Rejoice With Me For I Have A New Extruder!

[Marcia Selsor]

I have a scroll saw to make them. I used 1/4" plastic.

Marcia

[Cate Donoghue]

John, you never cease to amaze me with your ingenuity.  Thanks for this!

 

Cate

 

 

Rather than mounting my extruder to a wall or post, I mounted it to a 2 x 6 pine board cut to a length that works in my basement studio overhead.  I have two Harbor Freight ratchet bar clamp/spreaders that I use to temporarily attach the mounting board to my workbench.  After use the extruder and board can be stored elsewhere.  This allows the option of extruding anywhere the board can be clamped as well.

 

http://www.harborfreight.com/12-inch-ratchet-bar-clamp-spreader-46807.html

 

I was concerned that the pressure from extruding might tend to loosen the clamp, bend the board, or otherwise make the temporary clamping unstable, but it has worked very well with no issues.  I mounted the barrel at a height such that I can look into it on tip toes (I am right at 6 feet in height), which has been a good height for extruding a long tube, while still being able to inspect and clean the barrel.  I use a Scotch brand combo sponge/scrubby that just fits into the 4-inch nominal barrel to clean the clay out.  I reach up into the barrel from below and inspect my cleaning from above, which works well.  The only issue I have is that I have to make sure to line the handle up in between floor joists when the barrel is full to allow a full pull on the handle.

 

John

[oldlady]

thanks for all the suggestions.  my daughter is a very skilled welder.  if she would make me legs for this thing i would be able to use it anywhere.  the funny thing is that the box it came in had been opened and the extruder was in part of the box and several

large, blue, metal pieces were in the other part.  upon opening the instructions that if found in the box, i realized that the box contained 2 sets of supports for a shelf to go  under a northstar slabroller.  no tops, just the wide metal supports and hardware.  northstar website says they cost $159 each and i have 2 of them.  i have a northstar slabroller in fl and put two sets of holes in the legs and a piece of threaded rod across the short ends to support a 3/4 in plywood shelf.  cost -  less than $10.

 

calling the seller and sending an email has not worked, no reply.  what do i do now?

[oldlady]

Try having a classroom extruder, and getting the students, to clean up the mess......  Oddly enough, they were pretty good about cleaning out the extruder and respective pieces, but always skimped on the area directly underneath the extruder.

 

 

 

OK, PamS, you asked for it!  Results of first try to make a shaped die.  the drilled circle does not count.   my machinist neighbor with the workshop( to die for!) cut the circles for me.  i do not know what kind of plastic it is and it is probably not the best, marcia, what do you use?

 

he told me that the blade would get hot and i should try to keep it cool.  i heard that but did not realize that what would happen is that the blade would melt the plastic right back together after the hot blade went through it. could not get the piece to fall out.  had to recut it several times to get a wide enough saw kerf that it would fall out. anyone know a better blade to go in my old sears scroll saw?

 

of course when i put clay through it, i split the die along the 4 corners of wings and i even shattered a little of it by pounding on the center to get the cut piece to fall out.  cannot wait to do another one and push colored clay through it! going back to the studio now.

 

benzine, from your post i realized that i would make a mess so i put a bucket under the extruder to catch the fallout.  thanks