Feb. 10, 2015 | By Alec
With all the different filament extruders and grinders appearing on Kickstarter and Indiegogo, you might almost start taking those machines for granted. But just a year ago, the idea of producing your own filament from pellets seemed to be a fantasy that couldn’t realistically be worth the investment. That’s exactly why we were very positive about the launch of a crowdfunding campaign for the Strooder, a British-made filament extruder developed by OmniDynamics. That product, marketed and typically seen as the first truly consumer-oriented filament extruder, is now almost ready to be released.
Now you might say: ‘wait a minute, wasn’t that supposed to be released months ago?’ Truth be told, the answer is yes. Perhaps overly optimistically, the Kickstarter (which finished in June 2014) promised to ship these consumer-friendly and affordable machines between September and November 2014. As is not unusual for scratch-built Kickstarter products, there were some unforeseen design and manufacturing complications that messed up the Strooder plans a bit. Not only did they experience some electronic difficulties (the motor was too powerful), but their suppliers also proved to be difficult to work with. To add fuel to the fire, they discovered some design flaws in their spooler.
But to their credit, the OmniDynamics team has grabbed the bull by his horns and took the extra time created by forced delays to optimize the design and functionality of their filament extruder and spooler. While this means it looks somewhat differently from than the original prototypes that won so many people over, they assure us that the machine works exactly like it should – efficiently, quickly, safely and very easy to use.
As they told us, "we have made many changes since our Kickstarter campaign, in terms of design: changing the outer case from wood to acrylic, adding a second nozzle for the purpose of cooling filament and the inclusion of the logo engraved on the case. Many changes have also been made to the internals we have upgraded every part now using a more powerful motor and solid steel mount to stand the increased power." Changes have also been made to the electronics, the auger screw, the nozzle and the touch screen interface, while adding an entire enclosure. "Every change has been for the joint purpose of making Strooder both more robust and safer," they confidently explained.
Just some of the multi-color parts you can 3D print by making your own filament.
All this essentially means that their supporters will be getting a product that is better than originally anticipated; "We have greatly improved the overall performance on the original Strooder, we are now hitting extrusion speeds of up to 3 metres per minute and now proved Strooders ability to integrate colour in to 3D printing," They said. The color option is particularly interesting; a full rainbow of colors are available, either as single solid colors or even as an ever-changing strand of colored filament.
And as for manufacturing and assembly, the OmniDynamics team has also said they are now parterned with a reliable, competent and dedicated manufacturing company that will produce the Strooders for them. The wheels of manufacturing have now begun turning, so shipping will hopefully begin within the coming months. Keep your eye open for yours!
Now that these problems are finally out the way, Operations Manager Stephen Lloyd even felt confident enough to look to the future. As he explained to us, OmniDynamics is especially looking towards expanding across the consumer retail market, as well as the education system. The former should be relatively easy, as they are one of the few truly consumer-oriented machines currently out there, but Lloyd feels that the education system is the area where they can truly make a social impact. "Many schools are already integrating 3D printing into the curriculum, it allows for students to spend more time on design and testing, rather than making. By integrating Strooder in to this system they will further be able to vary the materials they are printing in and for artistic pieces vary the colour. This has the added bonus of saving the school money and allowing them to further expand this to include recycling."
Posted in 3D Printing Materials
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