Has anyone looked at using water heater heating elements for the extruder and injection mold?
I find that I will need to use a lot of small band heaters on my machine to get enough heat into it. Minimum of 1000 watts.
Whereas a water heater element and a machined aluminum adapter can easily easily go to 2000 watts for each stage.
I also found this item.
With built in thermocouple.
They can make custom wattages, so we can really pump a lot of heat into the extruder and get some high performance.
Hello crue ! I buy PID RX C700 but the heaters do not warm. I connect all by schema and Temp measure type K (SONDA) IS working good but heating elements dont heat. Is it problem of PID RX C700 , I DOESNT know how to set that PID because i cant find anywhere video. Instructions are terrible…
Hey guys, I saw this topic and I was wondering if any of you think it would be possible to build a system that uses propane (or other) gas to heat the extrusion machine. I know that a lot of water heaters use gas to heat water up, so it should be possible to do the same for an extrusion machine. How would you guys make it? How would you regulate the temperature? How would you make it safe?
Anyway, thanks in advance.
Dave
I found this topic very interesting, i am from Uganda and cannot find these band heaters anywhere, but have several electric heater elements of up to 1500 watts . if any one has used them please share your photos and experience.
A water heater will heat up to 105 or so degrees celsius. Not enough for plastic.
thanks for the response. I am starting out so I havent decided on size of injection machine yet. This is an interesting idea thank you, ill look into it.
I must ask how big of an extrusion you are making.If it’s a small one you could use cartridge heaters in several holes in an aluminum block through witch there is a hole drilled in the center for the plastic to be pressed and heated.
They say there are no stupid questions but I will test that theory…
How would you use a water heating element to heat the injection pipe? Would you rebend it around your pipe? I live in Tanzania and cannot find band heaters anywhere so I am looking for suitable alternatives to do the job and I know I can get hold of water heaters…! Any other ideas would be WARMLY welcomed!
Hello @btmetz
Any heating element will work fine, just make sure to make the proper adjustments and select a PID and SSR that can provide the wattage required. Heating bands are recommended just because of their shape and because they fit pretty much any tube perfectly, but it doesn’t mean you can’t chose something different.
In fact, I have been thinking about getting some ceramic strip heaters for a DIY heat press 
