This honestly doesn't look like it'd be impossible to make. I'd use a big wood screw that spins with the motor with some electrical wire for heating the tube and then make a wheel that spins for extruding it the stuff coming out then it could be used as a 3d printing filament.Now this is very far out there but the guy I'm talking to talks about wild ideas but I mentioned this and he changed the subject.
there's youtube videos of pakistanis doing it over open flames, so yes it's definitely doable
It's definitely not impossible to make given that there are hundreds of videos on jewtube about people making their own extruders, as well as a number of kits for people to build a /diy/ extruder. Question is, is it economical, and is the quality of the filament good enough? Answer is, it's not economical if you aren't printing kilograms a month and the quality will be shit if you try too hard to save money the extruder parts. At the absolute best, you are saving about $8 per kg (industrially sourced PETG is about $2/kg, a roll from chinks is $10/kg). PLA is much worse, since the pellets tend to be expensive.
>>2785208The thing is is I'm interested in tpe and it's hard to find
>>2785210TPE pellets are pretty expensive, too. Again, if you only need low-ish volume, just buy filament from chinks.
>>2785202You see how the shaft of that screw/impeller gets larger as you move towards the end, making the cavities between the threads get smaller and smaller? This is how it creates the pressure/compression.Using a standard screw to do this wouldn't work, or would work very poorly, since screws are built the opposite way with the shaft tapering to be narrower towards the tip, or at best with zero taper.
>>2785324screws, how do they work because it isn't like that. idiot
>>2785329Yeah, you're right. I clearly have no idea what I'm talking about. Good luck.
>>2785324Maybe it wouldn't need as much pressure for making a 3d filament as it would if it were an injection mold though. Well there'd also be the cooling after it comes out the nozzle and the extruding mechanism... I think
>>2785202just get one of those cast iron, hand operated meat grinder and you have 90% of the mechanismhttps://www.amazon.com/Table-Mount-Grinder-CucinaPro-Cutting/dp/B0067ULWJK
Can it be done? Sure. It's not a complex process. And could be great fun getting it going.Is there a snowballs chance in hell you'll be able to produce comparable quality material at a price point that makes it competitive with commercial producers? Not likely.
>>2785351The thing is tpe filament hardly exists so it feels like I'd be the only game in town.Now 60a tpu exists and it's also rare. However you have to print very slow and carefully. I do have some idea of how I'd go about it. I do think the heating needs to be precise as the cooling so no sense half assing it.And if nothing else I can hardly find it for myself.
>>2785202the problem is that you are investing a lot of time and effort to MAYBE break even or come out a smidge cheaper, but youll end up with worse than chink shit tier filament because of it.like other anons said, theres tons of youtube videos on how you could do it, but its really not worth the effort.it would take hundreds of spools before you would see any gain, and thats assuming your machine doenst need maintenance.and like i said, all of that for shit quality filament.
>>2785208>is the quality of the filament good enough?All the videos I've watched the conclusion was "no, the filament was not good."
>>2785330not that anon but I appreciate your advice, I didn't notice that little design detail before, makes sense now>>2785410One thing a lot of people don't realize is that plastic and other polymers can be heat treated exactly like steel, and for the same reasons of crystal size. Just a hunch but I suspect some of the "bad filament" people have made could have been greatly improved with a quench/temper cycle
>>2785329>filename
>>2785324just like mine
>>2785329best option woud probably be a cast iron meat grinderput some heating elements around it and build a adapter plate for the front. maybe a motor if you feel fancy
>>2787740
>>2787740That's not what i had in mind because the proportions are off and it has many holes. The screw should fit tight inside the tube. I was thinking more like putting a 3d printer nozzle at the end but it'd have to be cooled coming out and it can't be a fan because that'd blow away the molten plastic so the colling mechanism would have to made from scratch too which complicates things. >>2785410I think the bottle extruders don't melt the plastic so yeah its going to come out uneven i think .
>>2787831>it can't be a fan because that'd blow away the molten plasticthat's why my prints are covered in plastic spittle! wow, you might be a died in the wool genius anon.
>>2787831>I think the bottle extruders don't melt the plastichow are you still alive?
