Hey Guys just wondering if you would buy recycled 3D Printer filament. If you turned in so much plastic and got half off a new recycled spool of filament would you guys do it? I know lots of people have those failed and scrap plastic from 3D printers that are useless now. Let me know what you think. Thanks!!!
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Enza3D
2
Hey @Johnnyo1012,
I’d happily use recycled filament, especially ABS, as long as the quality and reliability was the same as non-recycled filament.
I do have concern with the issue of reliability with re-using bits of filament and failed prints. So many heat cycles will damage the plastic structure over time, and you might run into issue with that. If it was proven that the recycled filament was as reliable and strong as the original plastic, I’m sure the community would love it.
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Thank You! I will look into it more.
Enza3D
4
The changes are usually pretty small (generally it’s due to oxidation and thermal degradation) but they do have an impact, which is partially why 3D printed parts are weaker then their molded counterparts. But if you’re talking models and more visual prints (really anything that isn’t intended for structural use or mechanical prototyping), I wouldn’t worry too much about the loss of material properties. I think as long as you don’t have a markedly higher failure rate, you’d definitely find use for recycled filament. I’d definitely use it for visual prototypes and models!
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Would you be willing to send in old scrap material to get a discount off a new spool? Would you do it if it was aviable?
Enza3D
6
Yeah definitely! It’s just laying around collecting dust now, so I have no use for it at the moment.
I backed the company re-flow on Kickstarter
I’m always looking to dispose of the failed prints in PLA, PVA and wood based filaments.
Making filament is quite a hard process and needs investment in sweat, tears and cash to get constant results and tolerance near ± 0.03mm
Which is what puts most people starting making it.
Maybe help existing filament makers with the pre-processing of the failed/collected plastic and have some tests which can workout chemically what it’s make up of. Lots of challenges but it would be good to be able to recycle failed prints back into filament.
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Hey JMO,
Get in touch, we can have a chat if this is something that interests you. We have been looking into it ourselves. Currently looking at people who might be interested in setting up something like this.
Scott
Co founder / Director www.fila-cycle.co.uk
scott.knowles@fila-cycle.co.uk
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cobnut
9
Hi @Johnnyo1012 as others have said, I love the idea of recycling filament, but I’ve got to give my customers the quality I promise. I can see a situation where perhaps one specific printer is loaded with recycled material and that printer is used exclusively for trial prints, demos, etc. but for my customer prints, I use only the highest quality filament I can (and have tested).
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Yes, that is what @Enza3D said. We would need to test it to make sure it works good and the quality is good. Thank You
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i tried to do the math and i found that it do not make much sense to recycle
the cost of a shredder and a extruder is simply to high, i could get many years of new filament for the same cost
but maybe that have changed?
