As of now I am in the process of building a filament extruder and intend to produce it in series.
The first version that was using a Lewis drill bit intended for testing purposes worked just fine and got sold.
Now I work on a new model with specially designed plastic extrusion screw and longer barrel.
Here are the specifications:
-Barrell L/D (Length to Diameter) ratio: 26 : 1;
-Compression ratio: 2.5 : 1;
-Barrel diameter: 26 mm;
-Heating zones: 4 (with temperature controllers);
-Stainless band heaters for 38 mm barrel: 5 pieces;
-Triple phase 380V Varvel coaxial gearbox electric motor 180 watt 1400 RPM, 20 mm shaft (made in Italy);
-Gearbox reduction ratio 46:1;
-Max RPM at 50 Hz: 30 (more at higher Hz);
-Torque @ 30 RPM: 52 Nm;
-Mitsubishi Electric Frequency Converter;
-Specially designed die with long land length, small internal angle (30 degrees) and easy to replace internal melt filter screens with various sizes;
-Diameter of die: 2.5 mm;
-High pressure high temperature gasket between nozzle and barrel to avoid pressure loss;
-Water and air dual cooling for produced filament;
-Water tank;
-High speed puller with silicone rubber wheels and Nema 17 motor controlled by Arduino with LCD and encoder;
-Winder based on Filawinder but with much bigger 12 kilograms spool;
-Extruding speed: 1-1.5 kgs/hr depending on polymer choice;
-Precision of extruded filament: +-0.05 mm, but I expect it to be better with the new extruder screw;
-Expected power consumption for 24 hrs: 17 Kw/hr (2.5 USD/day at 0.15 cents/KW/hr);
-Emergency Stop button, on and off button, speed of extruder motor can be adjusted in 0.01 Hz increments also speed of puller allows for fine adjustment;
-Electrical panel is done by a professional;
-Differential protection to protect the operator from electric shock, it needs a grounded 220 volts power outlet;
-Stainless steel hopper with capacity is 3.5 kilograms but it should be refilled often.
After production, it is needed to mount the full spool of filament on another device and rewind it by hand on a 1 kilogram spool, it takes minutes to fill a spool. It can also be done using a drilling machine, I don't produce yet a re-winder for small spools but maybe in the future I will do. I can provide the secondary device for re-winding, no problem.
This is not an extruder like Noztek or Filastruder which are like toys. This is a very heavy and sturdy machine, it can function 24 hr/day. It has an SKF radial-axial with angular contact bearing that can withstand 3000 kg of force and maintenance is very low. The alignment of the extruder screw to the barrel is assured by a flange welded at the motor-end of the barrel which attaches to the bearing case, all of this made in a high precision lathe. The extruder screw connects to the gearbox using an over sized elastic coupling that can withstand forces much higher than 52 Nm.
I would not believe any sellers of extruders that will advertise higher than 0.75 kg production per hour with only air cooling, I have tested all possible ways of cooling, including 4 pieces of high powered turbine fans, still not working, this is why I did not put my money into a 1000 USD or 5000 USD machine advertising 1 kg/hr and I have built a much better one.
How can you profit from this ? Is it better than mining ? It is up to you to decide:
1 kg of plastic pellets cost 3 USD
Profit per kilogram: 8 USD
It can bring 192 USD/day if you make it work continuously and find customers for this much filament.
It is better to have 3 machines for different types of plastic (1 for ABS, 1 for PLA and 1 for PET-G) as it is hard to switch polymers.
I can also make a die cut pattern for cardboard spools, any cardboard box manufacturer can cut for you the spool sides using a die cutting machine, the costs are very small and it needs a cardboard tube in the center. I can provide that too. One cardboard spool costs 0.25 EUR to make for up to 1.5 kilograms of filament. It has 70 grams weight and more environmental friendly than a 250 grams plastic spool. I can provide pictures with explanations how to make the spools from cardboard.
I can provide high quality masterbatches to color the filament, for ABS and PET-G (not sure yet about PLA) at very reasonable prices.
The set contains:
Extruder - 1 piece
Water cooling tanks and water reservoir + water pump - 1 piece
Fan assembly for cooling - 1 piece
Puller - 1 piece
Filament winder - 1 piece
12 kg capacity spool - 2 pieces
Melt filter set - 3
Expected maintenance:
Extrusion screw and barrel with flange - every 2 years approx - Sorry, no price yet but less than 500 EUR
Ball bearing - 1 year or more - 35 EUR
Elastic coupling bush - 10 EUR
Melt filters - ~3 EUR
Gasket - ? EUR, I do not know yet the price, I only used teflone
The complete line needs at least 5 meters long space and 1 meter wide, it is not something small that you can put on your desk but it can function well in a garage.
All of this is very heavy and needs a special box made just for shipping. I can arrange shipping by truck to Europe, cost of shipping will be supported by buyer.
Cost is $2500.00 in BTC or ETH.
This extruder is manufactured in a responsible way, same as I do it for myself and not made to have the highest profits with low quality components (ex, I use SKF bearing not cheap chinese bearing).
I can issue a commercial invoice in case the payment will be done through bank transfer in the name of our company.
The filament I got using HF380 ABS pellets was higher quality than Zortrax brand filament. I sell the filament to known Romanian 3D printing shops and they find the ABS filament more elastic than any other brand. I have seen a 60 centimeters long offroad car fender, printed 3 mm thick that would not break if held in the middle and bounced up and down with a strong force. I can provide a video that can prove the above statement.
I will add a picture of a 10 cm high object printed with the ABS filament that I produce:
Image is courtesy of Mr. Mihai Chefalan from
www.printing3D.roHe can be contacted at
https://www.facebook.com/printing3D.ro/I will produce in the future filament from composites of ABS with carbon fibers, carbon nano-tubes, fiberglass.. etc.. Probably the same with other materials like PET-G and also special colors like glow in the dark, and others.
For inquiries please reply or PM, I am looking for long term collaboration. My phone number is +40731 224 504 and I would prefer WhatsApp for texts or voice, as quality is higher. English language only please.
