How an 83-Year-Old Inventor Beat the High Cost of 3D Printing. If there were an award for Emerging Gadget Most Likely to Change Everything, it might well go to the 3D printer.
These devices, which turn digital blueprints into physical objects made out of plastic or other materials, are getting better, simpler and cheaper at such a dizzying pace that it’s not hard to imagine a future in which they’re as pervasive as PCs. Already, you can buy a basic desktop model for under $500. It’s dangerous, however, to get too hung up on the sticker prices of the 3D printers themselves. Just as most of the cost of conventional ink-jet printing comes in the form of those pricey ink cartridges, the spools of plastic filament which a 3D printer layers into an object have a huge impact on the long-term economics of 3D printing. Inventables A spool of plastic filament for 3D printing The foundation focuses its efforts on entrepreneurship and education, and is already deeply involved in the maker community though activities such as participation in Maker Faires. Filabot Personal Filament Maker for 3D Printers - Desktop Extruding System – Environmentally Friendly.
My version of the LYMAN FILAMENT EXTRUDER by bottleworks. These files are posted to give some ideas to those who are making an extruder.
This is by no means a "how to" or anything of the sort. The STL and sketchup files are included. I hope some will find the data useful. I'll add on to why I made the changes that I made after some sleep... I've added a photo of the Rev B hot end. I figure I would add this here incase it gets lost... I started changing somethings around with the extruder. For a BOM, I would look at the original Lyman extruder.
The drill bit for the nozzle is a #52. The Lyman Filament Extruder May Drop the Cost of Desktop 3D Printing Forever. The Desktop Factory Competition launched in June 2012 challenged makers to design a cheap, open source method to turn plastic pellets (which sell for $10 kg) into filament suitable for a desktop 3D printer (that currently sells for $50 per kg). 83 Year old inventor Hugh Lyman developed the Lyman Filament Extruder II which for under $250 in parts can take standard plastic ABS pellets and squeeze them into filament.
The fact that this device is released as open source hardware means that others can modify and improve the mechanism to lower the cost and increase the efficiency, just as we have seen with the open source desktop 3D printers based on the RepRap. The speed of innovation in the open source 3D printing world is making many of the large industrial 3D printer manufacturers appear to be moving in slow motion. 83-year-old inventor wins $40,000 award for his DIY filament extruder. Mar.4, 2013 On March 2, 2013 Zach Kaplan, CEO of online store Inventables, presents a giant check to inventor and competition winner Hugh Lyman.
Inventables, the Kauffman Foundation and Maker Faire announced in May 2012 the launch of The Desktop Factory Competition - each team is required to design an open source machine capable of making plastic resin pellets fit for use in a low cost 3D printer. The purpose of this competition is to drive down the cost of filament by creating a new filament extruder. Currently the cost of plastic filament is $30~50/kg, by creating such a new machine the organizers seek to make the filament price drop to around $5. The first one who uploads a solution will be the winner -The first team/person to build an open source filament extruder for less than $250 in components can take ABS or PLA resin pellets, mix them with colorant, and extrude a 1.75mm +/- .01mm filament that can be used in a 3D printer is declared the winner.
(Version 2) (Version 1) Source: Time.