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Is Filastruder worth backing?

Discussion in 'Off Topic' started by JDM_, Mar 27, 2013.

  1. JDM_

    JDM_ New Member

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    Filastruder is a filament extruder designed by a UF engnering student and I'm wondering what you guys thought of the product?

    http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/833191773/filastruder-a-robust-inexpensive-filament-extruder

    I have heard there are issues with these machines (in the past) creating consistent diameter and having air bubbles in the filament. I also am wondering if you calculate the electricity used and the time and labor is it worth the investment?

    The main appeal to me is to save money on filament and to be able to reuse wasted filament from bad prints. What do you guys think?
     
  2. JDM_

    JDM_ New Member

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    I sent their team the following questions..

    "Hello Filastruder Creators.... I have a few questions.
    1) Will the Filastruer make 1.75mm filament.
    2) What is the diameter consistency when extruding 1.75mm filament?
    3) Have you experienced air bubbles in the filament that is created by Filastruder?
    4) Where would you rate the quality of filament compared to "store bought filament"? equivalent quality? Lower quality?
    5) What is the Quality of PLA filament made?
    6) what is the average electricity usage/costs to extrude alb of filament?"


    I will post their response when I get it...
     
  3. Michael DiFilippo

    Michael DiFilippo Active Member

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    Justin my main quandary was how much of a real cost savings it would incur. As there is no grinder to create filament with just their extruder you would need to buy the pellets; so once you have paid for the pellets paid for the shipping are you saving enough to justify the cost of the machine and the time to produce? Also I am wondering the quality of the filament. Ultimately I think this is the perfect setup, have your own filament extruder, your own 3d printer and never worry about running out of filament (keep a few pounds of pellets on hand at all times). But if it is only saving pennies (less than $10) not sure if it is going to be worth it for me yet.
     
  4. JDM_

    JDM_ New Member

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    I agree with you Michael... If it saves money and makes decent filament I'm in...
    I know there are plans for shredders out there but I'm not sure if they are easy enough to build. I would like to be able to recycle old prints too.
     
  5. JDM_

    JDM_ New Member

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  6. JDM_

    JDM_ New Member

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    Search ABS pellets on ebay. 10 lbs of ABS pellets $35-$45 depending on color.
    They also have ABS Polycarbinate blend and pure polycarbonite among other materials. And color concentrate/color dye beads.
     
  7. Printed Solid

    Printed Solid Volunteer Admin
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    They actually answer most of those questions in the Q&A already if you read all the way through them.
    I had been chatting with Tim a few months ago about it as well. Seems like a nice little design.

    They make a good point about regrind. Most of the plastic parts at my company specify no regrind due to quality issues from the degradation of the chains with repeated melting.

    I'm glad to be the forum test dummy if other people don't want to dump the extra cash. I just committed to sponsoring a Halloween event so I imagine I will be using a ton of natural filament for things that will be painted or used as mold cavities.
     
  8. Michael DiFilippo

    Michael DiFilippo Active Member

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    I keep going back and forth in my head about this. What are the colorants that they refer to? I have seen the abs pellets but yet to find the colorants. Can you elaborate PS. Also are they going to sell these after the kickstarter? I know some of these sort of things after the kickstarter don't really stay as a "start up"
     
  9. Seshan

    Seshan Active Member

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  10. Printed Solid

    Printed Solid Volunteer Admin
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    Exactly what Seshan said. I spent a very brief time as an applications engineer for a company that makes high end wire and cable. I spent some time working with polymer suppliers (thermoplastics and silicone).

    The thermoplastic polymer (in our case ABS and PLA) is typically supplied from the polymer manufacturer in pellets. Unless you're a huge company, you're only going to be able to get these in natural (no colorant added). If you want colors, you send your resin to a color compunder who will melt it, mix in color, and reextrude it into pieces. You specify color from a standard color wheel. The one I remember is Pantone.

    I imagine that with the filastruder (or similar), we could mix ratios to get custom colors as long as we're able to get a supply of the right raw materials.

    I actually have contacts at compounders if I can reconnect with them, so I might get into the business of providing colored resin if it looks like there will be a market. I believe they would work with minimum order qtys of a few hundred lbs for a custom job.

    I'm also planning on running a ton of natural which will be painted later. My $175 investment will be paid off quickly. But the decision to add something like this to your toolbox really depends on how much you plan on running.
     
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  11. SPyKER

    SPyKER Active Member

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  12. Michael DiFilippo

    Michael DiFilippo Active Member

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    So I just bit the bullet and pledged $300 for the fully assembled. For 100$ there is no way I could pass up the enclosure, the fact that it is 100% assembled and "tested" and the drilled nozzle. I was going to also add in $50 to get more pellets but it is actually CHEAPER to get the pellets through their website and at this point I don't think that less $50 will hurt them.

    So I will be happy to be a tester as well once it arrives (hopefully in July) for people here. Now to find colorants!
     
  13. SPyKER

    SPyKER Active Member

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    If only I had an extra $200-300, I would be all over this.

    Think about it like paper:
    For everyday printing, I use the stuff you can buy fairly inexpensive. I even use a strip shredder to turn my junk printing into packing materials.

    For my resumes and presentations, I use much better paper most of the time. Costs a bit more but comes out worth it.

    Special items like fold-out cards and photos require even more specialized materials.

    But 95% of what I print with is the basic stuff. If I could make it myself within a 95+ percent reproducible quality product, I would.

    This would let me do that with filament.
     
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  14. Michael DiFilippo

    Michael DiFilippo Active Member

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    That is exactly how I decided this was worth it Spyker. I thought about what I will most likely be printing and after looking around at bulk pellets (10lbs or so say) realized that the price would be a considerable amount.

    Now I have a question regarding the colorants, can you adjust the color the filament by adding more or less, or even mixing colorants? If so I see this as a HUGE perk as now I can create a custom color that could match a color. I could see this even getting into producing and selling small quantities of custom color. Say you need a color that matches your business' color, send me a sample of the color and for the right price I make you a filament that closely matches.

    Again this is going off the idea that you can really control the color. Or is it pretty much hey I have red colorant and the result is red filament?
     
  15. Printed Solid

    Printed Solid Volunteer Admin
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    @Michael, that's exactly how it works. I think someone should take it upon themselves to set up a website with filament recipes matched to pantone colors.

    I'm color blind so not me!
     
  16. Michael DiFilippo

    Michael DiFilippo Active Member

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    I just really hope that OSPrinting stocks more colorants for ABS. Right now only 3 and NON for their PLA pellets is a little upsetting. I haven't found much as far as colorants AT ALL else where. I have found some great deals for ABS pellets on ebay.

    PS- I could totally see coming up with different colors and recording the mixture amounts. I think that could be really useful in getting certain colors say you need 50 parts blue to 100 parts red to create a certain shade purple for example. Now you print a little sample of it and keep it in a drawer somewhere and you have a breakdown of the "recipe" for reference down the line when you need that color for something.

    I like the idea of creating colored filament because as of right now I have no clue if I need 2lbs of bright green ,or red filament but if I suddenly have something I want to print in blue I can spend a day making some blue filament and print with it the next day versus spending ~$40 and waiting a week or so for it to arrive.
     
  17. Printed Solid

    Printed Solid Volunteer Admin
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    I might be getting mixed up, but I think they had a ton of PLA colors yesterday and only 3 for ABS. maybe they sold out of the PLA colors?
     
  18. Michael DiFilippo

    Michael DiFilippo Active Member

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    they show hdpe colorant. Now they also sell HDPE pellets so I beg the question, what is HDPE and can we 3d print with it?
     
  19. JDM_

    JDM_ New Member

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    I pulled the trigger on the kit. Figure it will give me a project to work on. Didn't know I had to drill the nozzle but I have a drill press so it shouldn't be to hard. I've seen a lot of colorant on eBay. I guess we will have to find a good supplier for pellets. I will start looking and let you know what I find.

    http://www.alibaba.com is a good source for suppliers but you need a business license to get a user account.
     
  20. Printed Solid

    Printed Solid Volunteer Admin
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    If we get a critical mass of people looking for different color resin AND it doesn't look like someone else is meeting that need for us already, I'd be glad to stockpile and distribute with good discounts to our original little group here.
     
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