[Lab] I want an extruder

[Paul (Maker Engineering)]

Doh, damn gmail again. forgot to copy the list...

See message below:

On Thu, Feb 10, 2011 at 2:33 PM, Paul & Andrea Mumby <themumbys at gmail.com>wrote:

> 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)
>
> 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.
>
> As for the hot end, I'm a fan of the MakerGear hot ends, (
> www.makergear.com) 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
>
> 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.
>
> 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)
>
> So the control system part is by far the most wishy-washy.
>
> 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.
>
> Hope that helps!
>
> - Paul
>
> On Thu, Feb 10, 2011 at 1:57 PM, Pedro C. Peres <pedro at ncf.ca> wrote:
>
>> Hi my name's Pedro, i've been lurking around the mailing list for a
>> while, i hope to drop by one of your meetings soon and check out what
>> you're up to.
>> I've built a cnc machine at my place in hintonburg, it has about a 3ft
>> by 2.5ft by 6 inch work space. I'm interested in getting or building
>> an abs extruder for it because milling is just so damn noisy and
>> messy. Anyone have any suggestions for the path of least resistance
>> for said acquisition?
>>
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>>
>
>
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