be smaller and more efficient,and may be even less expensive (although we're not yet sure about that).

Secondly, an on-machine extruder doesn't need to make any special accommodations to spooling. This is the bane of stand-alone machines - getting a uniform filament is very difficult without auto-spooling. You also need to cool the filament as it comes out of the nozzle, but not too much, etc. All these considerations disappear in an on-machine scenario.

Again, I'm hoping this makes our solution less expensive and easier to use. If we can make it work that way, would that makes sense?

Ben

[DangerousThing]

Ben,

One of the major problems, as I see it, is that doing this at the printer requires doing it once per head (unless I'm missing something). For many of my projects I will be needing all 4 heads.

Will you be able to handle the extra mass of four pellet extruders that are moving in odd ways? I'm not trying to discourage the idea, but I can see a lot of problems.

A dedicated filament extruder costs under $800 for the fully completed ExtrusionBot or under $300 for the kit Filabot. These are easier to set up under ideal conditions such that the filament is spooled and comes out at a constant rate. They seem to be able to make about a kg a day according to their advertising, but I haven't looked much yet at real user testimony.