Strooder, New Filament Extruder Project

[Strooder]

Over the past few months, myself and a team of robotics enginers have been working on a new filament extruder.

The current extruders on the market just didn't cut the mustard in our eyes. We wanted a compact, quality and reliable product that incorported an easy to use UI with presets for all maetrial extrusion, whilst allowing customisable settings to be selected.

We are in the later stages of development, having a number of prototypes under our belts and are nearing completion of the final beta version.

We wanted you guys to see the progress we've been making, and we will be updating any development from here on forth.

What do you think?

Proto4.26.44.jpg

[3dkarma]

This looks to be for creating filament. I see a geared DC motor, a nice big heat sink and what looks to be a heater block. Am I right in saying the cutout forward of the green gears is where the hopper goes?

The design is nice and compact. What I've seen of extruders to date relies on distance and a heat break, rather than having a heat sink, which means they're much larger than your design. Are you going to actively cool it?

I like the fact you're using a heating block. If my assumptions are correct, I think it will allow you much finer control over the heating of the plastic.

I can't see what you're going to use to force material through the machine. Is it custom-machined or a standard off-the-shelf part?

I can't see what sensors you have attached to this (if any). Will you be measuring filament width as it's extruded and fine-tuning heat/pressure to control it?

[KrypTONight]

Do you guys plan on making and selling filament?

[Strooder]

Very nice looking. What 3D Printers will this be able to work on? Do you plan to mass produce these? If so, are you going to raise money via venture capitalists or a crowdfunding campaign?

Thank you!

The filament it produces will work on any 3D printer that accepts 1.75mm filament that is not chipped or uses cartridges such as Cubify. After extensive testing we are planning to launch on Kickstarter but this date is yet to be confirmed

[Strooder]

This looks to be for creating filament. I see a geared DC motor, a nice big heat sink and what looks to be a heater block. Am I right in saying the cutout forward of the green gears is where the hopper goes?

The design is nice and compact. What I've seen of extruders to date relies on distance and a heat break, rather than having a heat sink, which means they're much larger than your design. Are you going to actively cool it?

I like the fact you're using a heating block. If my assumptions are correct, I think it will allow you much finer control over the heating of the plastic.

I can't see what you're going to use to force material through the machine. Is it custom-machined or a standard off-the-shelf part?

I can't see what sensors you have attached to this (if any). Will you be measuring filament width as it's extruded and fine-tuning heat/pressure to control it?

We are trying to keep this as compact as possible without hindering filament quality. We are currently both designs to dertermine if active cooling is a possibibility.
You are correct about the heating block! We have calculated the mass and power needed for the heating block to produce consistent temprature and uniform heating.
As for forcing the material through the machine, it is a shelf part, however we have tested more than 10 different feed screws in order to assure we are using the best one.

The Strooder doesn't have filamnet measurement as a standard, however pre-sets are being fine tuned in house and these will be accessible via the screen on the Strooder!
There will be an option to manually adjust the variables if needed. What's more, you can also make your own pre-sets for the your favourite flavour of filament. To aid this, we are currently creating an online service providing recomended Strooder settings informing you of the best and latest ways to create desried flavours.

The actual sensors included in the Strooder are for temprature, motor speed and saftey sensors.
We have been planning to create accessories such as filament winders, recylers, filament diameter checkers and others but this will depend on the Strooder's success.

I hope this helped

[DrLuigi]

We are trying to keep this as compact as possible without hindering filament quality. We are currently both designs to dertermine if active cooling is a possibibility.
You are correct about the heating block! We have calculated the mass and power needed for the heating block to produce consistent temprature and uniform heating.
As for forcing the material through the machine, it is a shelf part, however we have tested more than 10 different feed screws in order to assure we are using the best one.

The Strooder doesn't have filamnet measurement as a standard, however pre-sets are being fine tuned in house and these will be accessible via the screen on the Strooder!
There will be an option to manually adjust the variables if needed. What's more, you can also make your own pre-sets for the your favourite flavour of filament. To aid this, we are currently creating an online service providing recomended Strooder settings informing you of the best and latest ways to create desried flavours.

The actual sensors included in the Strooder are for temprature, motor speed and saftey sensors.
We have been planning to create accessories such as filament winders, recylers, filament diameter checkers and others but this will depend on the Strooder's success.

I hope this helped

Is this going to opensource when you guys have troubleshooted most of it?

Also did you already try making filament with it so far?

Btw is that plastic PLA or ABS? Probably ABS i guess as it has to be a bit heat resistant.
Kinda have been thinking to make a filament extruder, But i just think at the moment they ask to much space and money for me personaly, As i don't print that much to get profit out of it, but that looks great!

[3dkarma]

Great response. Thank you.

[Strooder]

Is this going to opensource when you guys have troubleshooted most of it?

Also did you already try making filament with it so far?

Btw is that plastic PLA or ABS? Probably ABS i guess as it has to be a bit heat resistant.
Kinda have been thinking to make a filament extruder, But i just think at the moment they ask to much space and money for me personaly, As i don't print that much to get profit out of it, but that looks great!

The project won't be opensource however the software for sharing pre-sets will be!

We have extruded filament but are still fine tuning all the settings to ensure the quality is of the best consitency.

You are correct however we have moved towards a different technique for the heating block which i will update you on in the following post. Hopefully we will be able to create a compact and affordable enough extruder to change you mind?

[DrLuigi]

The project won't be opensource however the software for sharing pre-sets will be!

We have extruded filament but are still fine tuning all the settings to ensure the quality is of the best consitency.

You are correct however we have moved towards a different technique for the heating block which i will update you on in the following post. Hopefully we will be able to create a compact and affordable enough extruder to change you mind?

Yep thats why i am curious about this one, It looks quiet compact and if it has a decent price/quality i might

Are you guys going to open a Kickstarter when its more polished or what are the plans if i may ask?

Also any price you guys have in mind that you are trying to get it sold for? Of course just a rough guess.

[mttr]

what about 3mm, as that going to be added?