Hi guys and girls! I hope you had a lovely Christmas!
I want to make some hemp, eco friendly sunglasses. Has anyone done this, or does anyone have the ability to do so? Any advice or ideas would be greatly welcomed!
Thank you so much!
Victoria Lovearth
Hi Victoria,
The only company I know that makes Hemp based filament is Kanesis in Italy.
But as far I know they are still in experimental batches. The company that makes their filament is called FiloAlpha and is based in Italy. But it is not available to buy it.
George
Hi George,
Thank you for the reply
I came across this website www.hempflax.com, 2
I was informed that they can supply a Hemp/PP or Hemp/PLA pellet for injection moulding. They say If I cooperate already with an injection moulder they can supply him the rawmaterial for moulding the parts for the sun glasses.
Would this pellet work for 3d printing do you know?
How would you go about printing eco friendly, sustainable, natural hemp items?
All the best!
Victoria
Hi Victoria,
There are 3D printers that they use pellets (instead of filament). I suppose you have to ask the 3DHub community and find who has one (mine uses filament). Then probably they will need the specification sheet of the Hemp/PLA pellets to see if it will work with their printer. Regarding the injection moulding process: Depends on how many you want to produce. The initial cost is high and definitely not for a pilot product. But if you are sure about the numbers that you can sell then the cost/item is much lower with injection moulding (and the quality much better).
George
Hi, not sure about Hemp/PP but i believe the Hemp/PLA pellets could be turned into a regular 3d printer filament by feeding them into the hopper of a machine known as a ‘filament extruder’. There will likely be folk here who have such a machine and thus the means to make their own filament - hopefully someone here who has one will explain more (i dont have one). @cinter might even be able to tell you if such pellets could go through their recycler machine.
Depending on how many pairs of glasses you wish to make, buying or making your own filament extruder may be an option - if making one sounds like fun head over to instructables.com and search for filament extruder.
The guys at www.filabot.com/ have both a filament extruder DIY kit and a fully assembled unit, that could possibly turn the Hemp/PLA into filament. I wonder how big the fibers are of the hemp and if they would cause any blockage in the extruder tips. I have had some troubles with this while printing with carbon fiber/ABS.
Hey sra1! Nice one thanks very much for the reply! That does sounds really fun making my own filament, but I think I need osme help as have never done that before and want the sunglasses to be really high quality , luxury.
I just really want to make hemp, eco product, am also willing to include bamboo and other natural fibers in the filament. And for them to be placed at a competitive, affordable price.
The amount I wish to produce will depend on how many orders I get for them, so initially I will need only to make some samples of them.
Perhaps someone thinks this is an interesting project to experiment with and wants to join my team! ?
Happy new year to everyone!
Victoria
