Welcome to the SeeMeCNC Community

I've done business with Tim for a long time and have always had my eye on a filastruder kit, but I got a coincidental offer from a friend that I couldn't refuse. My buddy owns an engineering company that was contracted to make an experimental filament that paid for the extruder many times over, and now he just wants his shop space back. So, I bought a NozTek pro and winder for $100!

The experimental filament that my friend was making really clogged up the machine (it was basically filled with solidified tar), so I had to overhaul it before it could be used. I'll paste some pictures of the teardown and rebuild below if you're curious about the internals. I didn't take a picture of absolutely everything (just enough to reassemble it) but I still got a few if you want to know what's inside.

I have some white ABS and natural PLA pellets already, but no colorants to play with. I actually am working on a prototype that will use CMYK filament soon, so I'll be shopping for those colors right off the bat. I'll admit to not spending much time looking, but the 5 or 6 suppliers that I've already looked at did not offer those masterbatch colors, so point me in a direction if you're better informed than I.

I did the teardown last night, and this evening I got it back together. I ran a handful of ABS pellets to inaugurate the machine, and to clean out the remaining junk from the works. I didn't set up the winder yet, but I will for the next batch. I'll also follow up to the post and let you know how its diameter turned out.

Thanks for reading!

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Interesting Jim!
So after 3d-printing 3d-printers, some people basically start 3d-printing 3d-printing-filament...

Making custom colors on demand seems appealing instead of keeping a spool of every color on hand.
Also, buying plastic for $1 per pound is a nice prospect.

The trick is diameter consistency.

g.

geneb wrote:The trick is diameter consistency.

And with only on/off control of the motor, my PID tuning on the temperature controller will be key.