#7 Tips & Tricks for FREE 3D printer filament maker at home

In my free pet bottle filament maker video- video number 3, many people are interested in doing a similar project themselves. Because I think biggest limitation for the creativity for 3d printing is the filament expenses, and most people would agree with me. Therefore, I received a lot of comments, and questions about the building steps. This video consist of tips & tricks which is gathered from the questions & remarks from previous video.
Link to previous videos:
#3 How to EASILY make FREE filament for 3D printer at home
• #3 How to EASILY make ...
#4 How to change your 3d filament color to any color you want for free
• #4 How to change your ...
#2 How to make 3d printed Wifi Pop Corn Machine
• #2 How to make 3d prin...
Arduino code:
github.com/Mak...
Parts referred in this video:
XT60 Parallel Y splitter
s.click.aliexp...
"www.amazon.com... Parallel Y splitter
All metal hotend for Ender3
s.click.aliexp...
www.amazon.com... metal hotend for Ender3
▬ Contents of this video ▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬
0:00 - Intro
1:33 - Material properties & printer flow rate settings
4:39 - Bottle preparation
7:45 - Giving Custom Colors to filaments
8:07 - Specification of strips
9:29 - Connecting strips to each other (2 different methods)
15:39 -Temperature considerations
17:40 - Electric&electronic setup
19:15 - Github page, and where to find all information

[@ilgu5038]

Thanks for answering my question. I understand know why my straps were getting broke. I am now saving some money on my hobby. Great video. Subscribed!

[@makersfunduck]

No worries!

[@jozsefienciu2325]

THANKS MAN THIS IS A GOOD VIDEO.

[@makersfunduck]

Glad you liked it!

[@ibisibis4621]

Awesome video thank you

[@makersfunduck]

Glad you enjoyed it

[@gzemaktas4099]

Echt super man! Dat is interessant dat alle materialen zijn verschillende model veranderd👍🏻👍🏻

[@makersfunduck]

Glad you enjoyed it

[@EcoPrint-PET]

Awesome video, all my compliments to you and your project, I just want to ask you what is the components connected to the digital pins 8 and 9 on the Arduino board, I will try to build your filament maker soon, many thanks for sharing 🙏

[@makersfunduck]

Hi @steve_samui, they are buttons to adjust the temperature

[@mijaiscares8580]

Awesome vid... Only 1 thing, safety first. Don't drill and use ur hand like u do on 12:55. U can be injured in ur finger :c Use gloves or drill on a solid surface like a piece of wood.

[@brandencharles5334]

Hi I find your work really interesting, I am new to this but thought I would give it a shot. So i have put everything together, replaced the buck converter with a DC/DC adjustable 5V module and connected the positive termal for the heating element directly to the power supply (its getting 11v when i tested it) and the negative to the mosfet. The Temp on the set up reads low and slowly increases but nowhere close to 250 C. I tried an Infrared Thermometer to read the temp on the block and it reads in the 70s and climbing slowly as on the LCD it reads 15 and climbing. Thought I would push some through but it just bubbles and doesn't come out right. I have gone through both your videos countless times trying to find anything I have missed but i have not found a solution. Hope you or someone here can help Tired of loosing sleep over this LoL.

[@makersfunduck]

From your description, it seems like you made electrical connections right. How much power your power supply can give? maybe it does not has enough capacity.

[@maryweringa8925]

Great invention! I wonder how much filament you can make from one bottle. I'm very interested not because I'm an eco friendly guy but because I'm really cheap. If the time to make 1kg of filament is not that long, I would definitely wanna do this

[@guidomontana3943]

about 10metters of usable filament, at least that´s what i reached

[@makersfunduck]

awesome

[@AngelHernandez-qy6eq]

Hello, I tried to put everything together and I have 2 problems giving it power. Where do you connect the 2 red wires from the hotend. And I can't see anything on the LCD screen. Sorry if it's misspelled, I don't speak English well.

[@makersfunduck]

I recommend you to check your connection. probably there is a mistake on your connections. you can find details here in `circuit diagram.png`

[@redescubriendo7609]

I have seen several "Make your own filament" videos and I am left wondering: Wouldn't it be simpler to melt the plastic bottles and then extrude them?

[@makersfunduck]

It is matter of money that you are willing to pay. Normally, all filaments that you buy are made like that already, and their quality is way better. But you need a machined extruder, and an integrated heater. and also you need to make some sort of granule maker. It is indeed possible, and it is more proper way to do it. but it would be a couple hundred dollars to make even for a proper DIY version. This method would cost like 10 dollars to make. (most makers like me are pretty poor :(

[@antoniomromo]

The is also the problem of remelting the PET material. It tends to crystallize when melted. This is ok when you heat the strips up enough to make the filament, but the repeated melting necessary for the regular extrusion may leave you with super brittle filament.

[@nirgore100]

Amazing!! Please advise did you upgrade the ender 3 firmware? My ender 3 can't go up more then 260 degree. And one more thing what all metal do you recommend?

[@makersfunduck]

Hi, I did not upgrade ender3 firmware. I simply set it in cura to desired temp. also something like this would work (it is the same thing in the description): s.click.aliexpress.com/e/_AXhDyF

[@anonymoususer6448]

Strip width question: Found this video and I LOVE this idea. Thank you for sharing your experience Can you provide a bit more context on how to came to the recommended strip widths? I have no real experience, but if I try to calculate it, I get different numbers than those that you recommended in your video. I wonder what may cause that. Given that: - 1.75mm (diameter) filament has a radius of 0.875, it has a surface of 2.4 square mm - my cola bottle has 0.3mm thickness, so to get to 2.4mm square, I should make a strip of 8mm width. You recommended 10mm - my water bottle has 0.15mm thickness, so to get to 2.4mm square, I should make a strip of 1,6cm width. I believe you recommended 10mm Did you try those theoretical values? Thank you for sharing your insights. (again, I have no practical experience....yet) /chrisV

[@makersfunduck]

for cola bottles, I have used 5 mm, for mineral water bottles, I used 7 mm. the reason is the viscosity of the melted PET. I tried to make the strip as thick of possible, however, if you do it more thicker than that, it sometimes stuck in the extruder, and you end up starting your print from the beginning. The filament becomes a little hollow (like a tube) this way, and to compensate that I increase the feeder stepper speed rate from the software

[@anonymoususer6448]

Do you have any recommendations for a good, but not too expensive, #allMetalHotEnd ? I have an Ender3v2 and I'd like to print PET from bottles thanks, chrisV

[@makersfunduck]

Hi, It they are usually all OK. If you are in a hurry, you can check the comments on the amazon search: amzn.to/3y8TXQc Or for cheaper ones, you can check aliexpress. for something like this: s.click.aliexpress.com/e/_DmfyzjR

[@criptosauro4587]

How do you modify the firmware so the ender 3 can reach 270 C?? my printer make a beep and turn off

[@makersfunduck]

i did not. The version that I had does not limit the settings. but you can upgrade the firmware if yours does not support it. I also recommend using an all metal hotend for eliminating risks

[@jonnyduster]

Hey so I have watched this video, and as a complete EE noob, I am unable to understand the heating block setup of this.. The mosfet sending the amplified energy output to the heating element right? So then do I just ground the negative cable of the heating element to the breadboard> I'm confused why there is no cable coming back to the board in the diagram. Thank you for your help.

[@jonnyduster]

Also, for the laptop to buck converter.. Is it black for the "+" and blue & white for the "-"?

[@makersfunduck]

Hi, Did you checked the circuit diagram in the github page? it is definetely goes back to ground. github.com/MakersFunDuck/PET-bottle-Filament-maker it is "circuit diagram.png"

[@makersfunduck]

no. black was negative, and white was positive. but better be safe & check it with a multimeter and measure the voltage.

[@jonnyduster]

@@makersfunduck I get the diagram is there but its not beginner friendly.

[@Mestrenada]

Hi, I tried finding this information in the comment section and the other videos but didn't find it. What thickness does the filament have after the strip is melted by the filament maker? I'm asking this because I have a 1.8mm and a 1.7mm drill bits and I wanted to know if which one would be better. Like, if the filamment has 1.7mm after going through a 1.75mm hole, my 1.8mm bit would be good enough.

[@makersfunduck]

it will be around 1.75mm. but it will be hollow. You need to increase the filament feeding speed to compansate that.

[@edge3726]

Hello Im having problems with filament i was using pliers to pull filament but filament gets damage and then extruder cant push filament did you have that problems and if you did how did you solve it

[@makersfunduck]

sounds like a temperature issue to me. you can try to increase the temp. a little bit, and find a sweet spot

[@sametsahin01]

Kaç cm kesmeliyiz şişeyi

[@bl00dh4nd4]

sir what temp should the strips be melted on the filament maker?

[@makersfunduck]

I set mine to 253 degree Celsius. however because of the tolerances of the sensor, it might differ. Thats why I included buttons to adjust the temp.

[@jonnyduster]

It's just the laptop charger powering this right? People on Reddit are telling me I need 2 different power sources

[@jonnyduster]

One for 12v one for arduino

[@makersfunduck]

Hello Jon H, yes. any decent quality DC 12V power supply would do. That was what I had at hand.

[@dthegthompson6217]

Hi, I'd like to work on developing this product with you on a larger scale, let me know if we could discuss it

[@makersfunduck]

Thanks for your interest. However I don't have time for this. But It is released on GNU license, including the 3d design files, and this license lets you to commercialize it for free as well. So you are welcomed to do so :)

[@Chimavideo]

Hello,how mm drill nozzle

[@makersfunduck]

I drilled a nozzle with a driller to 1.75 mm

[@Chimavideo]

@@makersfunduck thank