Drop in Paxtruder for MakerBot
by builttospec, published
Description
thingiverse.com/thing:1125
My idler wheel cracked about 2 weeks ago so I though it would be a good time to experiment with the Paxtruder design a bit. I planned on making it a weekend project because I had plenty of acrylic around and I had some 1/2" thick acetal scrap to make a pusher but, unfortunately, I had to put in an order to McMaster to finish this guy so it didn't get completed till now.
I wanted a drop in replacement for my extruder hardware for testing that could utilize as much of my current MakerBot components as possible, and this design seems to fit the bill. You can use your existing dino mounts (both MK3 and MK4 designs should work) and extruter head hardware to mount this extruder and you can attach the extuder controller as you did with the idler wheel based design.
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"Printable MK5 replacement filament drive" by natetrue
Just wondering if there could be a printable version of this similar to the Printstruder?
This works great. I appreciate how easy it is to put together (and take apart). Together with the Mk 5 drive gear, it is really solid.
The only (minor) change I would make is to change the spacing of the bolt holes for the insulator retainer. Right now it follows the spacing on the large metal washer, where one hole is offset a little farther out. I'd use the spacing from the other pair of holes (equal distance apart), that way you can use things like the Makergear Groovemount instead of the insulator retainer.
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Instructions
Speed: 4%
Power: 100%
Freq: 500Hz
Make sure to use air assist. This probably isn't optimal, but it worked fairly well. I also had to file down the pusher a bit to get it to fit nicely with the extruder pulley (see photos).
All acrylic parts are cut from 1/4" acrylic except the topmost layer, which is cut from 1/8" acrylic. This was done to fit the final extruder body between the dinos. I added an insulator retainer to this design as well (attached with 2 M3x16mm bolts) just because I really wanted to ensure that everything lined up correctly.
I haven't used this extruder on a build yet, but it seems to work fairly well in basic testing versus the idler wheel design. There are probably a few things to tweak but I'm looking forward to putting this extruder to work.
NOTE: In the picks that have the motor bolted on, I wasn't paying attention to the side the wiring was on and eventually had to rotate the motor to get the leads to reach the extruder controller, so be mindful of this when assembling. I did the same thing to the retainer too, so it's on backwards in a shot or two as well :)
Update:
You can grab a kit of this thing that includes all laser cut parts and hardware listed here from my site:
built-to-spec.com/blog/laser-cutting-services/
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This works great. I appreciate how easy it is to put together (and take apart). Together with the Mk 5 drive gear, it is really solid.
The only (minor) change I would make is to change the spacing of the bolt holes for the insulator retainer. Right now it follows the spacing on the large metal washer, where one hole is offset a little farther out. I'd use the spacing from the other pair of holes (equal distance apart), that way you can use things like the Makergear Groovemount instead of the insulator retainer.
Got my laser cut parts, my Delrin bar stock should arrive this week. I probably won't install this until the next time I need to floss my pulley.
Nice and clean..
Just plug and play!
My piece of nylon came out pretty bad out of the lasercutter..
Had to redo it by hand.
Probably Delrin is a bit better..
Can't we cut out a washer and bolt it up on a M3 rod?
Looks great! I like how you doubled up on the screws at the bottom (two for the washer and two for the retainer). If you throw a thumb screw cap on the end of the pusher screw, you'll need fewer tools. Email me your address, I'll send you a few.
Just wondering if there could be a printable version of this similar to the Printstruder?
"Printable MK5 replacement filament drive" by natetrue