FMC1959
Well-known member
My wife makes stuffed animals, pillows and other items that are fiber filled. She does it by hand and it is very time consuming, so I checked around for a used machine, something like what you see in the Build-A-Bear stores, but hopefully smaller and not too expensive (like video but smaller)
Not much that I can find and most are very large, you have to pick them up because no one will ship them and the absolute cheapest I saw was $750US, used and with no compressor.
I thought maybe I can make one but don't quite have a grasp on how to make the system that is actually blowing the fiber into the pillow or animal skin.
The top part does not seem overly complex, a hopper to put the fiber, and it has paddles that turn to break up the large pieces and also help send them down to where they would go to the injection system. This turning paddle/auger is usually motorized, but have seen some that have a hand crank.
When the system is on, the operator uses a foot pedal to allow the fiber to be injected or not as the user moves the bear around to fill different areas.
Does anyone have ideas on how the injection system works, or how you would make one? How does the fiber go from the bottom of the hopper, into the chute dispensing the fiber out of the nozzle? I have seen written that these machines use compressors but wonder how they get enough CFM from the large nozzle shown on the machine (looks at least an inch diameter)? And how does the fiber get from the hopper, to where the air blows it out the nozzle, again without losing CFM?
Anyone have experience with these machines? How about anyone with ingenuity, how would you go about making one of these machines? I figure between new and used parts, I should be able to make something that works for $250 or less. Having plans would be ideal but any helpful ideas would be very much appreciated.
Not much that I can find and most are very large, you have to pick them up because no one will ship them and the absolute cheapest I saw was $750US, used and with no compressor.
I thought maybe I can make one but don't quite have a grasp on how to make the system that is actually blowing the fiber into the pillow or animal skin.
The top part does not seem overly complex, a hopper to put the fiber, and it has paddles that turn to break up the large pieces and also help send them down to where they would go to the injection system. This turning paddle/auger is usually motorized, but have seen some that have a hand crank.
When the system is on, the operator uses a foot pedal to allow the fiber to be injected or not as the user moves the bear around to fill different areas.
Does anyone have ideas on how the injection system works, or how you would make one? How does the fiber go from the bottom of the hopper, into the chute dispensing the fiber out of the nozzle? I have seen written that these machines use compressors but wonder how they get enough CFM from the large nozzle shown on the machine (looks at least an inch diameter)? And how does the fiber get from the hopper, to where the air blows it out the nozzle, again without losing CFM?
Anyone have experience with these machines? How about anyone with ingenuity, how would you go about making one of these machines? I figure between new and used parts, I should be able to make something that works for $250 or less. Having plans would be ideal but any helpful ideas would be very much appreciated.
