many comments are rather confused why one would need a filament pelletizer. and they are correct that the answers are mostly not obvious :
1. In many parts of the world, exotic filament is cheaper than exotic pellets. Because the supply chain is optimized for retail. Pellet supply is optimized for large industrial purchases.
2. Polymer type matters. As said above, developing countries focus heavily on commodity plastics like PP and PE. PLA/PETG/TPU is considered exotic and you have to import yourself without distributor (hence the higher price).
3. PLA brittles, ABS yellows, and TPU moists with time. Unlucky batches, tangled filaments, and ‘expired’ spools are big contributors to unsold filaments in the distributor world. Chopping is a way to give second value.
4. In pellet extruder scene you may find that many extruders maxes out at very small pellets (less than 5mm) which is ironic because those are even harder to find that filament. Our extruder takes 7mm pellets, tho.
5. if you want to make pellets with an extruder, no matter the extruder, this is the only way. Filabot pelletizers cost 4k USD.
DIAGNOSE – What’s Wrong
DO – Procedures
- Installing Materium (Universal)
- Installing Materium (Ender-3 V3 SE)
- Materium Firmware (General Requirements)
- Materium Firmware (Marlin)
- Materium Firmware (Klipper)
- Slicer Settings for Pellet Extrusion
- Tuning Retraction on Screw Extruders
- Pelletizing with CHOPPER
- Troubleshooting CHOPPER
- Materials Tuning Guide
UNDERSTAND – How It Works
- Bridging
- Retraction in Screw Extrusion
- Melt Ribbon
- Melt Plug
- Inside the Melt: What’s Going On There?
- What Your Extrusion Is Telling You
- Factors Influencing Print Quality
- Temperature, Flow, and Extrusion Width
- Die Swell (Nozzle Swell)
- Understanding Screw Extrusion
- PP Bed Adhesion
- Small Prints Looks Better
DECIDE – Is This Right For You?
MATERIUM – Extrusion System
Assembly & Installation