Mar.26, 2013

Still wondering when you can make filament at home? Comparing to the cheap cost of raw plastic pellets, 3D printer filament is way too expensive. Tim Elmore, a Mechanical Engineering PhD student at the University of Florida and his friend Allen Haynes launched Filastruder, a filament-making machine on Kickstarter that allows you to produce filament on demand.

With Filastruder you simply setting the desired temperature for extrusion and wait until it warms up. Then you fill the hopper with pellets and turn on the gearmotor. Plastic will begin extruding and the resulting filament can be wound onto a spool using a normal hand drill, or through a printed spool winder.

filament produced by Filastruder

Specifications:

Extrusion Rate: 6-18 inches/minute (2-5 lbs/day)
Extrusion Temperature: Tested with 170-210°C (others may be possible)
Size: 18"x6"x6"
Noise: 50dBA @ 3ft
Power: 110VAC, 100 watts peak, 50 watts average
Entire assembly is grounded for safety, and main power connection is fused.

Four beta testers' Filastruders

According to Tim Elmore, the design has been refined based on beta testers' feedback. "The majority of our beta testers use 1.75mm filament, and report variances of +/-0.05mm or so. A few beta testers have set the Filastruder up for 3.0mm filament, and report variances of about +/-0.10mm."

Comparison of print quality between the Filastruder Filament (left) and Solidoodle FIlament (right)

Filastruder's Kickstarter campaign offers Kit versions and Assembled versions. Approximately 3-4 hours assembly time is required for the kit version, as well as a drill, dremel, and basic hand tools. As of writing, all kit versions ($175~200) are sold out (~~too late). Fully assembled Filastruder with enclosure will cost you $300, with estimated delivery in June.

Check out the introduction video below:

 


Posted in 3D Printing Materials

 

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thevancouverguy wrote at 11/21/2013 9:11:00 AM:

just because he is homosexual doesnt mean he is creepy. although, you are right, he is very creepy looking. but you cant blame a guy for his mom drinking while she was pregnant, he was born with FAS eyes. But he could not play up the creep factor. Guess he is working with what he got. Cool device anyway.

JD90 wrote at 4/2/2013 6:20:37 PM:

To reiterate, I think it should be clear that first, Lyman has nothing to do with the Filabot person/people. This apparent conflation is unfortunate. Also, Lyman isn't making his extruder for sale, nor has he that I can tell. Finally, Lyman didn't just make a bill of material available, he included all the information needed to build his design, free of charge.

JD90 wrote at 4/2/2013 2:30:58 PM:

"Already Lyman and the Filabot guys took the money and let us with nothing but a BOM." I'm almost certain Lyman is 100% independent of the Filabot guy.

CornGolem wrote at 3/28/2013 3:19:54 PM:

Already Lyman and the Filabot guys took the money and let us with nothing but a BOM.

metaldrgn wrote at 3/27/2013 9:01:51 AM:

lol

James Luscher wrote at 3/26/2013 4:41:15 PM:

"creepy"? No way. Just charmingly 'geeky' (like me ;-)

Suro wrote at 3/26/2013 12:21:40 PM:

Interesting device, seemingly very similar to the Lyman extruder. Video is interesting, but way too much creepy guy, and a bit too little technical detail on the filament itself. Repeating for good measure in case the Kickstarter authors see this: Waaay too much creepy guy for a professional project.



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