Considering a new extruder design

I have unfortunately wasted many weeks waiting for products because the suppliers refused to send them to my area of the country without more than triple the shipping cost (almost doubling the total cost ).

So I finally got the products three weeks ago via someone that took delivery in a reasonable postage area, but I have moved onto other things as I now have an aircraft that seems to have engine troubles that I must fix to get in the air.

I think this extruder project is getting too hard with mounting costs and lack of enjoyment and return on investment (probably spent over £90 now, athough I do have supplies to make a few hundred hotends and some stuff was also used for other projects I am looking at).

Despite this lack of progress I thought I would add a photo of the chemicals I got for what could be the final revision of my ideas on plastic filament extruder hot end design??

I will probably get around to experimenting with my ideas but not for a few months as I need to think a little longer and make some safety considerations as the new chemical treatments can be rather toxic dangerous and explosive.

Basically I am looking at ways to surface treat the hot end so that PTFE coating will adhere properly inside whilst also allowing special high temperature soldering of the heating elements onto the barrel and giving a special low thermal conductivity chemical lattice structure coating.


I thought I should give some other links:

[www2.dupont.com]
[www.plasmatechsystems.com]

I also notice that one of the links from my previous posts has dissappeared, but there seems to be a mirror of the article at : [www.its.org] (search for 'good science' )

And here is photo of the chemicals that arrived :




I hope there is not too much growth and too little progress!!!!!

Also I really hate telling people what to do or trying to explain how things are done and am trying to avoid it, but I have decided if there are enough requests I will spend a couple of hours writing about my ideas (some of which are probably wrong) of extruder design theory on a wiki page.

Edited 4 time(s). Last edit at 04/02/2012 11:35AM by mung.

Try not to kill yourself mung.

I don't see any spray-on teflon coatings in that pile of chemicals, mostly acid, but spray-on teflon is actually a great idea in my opinion. Or even better yet - a plasma applied thin film vacuum coating. Of course - to do that you need a vacuum chamber...and a plasma source...and a plasma power supply (either mid-frequency 40-100kHz AC or high-frequency GHz RF). I think a plasma-applied thin film ptfe coating is the "ultimate" solution for a hot-end, but I'm doing quite well with 1/32" wall ptfe tube as a very good intermediate solution...well enough that I doubt thin film vacuum coatings would ever be cost effective, but the spray-on coating is a promising alternative - I wasn't aware that existed - thanks for the link.

Dear Mung,

Good day,sir
I just saw your articles.
We want to know how is your extruder now?
Have you finished it?
Hope to see your photo of the finished the extruder.

Yours,
Tom,

Cant post. Says I am using a banned word. I dont see any objectionable words
Tells me to constact Admin. How do I do that?
H

... sometimes it helps to leave and reenter the specific thread if you're blocked by the forum software for spam or banned words.

If not, then send me your text as PM, so I can check for flagged words or such ...

---

Viktor
--------
Aufruf zum Projekt "Müll-freie Meere" - [reprap.org] -- Deutsche Facebook-Gruppe - [www.facebook.com]

Call for the project "garbage-free seas" - [reprap.org]

mung Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
but if it works I think I may patent
> the idea first
>
> I also just had a postscript thought about your
> statement about accuracy of filament +/-0.01mm has
> anyone done research into how important this is?
> I feel the filament does not need to have this
> accuracy and also maybe there are ways and means
> to cheaply measure the extruded filament from the
> reprap nozzle??
> maybe:
> 1) laser measurement at the nozzle orifice (like
> the sensor from an optical mouse)
> 2)torque measurement from the motor
> 3)pressure measurement (a strain gauge on the
> nozzle)
> 4)weight of plastic extruded on the object (strain
> gauge weighing the object on the print bed)
> 5)other means??


Well it has been ages since I messed around with 3D print extruders and I don't know how long before I really put some concerted effort into extruder and hotend development again, but I was pointed to something recently which made me laugh.

I was told about a patent ( [appft.uspto.gov] from stratasys) that seems maybe took my hinted comments above and tried to develop them into some protectionist intellectual property. I have not really bothered to read the full text but was told that my comments about could be shown as being 'prior art'. From what I can see the patent does not really follow through on all possible concepts, but it does show that even hinting about things can often lead others to scramble to try and compete to match or further the work of original developers and also even misappropriate ideas for their own commercial gain. Maybe it is better to never show what one is doing until it is complete and patented (of course I dont really care much as its only really a hobby)

Patents are quite an interesting and thorny issue as monetising an idea or concept is often only easy for those already involved in an industry and outsiders have a lot of legal work to sell ideas into an industry. Really patents are often just a battle axe used to kill competitors when the market is getting hard. With so many layers of ideas built upon other ideas it can make new product creation almost impossible without being held to ransom by those already in an industry that happen to have patented an obvious and important concept first.

Does anyone think the patent linked above maybe has any relation to my postings??

I maybe will one day show the method I hinted at which I feel has an amazingly elegant simplicity, but unfortunatly I have other things of more interest to work on.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/10/2013 01:09PM by mung.

mung Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Does anyone think the patent linked above maybe
> has any relation to my postings??

Highly unlikely, if only because the date of filing predates your first post.

bobc Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> mung Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > Does anyone think the patent linked above maybe
> > has any relation to my postings??
>
> Highly unlikely, if only because the date of
> filing predates your first post.

So they cannot sue me for patent infringement??

mung Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> So they cannot sue me for patent infringement??

I guess technically they could if they thought there was infringement, since manufacture of a patented device is a right granted by patent. I think you may have a defence of research purposes in that case.

It seems highly unlikely they would sue since there is no obvious damages to their company worth trying to recover, nor any actual infringement of their claims I can see.