Paxtruder-0.1
As part of my Awesome August hacking I designed a slightly new extruder, the Paxtruder! This extruder is a derivative of Zach’s plastruder and I’m really excited to share it. The main difference is that exchanged the idler wheel with a Delrin plunger. This reduces the overall size of the extruder uses two fewer layers. See it in action.
Using a plunger allows the force exerted on the filament perpendicular to its direction of travel to be adjusted while the extuder is running. I mounted the electronics along the side, so I can view the teeth on the filament on the way to the thermal barrier and adjust the force to get the tooth depth I like.
With this design, changing the filament takes approximately ten seconds from when the barrel becomes hot enough. The motor can be removed with out disassembling the housing.
There is, however, a flaw in this particular design. The captive nut holding the plunger screw will crack the acrylic if you tighten things too much. In the next version I will have this fixed. This design is also based on a larger diameter timing pulley, so the filament guide is a little off.
Awesome! A minor branding suggestion: Wouldn’t Paxtruder (no ‘s’) be closer to the word extruder and easier to spell and remember?
Regards,
tamberg
tamberg
2009.10.06 at 05:19
You’re right. I was debating this with myself at three in the morning after it worked and I seem to have picked the wrong name. This extruder is now the Paxtruder!
charlespax
2009.10.06 at 07:18
Dude. Frakkin’ awesome. Might solve some of the exact problems we’ve been having with our batch at TechShop Durham.
Vrogy
2009.10.30 at 01:58
I’m designing an Paxtruder upgrade kit for the Plastruder MK4. I should be done within a month. Possibly sooner since I have a few days off from work next week.
Check my blog in about three hours for a Paxtruder-0.2 post. Please post if you have any comments or questions.
charlespax
2009.10.30 at 07:23
[...] a comment » I’ve updated the Paxtruder-0.1 design to address flaws and make enhancements; I present Paxtruder-0.2. After a few more prototype [...]
Paxtruder-0.2 « Charles Edward Pax
2009.10.30 at 08:56