Filament Winder

thingiverse

A filament winder for Filastruder or similar filament extruder. I've included the .stl files for anyone who wants to make an exact replica and the .prt files for anyone who wishes to customize it for their system (without the spool and spool mount, this can be used for any project requiring a table driven by a power screw). Instructions The motor mounts are designed for NEMA 17 stepper motors and endstop switches can be mounted on the underside of the carriage. The smooth rod is 5/16ths and the threaded rod is UNC 1/2-13. The guide on the threaded rod is simply a nut and the guides on the smooth rod and the tube in which the threaded rod rests are bushings; both be found at a hardware store and are secured to the carriage with cable ties. The two bushing guides on the smooth rod are thick, steel bushings (OD 5/8ths, length 1 inch) and the one in which the threaded rod rests is thin brass (OD 5/8ths, ID 1/2). The base can be cut down the middle. Each side of the base just needs to hold the endstop plates in place, which can be glued in whatever slot you like. The coupling couples a 5mm motor shaft to 1/2-13 UNC rod. Mine has slight eccentricity, so you may want to actually drill/tap the hole if you're looking for them to be perfectly in line. The spool provided is intended to fit a motor with a 5mm shaft; consequently, any spool with a 5mm fitting (and isn't too big for the holder) can be mounted here. All screw holes are 3mm and designed for M3 screws. The project is controlled by an Arduino Uno and an Adafruit motor shield. The electronics housing is slightly too small; I had to cut out the hole intended for the Arduino's USB cable to fit the entire Arduino profile. The electronics housing is optional, though; you can mount your electronics and control it however you like. My housing has holes for a toggle, a potentiometer, 8 5mm LEDs, 4 pushbuttons and a slot for screw terminals. The lid is connected by 1/8th rod and there's a slot in the middle for a piece of wood to separate the circuit board from the Arduino. Feel free to ask if you have questions about the electronics (both concept and implementation), as that's beyond the scope of this page. To put it shortly, my system uses sequential logic programming (as in PLCs). There are two buttons to control starting/stopping/homing and two buttons to temporarily alter speed, a potentiometer to adjust operational speed, endstop switches mounted on the bottom of the carriage to dictate how far to go axially, and a toggle switch for power. Please let me know if you have any questions.