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Community Feedback 05: Super Glue Gun 2

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Super Glue Gun
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Ben and Karen respond to feedback from Community Members give on their Super Glue Gun.  Feedback includes using a 3D pen to see how it moves the filament, using a worm gear motor from a CD drive and replacing the trigger with a solenoid actuator, using a dremel saw as a gear, and replacing metal parts with a simple post and a sleeve.

 

 

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  recommended that they buy a 3D pen and see how it moves the filament. He suggests using a worm gear motor from a CD drive, keeping the original glue gun feeder, but replacing the trigger with a solenoid actuator using a hammering action. Ben doesn’t think there is enough power with this because worm gears are pretty wimpy as all they are used to do is move a read head back and forth.  The idea of worm gear is good because you’d have a lot of constant pressure along the piece instead of just one contact point, although that’s more gearing that could get gummed up if there was a problem.

suggests flipping everything around.  Instead of finding the perfect gear to fit on the perfect motor, put the gear on the idler shaft. The gear could be tensioned right against the shaft of the motor. He also suggests trying a dremel saw as a gear. It looked to him like they were smashing the glue instead of gripping it to feed.  A sharper, thin saw or sanding blade might “bite” into the glue better.  Ben thinks this could work if it went slowly because the teeth would bite into it and then push forward.

  suggests that they reconsider the metal parts used on the Super Glue Gun because it may be overkill and that their weight would add to the shipping costs of the final product.  Instead of bearing, he suggests using a simple post and a sleeve like they use to use in VCRs as tape guides.  Ben thinks this is something they could try. The bearings simplified what they did the first time, but they could cost reduce further by taking a nylon spacer and putting it onto a steel post, and using that to push the stick in.

  • Feeling like doing some knowledge droppin'...

     

    The "post and a sleeve" is called a "sleeve bearing".  They are used in all kinds of rotating applications including 3D printers, tape decks, refrigerant compressor shafts, and even in automobile engines between the piston rod and the crank. If you want set a shaft firmly in place and it rotate for a decade, you go with a sleeve bearing.

     

    But, in high speed applications, they need to be in an oil bath.  In medium and slow moving applications, you pretty much don't need lubrication if the sleeve is softer than the material spinning such as brass on steel.  Plastics are great due to their "naturally lubricating" properties.  Lowes carries sleeve bearings in their specialty parts bins.

     

    Worm gears - Windshield wiper motors and electric car windows are worm gears and they pack a punch.  The benefit is that the worm can turn the gear, but the gear cannot turn the worm (screw).  This could be handy if there is a compression due to slight bending of the glue stick.  The worm gear will always give constant load on the gear even when you take your finger off the trigger and any compressive forces will result in a push forward.  The glue wouldn't stop coming out immediately with the trigger release...but it would conserve energy with a well timed trigger release due to utilizing the remaining heat energy in the heating element after it is switched off.  (The Nest HVAC thermostat does a similar thing with the AC evaporator coil after the AC compressor turns off.)  As much as Ben uses a glue gun, he could probably save $.24 over a lifetime.