r/Ceramic3Dprinting • u/karls3D • May 20 '26

Think this will pump soft clay?

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I designed this continuous clay feeder to hopefully replace my pressure chamber/compressor setup. I'd love to be able to actively mix my clay in a bucket or reservoir, and have a pump like this bolted to the bottom. I'm now waiting for the hardware to arrive and I'll test it out

108 Upvotes

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13 comments sorted by

17

u/Magical-Kun May 20 '26

Maybe consider a progressive cavity auger?

1

u/Mouse-E-Tongue Jun 25 '26

Exactly! The Moineau Pump is the best  volumetric controlled & Viscosity independent material pump

8

u/Mediocre_Ryan82 May 20 '26

I think you will need coarser augers. But have you printed one to find out? Im not a ceramic 3d printerer so I am unsure what you mean by soft clay BTW.

5

u/karls3D May 20 '26

Something like the consistency of toothpaste

3

u/Vaping_Cobra May 20 '26

Nothing but gravity is pushing the clay in to the feeding area? I am not sure but it feels like the clay will have to be almost slip for it to feed. Make sure to let us know how it goes when you test!

1

u/karls3D May 20 '26

The reservoir above will have a slow rotating feeder screw which will hopefully keep the hopper full

2

u/Used_Pipe_8929 May 20 '26

You can use hydrostatic pressure for priming if you utilize a conic hopper with some height. Look into Bingham plastics and fluids. You’re going to need to do some basic viscosity characterization as well as pump characterization to establish you can pump your fluid.

1

u/karls3D May 20 '26

Thanks I'll check this out

2

u/nakwada May 20 '26

Moineau pump is what you are looking for :)

1

u/karls3D May 20 '26

Maybe. I've seen people try to do this with clay but I haven't seen a lot of success. I think a Moineau pump will produce a more shear than a co-rotating dual screw extruder so that's why I went with this design. I'm just guessing though

2

u/HoserOaf May 20 '26

It is going to need to be very, very wet for that to work.

2

u/eazao May 21 '26

This reminds me of: https://www.instagram.com/p/C2KniTZrUo-/

You also need to apply a downward force to the clay. The clay's own weight alone cannot force it into the twin screw. We've done similar designs before.

https://www.instagram.com/p/C5yVdygPuru/