MB3D
April 5, 2015, 5:58pm
37
So you mean that you want to turn the spool into filament ? This isn’t possible since the spool is not made out of ABS or PLA if you want those filaments. And if you want polycarbonate filament (because the spools are out of polycarbonate) then you have to shred the spools, melt the granulate and extrude filament. The machines necessary for that cost way over 2000€ if you want a good quality filament.
Beside all that you will then run into the problem of printing with Polycarbonate.
Polycarbonate has to be extruded at ~300°C or more and requires a heated bed with a temperature of 120°C. I bet not even your printer archieves those temperatures.
It is not worth it to buy those machines just to recycle some spools.
-Marius
BDan
April 5, 2015, 6:36pm
38
Just to let everyone know, at the Sensorica lab, we have precedent of Co-financing equipement and all the legal structure around that. For example, the MH3000 from Ord Solutions (Toronto) is a pro-level FDM machine, 30 x 30 x30cm, 5 heads can heat up to 450℃, heated bed, full metal parts and framing, etc, please check the specs: http://ordsolutions.com/our-3d-printers/mh3000/ . It costed 4200$ and we are 12 co-owners. I invested 1500$ and I’m the main operator. 20% of all revenue from commercial activity goes back to initial investors (according to equation) until printer payed + 20%. Operators make the other (up to) 80% from commercial activity and pay back 5% to use FabLab space and infrastructure. After it’s made profitable, these %s change and some ownership is passed to the FabLab Custodian to benefit the whole community and make fair use for Open Source projects (because we’re a FabLab). Many more details and tons of brainstorming for this particular case but it’s a viable way to crowd-finance expensive equipement among hubs that would benefit from them. We can do the same exercise here and together we can afford some serious shredding and extruding machines. Thaks for considering seriously
1 Like
you can use polymers on polymer to turn things into other things
1 Like
MB3D
April 5, 2015, 11:46pm
40
Do you have any idea on how chemistry works ? You can’t just put some polymer on another polymer and by magic you get filament with a perfect diameter. Even if you dissolve the spool or anything like that you still have to form the filament.
Please try to learn some english, i do not want to insult you, but i have an incredibly hard time reading your comments.
-Marius
BDan
April 6, 2015, 12:27am
41
Yes, fine tuning parameters is a narrow window, and it’s hard to keep exterior conditions constant… for ex: you walk by and the air you move will affect the cooling speed of freshly squirted plastic and affect the filament diameter and evenness in that area. Ever so slightly but you have to consider. I think 5% diameter variation is the best you can get, 10% is acceptable but higher than that is unacceptable for commercial distribution. In our lab we’re all about sensors (Sensorica) I understand the importance of monitorizing and automation and it’s really not complicated. For domestic use everything goes but once you get into cimmercial use you bump into regulations and you have to make sure your equipement is safe. You also bump into the responsability to provide a quality product. This is why I’m looking for a commercial grade extruder. DIY is just reinventing the wheel and it ends up costing the same in materials, special parts and time spent wondering around. There are some pretty neat machines out there, closed loop feedback (sensors), etc, respecting safety requirements and licenses, etc, help me find the best choice for our purpose… Please
I am American I just sometimes don’t write a word down correctly. And you can I have chemists around me and you can make a polymer that can turn a polymer into another polymer. I don’t really care what you think about me and my words, but you can manufacture the spool into a polymer and then manufacture some kind of plastic and It wold really help everywhere to go green.
1 Like
MB3D
April 6, 2015, 3:00pm
43
Kevparang, the topic is about what you do with your empty spools, please explain me how you turn a spool (which is allready a polymer, to be specific it is Polycarbonate) into any other polymer like ABS or PLA just by blending it with some other polymers.
The key discussion in this topic is how to recycle spools. Is there a method with that you produced filament or something similar just by using a spool as input material ?
I have no problem with it, if you do not want to explain your words so that I or others can understand them but i guess it would help everyone if you make clear what you want to say and how that benefits others.
-Marius
okay forget it just recycle them I dont care Marius just do what you want to do
1 Like
Hey all,
We are in the middle of setting up a spool recycling program here in the UK. We have already connected to a few retailers. The basic idea is, you send us your box of empty spools and we purchase them off you…
For those outside the UK, unfortunately, at this present moment we cannot pay for postage from outside the UK, however we will still credit your account with a set amount per spool.
The spools will be turned in to circular products and reused rather than sent to landfill. We to vet members wishing to join the program and there must be a set of spools with a minimum amount in the package to make it worth while. Nether the less…
Interested? Like to find out more? We are especially interested in Makerhubs and Retailers specialising in 3D Printing tech joining our program.
Contact me at info@fila-cycle.com
Thanks
Scott - CoFounder at fila-cycle.com
2 Likes
Hi Muckychris,
If you don’t mind me asking, how much do you sell them for? Thanks!
At $2.99 they hang around for a while - slow sell.
Jim_12
April 8, 2015, 7:23pm
50
Good solution would be to use them again for the reason they where created I think. This means no resources are needed. Many people forget that recycling is a process that needs resources. What would you think if you new that your spools are being recycled using electricity power produced by coals?
Return programs set up by the producers of filament would also be a good solution.
I am building my own filament extruder and keep my spools to make new ones with the 10kg pellets I have here.
of course if filament extruders would be available to anyone, then even shipping back empty spools would not be needed anymore as everybody could reuse their own empty spools!
3 Likes
“Return programs set up by the producers of filament would also be a good solution” - see my reply a little bit below…
1 Like
BDan
April 8, 2015, 8:59pm
52
Exactly! see below, I think one or two hubs in every city should take the initiative and buy/build a decent filament extruder and produce for locals. Personally, I don’t believe a DIY extruder can output a good tolerance for the commercial prospect. I mean if I’m going to provide fresh filament to local users (with spool return policy), I’m responsible for quality and safety (equipement or some components needs homologation)… There are some pretty precise Twin Screw Extruders out there (mainly in China) ready to ship for around 4K$. One thing I can DIY is a shredder to recycle failed parts and supports (on return policy) and other plastics from the recycling bin like PLA milk and juice bottles, etc. But then again, why bother reinventing the wheel when there are some pretty heavy duty shredders out there on Alibaba for example. So if you read below, Im asking local Hubs to co-fund some serious equipement if they want co-ownership and the advantages from that, being high quality filament basically for free and revenues from sales. Having local production and a spool return program and plastics recycling program would drastically reduce the price of filament for local users and 3D printing will emancipate. I want to be among the pioneers. Cheers!
Hey BDan, good thinking… get in touch with me, I am interested, maybe we can look at this idea a little more closer.
info@fila-cycle.com
Scott
1 Like
In terms of return programs and not “what you did with?”, I think it should be the way the industry should go. There are many reasons for that including the following:
filament spools are different depending on brands (colorFabb ones are clear transparent plastic for example)
it would be stupid to destruct an object that would need to be recreated
it is the way all brands are going. See Nespresso for example.
Do you know the use your customer have?
This discussion is getting very interesting to me but, TBH, I’m having trouble keeping track of people’s inputs though. Perhaps the way I’m viewing the page or maybe just the format. BUT!! I think we have something here. Not p*** in anyone’s fire here. Just want to structure thoughts a bit…
1) There’s no sense recycling spools because they’re useful and it would use still more energy to do so
2) There are many different spool formats and sizes
3) If, for every geographical “set” of printers, there were a “centralised” shredding, extruding, spooling facility, we’d be able to get recycled material with many financial and environmental advantages.
4) Such a facility would be scalable, according to local print demand and number of printers.
5) Diversity of spool designs need not be a big issue as facility spool stock would probably reflect usage of the local printers to a large extent.
I’m sure I’ve missed something. Anybody got anything to add?
This is really interesting!!!
Cheers!
AndyL
Pot8oSh3D
2 Likes
