User:Crg5149

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Hello! My name is Carson Geib and I decided to join the 3-D Printing class this Spring 2014 semester because I needed a design elective credit and I think additive manufacturing is the future. I hope to learn how to build a 3-D printer, troubleshoot the electronic systems, and manufacture some of the hardware components. So far, I have been able to refurbish and manufacture new hot tips.

After manufacturing the hot tips, there were some obvious challenges. One of those challenges is the small amount of material left between the inside and outside diameter where the external threads are on the steel cylinder. There has also been an issue with inserting the insulating Teflon in the smaller diameter hole that has dimensions of 0.238" on the hot tip drawing. I have been drilling the hole to a diameter of 0.242" when I manufacture them because the average diameter of the insulating Teflon is 0.250" and it is still hard to insert the Teflon. Currently there is consideration of increasing the outside diameter of the end with external threads so that the inside diameter can also be increased to better fit the Teflon, and not further increase the difficulty of manufacturing by reducing the tolerance between inside and outside diameters. However, this would also require that the holes in the extruder plate also be re-bored and tapped to a larger diameter to accommodate the larger diameter of the new hot tip design.