Week 34 & 35

Order from Wasp arrives.

Upon arrival I found that the new nozzle threading doesn’t match the extruder that I have. Maybe mine is 2.0?

New canister is a very pretty object, but it did not come with the “tank support” they suggested I ask for.

Delivery:
Purchased hose and fittings for air system. With little documentation online about the items used in the Wasp parts, as well as a bit of lack of info in general about small air fittings, I went through many purchases and returns to get the system up.

The earlier BOV I bought had 1/4″ NPT (tapered) connector, but the taper didn’t reduce as much as needed, so this part wasn’t fitting into 1/4″ NPT holes in different parts of my system. This meant that I was searching for what type of threading was being used, when in fact I had already known. Despite Wasp being a European brand, it seems they are using imperial parts for the air connectors. Also, it seems that all the push to connect fittings have the 1/4″ NPT taper much further than the quick connect brass pieces. Also, I did run into a quick mix-up with the brass fittings as I purchased automotive connectors at first and needed “industrial” connectors.

Compressor 8 Bar > Regulator @ 6 Bar> Hose with quick connect > Regulator to adjust flow > Cutoff Switch > (changes to push to connect) > 6mm OD Nylon Tube > Canister > 12mm OD Nylon Tube > LDM Head

Much of week 34 and weeks prior were spent attempting to get the air system working, after several leaks and issues, I got the pressure system working and still was running into troubles with the print head.

At first I thought that maybe my clay body was too hard, so I softened further.
Still not working, I observed the auger not spinning. The RJ45 connector which I had plugged into the cord that connected to the Red Spitfire connector (E1) turned out to be wrong, and needed to connect to the filament feeder connector (F1). This then caused the auger to spin. However I was still not getting results.

I spent a lot of time trying like this, more and more pressure (7 bar!) but at best was having the clay come out the top of the extruder. JK’s journal shows he put “hardening putty” on the top of the auger (above clay entry) to prevent the clay from climbing. I did this, but before I could try, I read about the auger direction problem that some people were experiencing. Switched internal wiring, auger spins correct direction! Eureka! (9/1)