Talk:Wade's Geared Extruder
Thanks for the clean-up Casainho, but I think I'll put the testing methods back in there. I think that good testing of a new design is as important as the design itself, if not more. Wade
I did "clean" the page. I think the extruder is stable since many people printed and use it. I feel the need to have a clean and informative page. Anyway, any info can be recovered from last versions. --- Casainho
Hey Johnnyr - nice photos! At first I was thinking, strange, I don't remember uploading those pics, and then I realized it was your copy! Very nice. Almost indistinguishable from mine, just some slightly different washers!
Wade
What bolt sizes are you using to attach this to your Mendel? Those should be added to the bill of materials (even though technically they're between projects). Those of us in the US sadly can't walk down to a hardware store to buy nuts/bolts if we want to stay consistent - we have to buy them all online with shipping costs, etc. :( By chance I had some M4 12mm and M4 20mm bolts (to reduce shipping I added components for a future Adrian's extruder build too), and I was able to determine that 12mm is too small but 20mm would work if I used enough washers to space it out.
The real problem though is that the bolts can't be too long, because otherwise they'll hit the X-axis smooth rods! I thought I had it worked out great on the first bolt, but the second bolt was the one beneath the stepper motor, so I had to lower it to mount the stepper motor, bringing the bolt dangerously close to scraping the bar. I can dremel a bolt down to size I suppose, but for others building this, it'd be good to hear what size worked for you. (and whether you need "low" sized heads instead of standard, etc). Thanks! - Jkeegan 20:26, 2 September 2010 (UTC)
Jkeegan, ask Wade here in the Super-secret RepRap Developer Mailing List. :D --Sebastien Bailard 01:23, 3 September 2010 (UTC)
Jkeegan, use whatever fits. :) I think various builds end up with various thicknesses, so slightly different bolts are required for each one. A hex head bolt under the stepper motor will let you remove the extruder without unbolting the stepper, but it's not easy - that's the main flaw with this design, imho. The next version will have more clearance around the mounting bolts. I don't know exactly what size bolt I used, but I will check next time I disassemble it. That could be a while though; I'm only on complete replication #3 with my Mendel; I think Nophead's went for almost 20 full prints before he had to rebuild it.
Oh, and always buy extra bolts. :)
Wade
Hey Wade can we move this to "Wade's Geared Extruder," since that's what everyone calls it anyway? newbies will spend a lot of time trying to find this page before they figure it out, and there are other pages with almost the same name as this one (which should also be moved to "Adrians Geared Extruder") --Buback 21:03, 22 October 2010 (UTC)
Go for it - I'm busy at the moment, but might as well call it like it is. :). Wade
Could someone please provide better specifications for the springs? To make it easier for people to source themselves, springs should be specified by Outside Diameter or Shaft Size, Length, and either Load or Spring Rate (ideally, a usable range for either). The current specifications are, frankly, useless. --Nether10 19:11, 25 April 2011 (UTC)
I build the springs from 1 mm music wire, with an OD of 10 mm (wound on a 1/4" mandrel (drill bit) in a handheld drill), and stretch them to fit - thus the specifications. I don't have a good way to accurately measure the total load or spring rate of these home built springs, but spring calculations suggest a max load on the order of 10 to 15 kg for all 4 springs together; those calculations are notoriously error prone though. Any spring that you can fit on the bolts, and has a wire diameter of close to 1 mm, should work well. 3 kg max load, in other words, and an unsprung length of 10 or 12 mm - I'll update the page. Wade. Edit - actually, now that I re-read the page, everything you asked for was already there - Max Load (100 N) OD (10 mm), the only thing missing was the unsprung length, which you can work out from the 4 active coils spec, and which doesn't actually matter anyway. I'll update the "useless" specs later when I have more time.
"4 active coils" doesn't give a length (as there's an undefined distance between the coils), and the 100N load, as it was written, seemed to be a random example. Thus, I considered the specs useless (although I suppose I should have been more kind and said "insufficient"). I'll update it for you. Thanks for the reply. --Nether10 19:36, 26 April 2011 (UTC)
