June 2012
2021-06-29 18:07 by Jonathan Buford
We were able to get the CNC parts ready today, but there is some small modifications needed before we can fire up this latest version of the new drive.
Overall, the gearbox and everything went together well. The barrel got mis-threaded, so we will need to redo the mounting plate before running it. And the nozzle needs to be made and assembled on it. The brass on the end of the barrel is just the holder to keep the nozzle in place.
Read more … MakiBox Pellet Drive First Assembly
2021-06-27 18:20 by Jonathan Buford
We've been working on making the next revision of the pellet drive this week and plan to cut the parts for this one tomorrow.
What is shown in these renderings is the updated design for the pellet drive with modifications for gearing the stepper and using a wholely stainless barrel assembly.
Read more … MakiBox A6 Pellet Drive First Model
2021-06-22 20:29 by Jonathan Buford
After revising the nozzle assembly to prevent it from melting the body of the drive, things are looking pretty good.
We still don't have the final output speed or consistency, but it looks like that can be fixed with some changes to give more torque to the drive and with cooling off the output on the way out of the nozzle.
Read more … MakiBox A6 Pellet Drive Improved Output
2021-06-21 20:38 by Jonathan Buford
Yesterday we fired up the current pellet drive and had some good initial results. So far the output is looking a lot smoother and with less air bubbles. We had some problem with the heat conduction being too good with this brass nozzle, so we are working on modifying it to prevent the body of the drive from heating up enough to melt it.
Read more … MakiBox Pellet Drive 3rd Iteration Initial Test and Dissection
2021-06-20 20:46 by Jonathan Buford
We got the latest revison to the new pellet drive system together tonight, only to find that a firmware update was preventing us from firing it up and testing it out.
This new version has a longer tapered nozzle, which should eliminate the air that was getting trapped into the output and also reduce the blowback we were seeing from the first two versions we tested.
Read more … MakiBox Pellet Drive - 3rd Iteration Ready For Testing
2021-06-11 21:05 by Jonathan Buford
Good results so far from the new pellet drive.
We got it wired up and started pushing it through its paces. The heater works like a charm, and will be better with our new temperature sensor. We are finding the thermistors to not be fast enough for the heater and system.
Read more … MakiBox Pellet Drive First Tests
2021-06-10 21:24 by Jonathan Buford
This is the weekend project that has been hinted at for a while, and it will be plugged in and putting out hot plastic tomorrow.
The mechanism is nice and compact, and should be usable both as a standalone filament maker and for driving the material for the MakiBox printing.
Read more … MakiBox Pellet Extruder First Looks
2021-06-02 18:19 by Jonathan Buford
Came in today to get the anti-backlash together and finish installing the table mechanism. Everything is looking amazing, and is extremely rigid. We will make a few minor changes to the XY drive mechanism, but this is close to the final. Everything looks pretty solid as well with the anti-backlash really doing its job.
Read more … MakiBox A6 - Assembled Table and Anti-backlash
