Original Desktop Filament Extruder MK3 by ARTME 3D

Please read these instructions completely and carefully. The requirements must be followed therwise the function of the extruder may be impaired.

The Original Desktop Filament Extruder MK3 is a commercially certified complete kit from ARTME 3D Home - ARTME 3D (artme-3d.de). The kit is supplied with all the necessary components, including a power supply unit with country-specific power plug and multilingual control unit. Only the 3D printed parts need to be printed yourself. The difference to the previous models MK1 to MK2.5 is mainly a revision of all parts with regard to product safety and CE certification. Furthermore, the gearbox, the heating element and the extruder screws have been slightly revised.

The MK3 is a plastic extruder in an unbeatably small but powerful design for the production of 3D printer filament with a diameter of 1.75mm and 2.85mm. The extruder works with a stainless steel extruder screw with compression zone. This allows the extruder to process commercially available plastic pellets and also regrind from 3D printer waste. The filament produced is wound directly onto a spool. And all this with a footprint of just 486 mm wide and 406 mm deep.

Printer requirements:

The parts are only intended for FDM printing. The print quality and dimensional accuracy must be good. The printer must be well aligned and the axes must be at right angles to each other. The Z-seam must be of good quality and must not create holes or nubs on the surface of the parts, otherwise the function of the parts may be impaired and extensive reworking will be required. The print bed of the printer must be at least 200x200mm in size.

 

Find your way around the print files:

All 3D-printed parts have a unique designation as a combination of letters. The first two capital letters indicate the part group. For example: The two initial letters of the component ED-B are derived from the English "Extruder Drive". The breakdown of the parts for the "Extruder Drive" can then be found in the parts list of the 3D printed parts at the bottom of this page.

 

Printing material:

I recommend printing the following components in PETG due to the heat load and flexibility required:

ED-A + ED-B
IN-A, IN-B, IN-C
GE-A + GE-B + GE-F + GE-G
 

The rest can be printed in PLA. However, I recommend printing all parts in PETG as it is not as brittle as PLA and the parts are less likely to break under stress.

 

Color selection:

The choice of color is up to you. The SO-D part must be printed in white (opaque, not semi-transparent) to fulfill its function, but this part is included in the kit.

 

Printing time and material requirements:

The printing time can take up to several days. You should expect a material consumption of about 1.9 to 2 kg.

 

Printer settings for the components ED-A + GE-A + GE-B + GE-F + GE-G:

Printer nozzle: 0.4mm
Layer height: 0.2mm.
At least 8 wall lines
At least 5 upper layers
At least 5 bottom layers
At least 40% infill

Printer settings for the components FR-A + FR-B + FR-C + FR-D:

These parts only serve as an assembly aid and do not have to withstand high mechanical loads. Nevertheless, I recommend 3 wall lines and 3 upper and lower layers with 20% filling.

Printer settings for the GE-J components:

This part must be printed with 100% filling (this part is required twice).

Printer settings for the rest of the parts:

Printer nozzle: 0.4mm
Layer height: 0.2mm.
At least 5 wall lines
At least 4 upper layers
At least 4 bottom layers
At least 40% infill

 

Alignment of the parts and support structure:

When you load the STL files into the slicer, they are already aligned so that they can be printed without a support structure. There are only two parts that require a support structure: ED-C and SD-B.

 

Number of components:

The component FG-N must be printed twice. The component GE-E must be printed 4 times. The GE-J component must be printed twice. All other components only once.

 

Optional components:

You must select the file that is suitable for printing from the files that contain the note "Option" in their name:

 

The parts GE-C, GE-F and GE-G have a hole with a diameter of 12 mm. When FDM printing such a part, the hole is usually smaller than it needs to be. For this reason, there are several variants of the parts with a larger bore than 12 mm. For Prusa printers, the GE-F and GE-G files with the 12.2 mm hole usually fit well. And the GE-C parts with the 12.1 mm bore usually fit well. Then the tolerance is quite tight. (As an example, the name of the print file in this case is GE-G-option-12.2mm.stl). It must fit tightly, if the hole is too large and too loose, this can have a negative effect on the function. You need to know your printer, if in doubt print a test piece to see how small the diameter will be. The reason for this is that a metal shaft must fit into the hole. It must not be able to be pressed in too tightly, but it must not be too loose either. This is explained in detail in the assembly instructions.

 

The ED-A part also has a hole with a diameter of 12 mm. When FDM printing such a part, the hole is usually smaller than it needs to be. For this reason, there are several variants of the ED-A parts with a larger hole than 12 mm. For Prusa printers, the file with the 12.3 mm hole usually fits well. We need a loose fit. So the parts must be able to move a little during operation. So if the hole is too tight, it can have a negative effect on the function. You need to know your printer, if in doubt print a test piece to see what the diameter will be. The reason for this is that a metal shaft must fit into the hole but remain easy to move. However, the connection must not be too large and loose either.

 

For the SH-G part, you must select the part that corresponds to the inner diameter of the filament spool you are using.

 

For parts FG-O and FG-P, you must select the part that corresponds to the size of the filament spool you are using. FG-O for spools up to 1 kg. FG-P for spools up to 2 kg.

 

Print the SH-C and SH-D parts if you want to produce 1.75 mm filament. Print the parts SH-C-option-2.85 and SH-D-option-2.85) if you want to produce 2.85 mm filament.

Change Log:

15.08.2024: Part GE-L and FR-E added.
16.08.2024: Part FR-D, SH-B and SH-J changed for better functionality.
21.08.2024: Part FR-E for better positioning of the barrel.
25.08.2024: Part SD-B for better functionality.

Parts list 3D print parts:

See here.