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I just got a filabot extruder, and I started playing around with extruding recycled PP. I initially had the temperature at 140C, but nothing was happening so I bumped it up to 175C. It started coming out, but the weight of it stretched it into wispy strands. Also, I’ve seen a lot of people getting the filament to curve around a metal rod before it drops down and coils up. I guess this helps it harden before the weight stretches it out? I also don’t have a fan on the fresh filament yet, and I imagine this will help.

But all this being said, there doesn’t seem to be much of a resource body for making your own filament. Does anyone know of a good reference for doing this?

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Hi @Nathaniel_Benso, we (fila-cycle.co.uk) started off a few years a go on the same experimentation as you. We can now produce recycled ABS, PLA, HIPS, PET and PP. PP is not the easiest plastic to start with, may I recommend you look at ABS first. Recycled ABS is far more forgiving and easier to work with. However, please be aware of the safety aspects of burning/melting ABS.

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I agree with starting out in ABS, not to mention there is a lot of native ABS in consumer goods for you to recycle. Here is a pic of the basic setup you want to get going, includes the rod and air cooling you know you need https://twitter.com/AtomJaay/status/693839938249433088

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Hi. There are some great forums re DIY filament at Filastruder (Page 1) — SoliForum - 3D Printing Community - the forums cover general filament making rather than just using the Filastruder machine so much of the information will be applicable to you.

If you recycle, you need to mix in some new pellets too - this is because the polymers degrade each time they are extruded or cut. Other environmental factors also contribute. You will also find that DRYING your raw material first will have a significant effect on the quality of filament you produce.

MOST importantly the tension on the output needs to be kept constant - this is best accomplished by using a winder with a feedback loop that controls the winding. If you are just letting the filament drop to the floor then you will get wavy filament as the tension will vary depending on how it falls and coils - unless your printer measures the filament thickness and compensates, then your prints will be inaccurate.

If you shelled out the money for a filabot then you won’t have any trouble purchasing a Filawinder - it will help tremendously.

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Hi Nathaniel,

We are extruding our own filament, and we do it in developing countries (with recycled PET bottles) (quick post on what we do here). As said before we found cooling and winding to be two of the biggest steps in improving the quality. We also realised there’s very little information on extrusion, something we want to build up over the future. In the meantime though if you have any further specific technical question that weren’t answered by the previous posts yet let us know how we can help!

Did you get to printable filament?

Best,

Jasper