Multistruder DIY Filament Extruder

Multistruder is a new Arduino controlled filament extruder that can enable you to make your filament directly from the pellets.

KS video:




Project description from the project page:

How is the Multistruder Different From Other Filament Extruders:

• The Multistruder is designed to do be a multi purpose plastic extrusion tool. In other words it is designed to do more than just make filament. This is done by swapping out modular parts on the extruder (ex: Injection Molder (hint hint)). More details coming soon.
• Open source and easily modable Arduino microcontroller "brain" making it very user friendly to control and configure and the ability to add various expansion modules to give you better extrusion performance.
• Only need to interact with the Arduino brain. Then the Arduino sends those instructions to everything else.
• TFT Full Color Touchscreen is included standard for easy realtime feedback and complete user friendly control of your extruder (Almost like using a phone)
• All Metal Construction making for a durable extruder allowing for a long service life and less issues in the long run while still allowing ease of modability for the user.
• Drive Motor Control allowing for precise control of extrusion speed.
• Expansion Module support for spoolers, diameter control, etc. Whether you make your own or you buy them. 
• Multiple vertical mounting options.
• The Multistruder comes 95% ready to go (as well as tested) out of the box all you have to do is install it in your work space, add plastic then your ready to extrude filament.
• Vertical Space Saving design: estimated to take up about 15" H x 15" L 6" W
• SOMETHING IS REQUIRED TO MEASURE DIAMETER OF FILAMENT EX. CALIPERS.

Specs Of Prototype ( Production version > Prototype version):

• Extrusion Speed: <~3 feet per minute (extrusion speed will be tuned by controller to get filament diameter consistency).
• 1 Kg Spool: <~ 8 Hours
• RPM: ~10 RPM
• Torque: ~167 kg.cm
• 1.75mm extrusion cap (you can ask for 1.75mm or 3.00mm)
• 110 Watt Heater + 5 Watt Controller + 24 Watt Motor = so max = ~139 Watts. True wattage is alot less than 139 around 84 as the heater band is not always on
• ~2 Cents/hour operating cost at 15 Cents/kWh
• Extrusion Temp: up to ~400C

Here is a Multistruder development blog:

http://www.thegreenengineers.com/index.php?/blogs/blog/1-multistruder-dev-blog/

They had a successful KS campaign:

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1718006136/multistruder-filament-extruder/description