The upgrades to the new 2 and 4 axis models look great and I am looking to do the following upgrades and was wondering whether anyone had some feedback on these proposals or had thought of doing something similar?
Relocate spool holders above the mandrel, and add a second spool up here, the same as in the new 2-axis model.
Change out the large aluminium chucks with drill chucks.
Replies
Jeremy - maybe you can help . I was an original kickstarter backer and just got around to starting the machine . It seems x-winder.net does not exist . Did i miss an enclosed flash drive with the software and assembly instructions
Thanks
nic gihl
ng433@earthlink.net
Hi Jeramy,
I've just purchased some Non Perforated, release coated , heat shrink from sollarcomposites.com
I'm testing out just using that, over the top of my mandrel which is a CNC cut pine mandrel, with 1 layer of the heat shrink applied, then I'm doing a test with release wax manually added to the outside of one, and not to another, then the carbon wrap, then another heat shrink - non perforated sleeve - so that there are no join lines, then that gets cut off at the end for a flat finish.
Don't know how all that is going to go,,,,,, plan B, is to use tapered mandrel, which we are trying to avoid at this stage.
I also placed an extra guide cone, just before the last roller on the delivery head, as I found with non uniform ( square ) tubing, the fillamend would slide to the end of the roller and jam at the tips as it was trying to do a funky rotation.
Hi Mark,
That sounds like a great way to mod. Have you got any pics?
Also, I am also using similar sized mandrels to yourself, but was planning to bond in some 12mm bar or something similar. Could potentially produce a seal about 30mm into the presumably hollow mandrel, fill it with epoxy/filler and then insert the roughened 12mm bar into this. Only worth it for repeat applications though.
What are you using your winder to make? I am using to make parts for a custom bicycle'ish prototype. Since buying the machine I have been just using stock carbon tubes which turn out to be easier to buy than make, but I will hopefully use the machine for some more custom work in the future!
I've been unhappy with the machine so far and have received no response from the Hunts to my emails, so I've started hacking my machine to get better performance.
First hack is analogous to the spool holder relocation and filament routing you mentioned. In my case I went downwards: I put 500mm of 25 x 25 alu angle on the ends of the carriage rails and put an extra roller at the end of this. I also relocated one of the existing rollers half way back along the carriage rails.
Filament is now routed down from the creel, under the extra roller, back over the relocated roller and through the bath. Of course this means it's no longer a desktop machine, more a desk edge machine but the improvement is worth it.
I'm using aluminium mandrels of around 30mm diameter (think bicycle tubes) so the drill chucks won't work for me.