@xxxolivierxxx: thanks, Dave told me he’s working in direction of doing filament (good choice
and so same goes for us. Most requests (10+) are about the extrusion section and so i decided also to make some invest in building a good product for (full automatic extrusion system, with water baths, coolers, hell of sensors,…) but first i have to develop the machines to build such thing.
1. contacting 3D – print startups/hubs: done = interest in the machine is high and i’m currently compiling a final list of requirements for such machine.
2. development of a special 4th axis, for machining the extrusion screw, status: 3th prototype, the next will use a 1200W Servo (nema-34 below is not good enough)
3. development of a lathe steady-rest tool which follows the spindel = crazy, and an adjustable lathe tail stock
4. development of a water bath system, and extra cooling sections along the extrusion section : done by the end of the year
5. development of all the feed systems (in and out): hopefully done this year too. this part needs lots of attention, it’s about feeding the plastic correctly but also pulling the filament correctly through the extra cutting section and waterbaths
6. development of a special hopper, enabling mixing, full automatic
i hope the final system will be won’t exceed 3000,- Euro net price, it’s quite big : 1.70 – 2.50 m long because of the water baths.
i can post updates here if somebody likes, it’s a hard and long process. producing good filament isn’t documented anywhere properly 