The development of additive manufacturing has increased the need for the production of filament used in FDM 3D-printing technology. The filament is produced by an extrusion process. This process has been enhanced by the design and implementation of a mechanical puller system for pulling the filament from the extruder. The system allows pulling at different speeds. Using this system, we measured the diameter of the extruded filament at different pulling speeds. We found that the diameter of the extruded filament is more uniform at higher pulling speeds than that of the filament pulled at lower speeds. With additional measurements, it is possible to establish tables of the necessary extrusion and pulling parameters to achieve the desired filament diameters.
|
