Thursday, 23 August 2012

Bowden Extruders are go for launch!


23/08/2012
 
Last night I spent quite some time implementing a Bowden extruder mechanism using parts (ref extruder motor end) (ref nozzle end) I did have to mod the extruder end somewhat as the part was designed for a 16 mm hot end and my current (bought) extruder has a 13mm hot end fitment, so seeing as I am not yet versed in the ways of OpenSCAD I used a stanley knife to whittle down the 15mm hot end plug to a 13mm one and unfortunately due to slicing issues the nozzle end part did not slice correctly (warnings in Pronterface of this problem but I went ahead and built it anyway), as it turned out the Bowden nut hole was missing a corner of the hex nut so again I simply hacksawed one corner off of a nut so that it would fit, both these mods although fiddly (and technically unnecessary as I should have been able to tweak the parts in a CAD package or design my own from scratch) were relatively simple and meant that I could use what would have otherwise been wasted parts.
 
I must start getting my head around OpenSCAD.

Tested the Bowden setup once last night with a very small part (ref belt clamp) and again this morning with another attempt at the first layer of the VAWT bottom part I am still trying to get built.

I discovered during this test that I will need to upgrade my extruder idler to a “Guidler” variety to stop the filament slipping out of the hobbed bolt.

I already have one of these printed in ABS (early ABS test of the new Premium Black ABS I am now using) and again although the quality/ surface finish is not great it should be perfectly functional.

Plan for tonight is to implement the Guidler and attempt a print of the bottom part of the VAWT, this should provide an excellent test of my build volume improvements.

I also took a look at the newly arrived SDSL (SD ram card adaptor for the Sanuinololu set) discovered it uses a “micro” sd card I will source one of these today so I can do some SD print tests at the weekend.

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