Doh, damn gmail again. forgot to copy the list...<div><br></div><div>See message below:</div><div><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Thu, Feb 10, 2011 at 2:33 PM, Paul & Andrea Mumby <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:themumbys@gmail.com">themumbys@gmail.com</a>></span> wrote:<br>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex;">Well you will need the mechanical components for an extruder (several designs available, most are 3D Printable). And you will need a hot end. Also you will need an extruder controller, (something to regulate the temperature of the hot end, and drive the stepper motor on it)<div>
<br></div><div>For the first bit (The mechanical extruder parts) I can print you a Wades extruder. You would need a couple of 608 bearings, and an M8 nylock nut and bolt. Then you would need to hob the bolt. (plenty of documentation on this online, I would hob it for you, but I broke my 3mm tap and don't have the cash to buy another) lol... I can do the printed parts for $20 for you if you like. I would do it for free, but it's a fairly chunky part, and plastic is sparse, and money is tight lately lol... There are others with printers (including the modlab printer) which might be able to do it for less for you though.</div>
<div><br></div><div>As for the hot end, I'm a fan of the MakerGear hot ends, (<a href="http://www.makergear.com" target="_blank">www.makergear.com</a>) Rick is a good guy, and makes good quality stuff... But you can get them from several suppliers (Makerbot, Mendel Parts, and I'm sure several others). Plus if you have a lathe to turn down your own nozel, then you can find instructions for making one online. The pre-made ones from MakerGear run about $150</div>
<div><br></div><div>And for electronics, you'll need a micro (an arduino works) and a way to send a command to it to set temperature. (it will need to monitor the thermistor on the hot end, and regulate power via a mosfet to the heating coil). If you already have a 4 axis stepper controller for your CNC then you can tie up an axis for the E axis (extruder). Otherwise you could rig up a cheap Pololu to the arduino and let it drive it.</div>
<div><br></div><div>Of course you could always use the arduino to control your entire machine, PLUS the extruder, and install a RepRap firmware on it. Then you could use whatever software to drive your machine in it's "as-is" configuration, and use standard reprap host software to drive it for 3D Printing operation (without much "hacking" needed)</div>
<div><br></div><div>So the control system part is by far the most wishy-washy.</div><div><br></div><div>I'm sure others will have plenty of thoughts on this as well... I also believe Darcy is currently looking to mount an extruder on his CNC as well, so he might have already figured out some of the bits for this.</div>
<div><br></div><div>Hope that helps!</div><div><br></div><font color="#888888"><div>- Paul</div></font><div><div></div><div class="h5"><div><div><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Thu, Feb 10, 2011 at 1:57 PM, Pedro C. Peres <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:pedro@ncf.ca" target="_blank">pedro@ncf.ca</a>></span> wrote:<br>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex">Hi my name's Pedro, i've been lurking around the mailing list for a<br>
while, i hope to drop by one of your meetings soon and check out what<br>
you're up to.<br>
I've built a cnc machine at my place in hintonburg, it has about a 3ft<br>
by 2.5ft by 6 inch work space. I'm interested in getting or building<br>
an abs extruder for it because milling is just so damn noisy and<br>
messy. Anyone have any suggestions for the path of least resistance<br>
for said acquisition?<br>
<br>
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