Homemade Pellet Extruder for 3d Printer
Introduction: Homemade Pellet Extruder for 3d Printer
This is listed in one of the challenging projects I have ever made. During my normal build I sometimes failed in achieving the final result but in the end, accomplished that but this is the case in which I don't know I failed dozens of times and I think this is what happens when someone starts inventing new. I have been working on this project for the past one and half months and at the start, I thought it would not be a difficult project but it made my life hell during this period. I don't even remember exactly how many times I failed but I don't want to get beat up by those obstacles. Now the origin of this project starts back one year ago when I built 3 in 1 CNC. At that time my brother said what if we made an extruder that was capable of using waste plastic and hereafter one year I am able to make a pellet extruder. Now I don't have enough time to play much with this tool because I am busy supervising construction work but in the upcoming week there are definitely some videos coming out onto the channel page, so don't forget to watch them. Another main reason to build this project is to directly use the old failed printed parts to reuse them. Now one thing I have to mention is that this is definitely a difficult project to make. I also wanted to use the waste plastic bottles for my 3d prints to make planters and other useful items. One thing I definitely wanted to mention is that if you have the right tools like a lathe and milling machine the execution will go a lot smoother and easier. During this build, I always find that lathe would be the essential machine to make these kinds of projects. There are so many phases where I can utilize lathe to avoid multiple parts construction and make them with one single body. In that way, I think I am able to reduce the weight of the extruder to some extent. Now as far as the nozzle is concerned I didn't have the right tools to make a nozzle that's why the size of the hole I able to drill is 1.5 mm which is definitely thick but if you wanted to make planters and other decorative items in which layer height doesn't matter it won't be a big issue. At first, I made a design that I also machined onto a piece of brass but in the end, I have to scrap it and start over from zero.
The main reason for the failure is that I underestimated the pellets and the amount of force they required to extrude. 776
This Instructables didn't have any design because it didn't go the way I was going with design at first and then I just went without any design and failed a few more times and then finally it's done. The main motive is also to tell you the points you need to consider while designing a pellet extruder for your 3d printer. Now I definitely did a couple of tests and found that with the material having a smaller granule size like 1.5-2 mm size there would be no problem in attaining the speed of 50 mm/sec but with the thicker material like 3-4 mm I can't able to go more than 24 mm/sec. In the vase mode with the same bigger material, I am able to manage up to a speed of 30 mm/sec. Now definitely many factors still take place while extrusion like material temp, the temperature of hotend, motor torque, etc. But what I found is that you can't achieve fast speed without adding much weight. Now if I increase the hotend length so that material starts much longer in the heater block and the Design is also a converging type to feed the material then it will definitely improve a bit more. So overall said all the failure which I faced in building this pellet extruder I am going to share that with you. Now if I start making a video over this project including the failure then without a doubt it will definitely cross more than an hour and it also increases the editing time. So I put all that information in these Instructables so that if anyone is interested in building one there are many points he/she needs to consider. The overall weight of this extruder is 1860 gm. It's definitely on the heavier side but my 3 in 1 CNC didn't face any issue of weight during the prints. I knew there are many experts sitting over here so I strongly urge you to share your feedback and tips regarding this extruder. Now without further wasting any more time let's build this bad boy.
Supplies
For projects like these, I think you need to have tools as many as you can for a machine shop. My design was good but the tools I am using are not that great. If you have a better tool than this then I think you can make a much better version than this. 776