Filabot Pelletizer
We’d like to take a moment to highlight one of the less talked about machines in the Filabot lineup - the Pelletizer. The Pelletizer flies under the radar as a support system for the EX2 and EX6 extruders but can enable some extrusion options that otherwise would not be possible. Here’s a brief summary of some of the capabilities of this humble workhorse:
Let’s start with the primary reason for the Pelletizer’s existence: it can chop filament into pellets. This allows you to take any out-of-spec sections of filament you have created, such as the first section that is produced while you are getting the extrusion settings dialed in, and easily turn it back into a form that can be input to the extruder. You can feed the filament in manually with your hands, or if you have a Filabot Spooler you can set it up to feed an entire spool hands-free.
We hope you don’t regularly create entire spools of out-of-spec filament that need to be recycled, and if you do we have resources that can help you, but there are other reasons to pelletize entire spools. Custom compounding powdered additives is one scenario in which you might need to do this. Typically, when mixing powdered additives into polymers you will see dropouts and surges in your extrusion, as the mixture of powder cannot be kept consistent in the hopper. However, if you take the resulting out-of-spec filament spool and pelletize it, you will get much better results the second time around.
Depending on what printers are in your bullpen, you might simply use the Pelletizer to help you transmute feedstock from one form to another. If you have a printer that makes use of 2.85 mm filament, but can only find a particular polymer you like in 1.75 mm sizes, you could chop it up and extrude it to your own specifications. Have a pellet extruder like something from our MD line? Chop your odds and ends of partial spools that aren’t long enough for extended prints into pellets and print directly from the result!
