Fab head

[dvideo]

Hi...

I have been considering for some time - making a head for my small Taig CNC mill.

I am interested in FAB - and this seems a reasonable approach. There has been a lot published about 3D printing - but I have not seen what seems obvious to me. A head that I can attach to my small CNC mill. It would seem that a larger version would be viable for a Bridgeport - but beyond my immediate scope.

Anyone done this? have any interest?

I don't see this as an expensive or complex project -so it does seem natural that others may have already done this...

--jerry

[macona]

I have been thinking about making one to go on my laser cutter gantry when I get it done.

But, one thing you need to know, the quality of output is pretty crummy. Does not hold a candle to the commercial machines and parts often come out warped.

[dvideo]

I think you could be right.... I know the diameter of the needle output matters - and it would make sense to have several different diameters.

But still.... for rough prints - and simple things - it might be OK.....

--jerry

[macona]

The tip does matter but what controls the filament size is deposition rate of the abs and feed rate of the head. The Dimension SST we had just used one orifice size and puts out strands at .010 and .013, .013 being rough mode.

One of the problems of the home made machines is the part cools as it is built and stress causes the parts to bend all out of shape. Some have tried to alleviate this problem by heating the bas the part is built on. This only work so well and only for thin parts. To do it right the whole thing needs to be in a thermal chamber. I think the Dimension was around 170f.

[dvideo]

would shrinking the dot (deposition) size matter... a stepper control machine is not the fastest thing...

Fab guys don't talk about this - at least on the ReRap style machines....