Jan 13, 2015 | By Simon
When it comes to new and clever ways of making the 3D printing experience more enjoyable and customizable, leave it up to those who have a combined interest in working with both the Arduino platform and 3D printers to create new ways of making 3D printing easier for the rest of us.
Among those who bridge the two seamlessly are the creative minds over at UK-based Noztek, a 3D printing filament extruder company that aims to make producing your own filament from bulk pellets as easy and pain-free as possible. Their latest design, the Noztek Touch, is an Arduino-powered touchscreen-controlled filament extruder that brings ease-of-use to home-based filament production for a variety of 3D printing needs.
The touchscreen-controlled Noztek Touch features a number of enhanced features to make creating your own filament as easy and automated as possible. Among them include motor variable control, accurate temperature settings and a timer facility. The extruder also features some well-considered safety features including an initial preheat setting so that the extruder motor will not engage until the extruder has reached its full operating temperature. Additionally, it will also automatically shut down the motor if the temperature drops more than 20% below it's intended operational temperature setting.
Depending on the type of resin a user intends to extrude, a user is also able to specify three different motor specifications for operating the extruder. These include a 53 RPM 6Nm, a 33 RPM 9 Nm or a 15 RPM 17 Nm version. The motors feature a built-in encoder in order for the processor to calculate and vary the speed depending on what is needed for a specific material type.
The Arduino-powered module will also come with a complete USB interface that can be used to add firmware updates and other updates that can be customized by the user. This could include future material settings and other data that may likely change within the next few years of various material offerings.
Additionally, Noztek is working on a new touch version of the filament winder that will feature a built-in digital caliper assembly to monitor the tolerance settings and adjust the motor and temperature settings for a more accurate and cohesive filament thickness output. Noztek has stated that users will also be able to generate detailed spreadsheets of each extrusion session. The information can then be used to more accurately work with temperature and motor speed settings for future sessions or for tweaking the settings on a per-material-basis.
Available in both a standard model (max 300c) or a high-temperature (600c) version, both Noztek Touch models are capable of extruding the standard ABS and PLA as well as resins and other powdered materials. Additionally, Noztek is so confident about the build quality that they are offering a 12-month guarantee in which they will either fix or replace any faulty unit within a year of purchase.
The units are priced at £1195.00 (300c) and £1639.00 (600c) and are available over at Noztek.
Posted in 3D Printing Materials
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