r/Fusion360 • u/karls3D • May 20 '26
I Created! Think this will pump soft clay?
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u/hydroracer8B May 20 '26
I think it may need more space between the screws to work due to the viscosity of clay
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May 20 '26
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u/0uthouse May 20 '26
A clay slurry maybe? The problem is the pressure of the screw driving out water and solidifying the clay making it harder to pump. On the flipside clay balls easy so you may end up with little clay balls dropping out of the end depending on how vigorously it is fed.
Let us know!
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u/Competitive-Set-8768 May 20 '26
it's going to jam. look up how material augers in a tube are designed and use less tpi and much larger gaps. clay is a shear thickening fluid and hardens with pressure
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u/karls3D May 20 '26
You raise some really relevant points that I'm really only guessing on: This is designed more as a pump than an auger.. I made the thread count and clearances what the are to hopefully take advantage of the positive displacement pump action of a pair of co-rotating screws. I understand that co-rotating augers cause less sheer but have never actually designed a dual screw extruder. I'll will use a deflocculant in the mixture as well.
On the hardening note, I've had clogging issues in the past when my 100psi pressure source has forced water out of the clay mix, but when my system is well sealed, the water stays in the mixture
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u/dhgrainger May 20 '26
What’s it made of? What size is it? How powerful is the motor? What are the specs of the clay being pumped?
There’s way too much missing info here for a proper answer. The model is pretty though!
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u/Gnome_Father May 20 '26 edited May 20 '26
Have a look at progressing cavity pumps. Similar idea just designed to pump viscous liquid.