The original WhiteAnt 3d printer specified to use it's own extruder design that is fabricated from wood and a MakerBot hot end. I decided to use a MakerGear plastruder and hot end.
In order to do this I first had to change the heat core of the hot end. The typical MakerGear hot end uses a brass core which is wrapped in nichrome wire and coated with a ceramic adhesive. The 30 awg nichrome wire is cut to length which will give about 6 ohms resistance. In a 12v system this will make a 24 watt heater.
My system is running off of 24v. To achieve the same wattage as the typical MakerGear heat core the total resistance of the nichrome wire will have to be increased. By using Ohm's Law, w=v^2/r=24v^2/24r=24 watts, it's discovered that the length of the nichrome wire needs to equal 24 ohms (an increased by 4 times). This is a lot of wire to wrap around the brass core. To help decrease the length, I switched to a 31 awg nichrome wire which increases the resistance from 6.5 ohms to 8.2 ohms per foot. This shaved off about a 1/4 of length.
No portion of the WhiteAnt extruder mount is useful for the MakerGear plastruder, so a mounting device had to be designed. I used a Simpson Strong Tie Z-Max Angle and cut a shape which supports the plastruder assembly and allows for the hot end to protrude from the bottom.
I also added 4 LEDs at the bottom of the plate which will give ample illumination during a print build.
In order to do this I first had to change the heat core of the hot end. The typical MakerGear hot end uses a brass core which is wrapped in nichrome wire and coated with a ceramic adhesive. The 30 awg nichrome wire is cut to length which will give about 6 ohms resistance. In a 12v system this will make a 24 watt heater.
My system is running off of 24v. To achieve the same wattage as the typical MakerGear heat core the total resistance of the nichrome wire will have to be increased. By using Ohm's Law, w=v^2/r=24v^2/24r=24 watts, it's discovered that the length of the nichrome wire needs to equal 24 ohms (an increased by 4 times). This is a lot of wire to wrap around the brass core. To help decrease the length, I switched to a 31 awg nichrome wire which increases the resistance from 6.5 ohms to 8.2 ohms per foot. This shaved off about a 1/4 of length.
No portion of the WhiteAnt extruder mount is useful for the MakerGear plastruder, so a mounting device had to be designed. I used a Simpson Strong Tie Z-Max Angle and cut a shape which supports the plastruder assembly and allows for the hot end to protrude from the bottom.
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