Filastruder auger assisted vertical hopper

In my experiments with reclaiming waste prints on my wall mounted filastruder I found that the shredded material could quite easily get hung up in the chute, and I was constantly having to bang on it to keep the extruder screw fed with material.

To solve that problem I have been experimenting with this auger driven hopper, which uses a DC gear motor and printed reduction gear to drive an auger which assists gravity in ensuring that material will feed continuously.

The version depicted uses a gearmotor I salvaged from my junk box, but I've redesigned this to accept the same gear motor that shipped with my Filawinder (PM-33126000-180K, 12V) -- It is probably a bit beefier than necessary for this build but Filastruder sells them as spares, so it should be easier to source. I have also included an STL of a solid version of the motor mount module to make it easier for someone who wants to design their own mount for any gearmotor. The hole in this "blank" mount corresponds to the motor axle center for the gears that are included.

The auger should be split and printed horizontally on the print bed, then glued after printing.

Hardware needed for this build includes:

9pc M3 X 3mm heat set threaded inserts

6pc M3 hex niuts

6pc M3 X 35mm machine screws

1pc M3 X 30mm machine screw

4pc M3 X 8mm machine screws

3pc M3 X 10mm machine screws

1pc M3 square nut

To assemble, install 4 threaded inserts into the motor mount block, 1 in the square end of the auger, and 1 in the left side of the discharge chute. Optionally you can also install 4 of these in the holes around the perimeter of the hopper (intended for a future higher capacity hopper extension)

Insert the round end of the auger shaft through the threaded hole, then screw the threaded collar around the auger shaft to hold it in place. The square end of the shaft should be accessible. Fix the large drive gear to the auger shaft with an M3 screw.

Fix the motor to the motor mount and attach it to the supplied bracket. Insert the square nut in the hole of the small gear and secure in place with an M3 machine screw.

Category: 3D Printing