Now You Can Recycle Your 3D Prints Affordably*

[@thenextlayer]

Thanks for watching! I'd really love to hear your honest opinions on my results? And let me know, please, if you still want to see more videos in this series as I experiment with making filament?

[@The_Chillguy7]

include a magnet in the washing cycle to remove the metal bits

[@sahie]

Wouldn’t washing the failed prints prior to grinding be the simplest way to remove things like sawdust? That way they’re clean when you grind them. Also maybe washing them prior to storing and storing in airtight bins. I swear I’m not on a high horse, it was just what I was thinking when I saw your storage and you did say the pro-tip was not to do that. 😂

[@The_Chillguy7]

@@sahieit would but metal particles and wood particles from inside of the shredder would get with the ground up plastic

[@sahie]

@@The_Chillguy7 would that still be an issue if it was used solely for reclaiming filament?

[@The_Chillguy7]

@@sahieyes and also it would be harder to clean the models then the shredded up plastic because you can’t just dump it in a tub with water

[@cuthwulf]

Well, it looks like my time watching this channel has finally come to a crossroads I didn't expect. I'm an engineer at an aluminum can recycling plant. I've worked with aluminum and can shredders for years. Here are some keys, but please feel free to message me with any questions or if you want to discuss: 1. You're going for too large a downgrade in sizing from your printed parts to your sieve. If possible, it would be better to have two inline shredders with large sieve first, setup with a "chopper" style shredder. Believe it or not, looking at your current teeth/mast setup, that's what you have. The second shredder would have the smaller sieve and have more of a grinder setup (smaller teeth, with multiple, multiple rolls). This produces less heat in both setups. For the first one, you'll want the "V" setup toward the middle. This encourages breakage and less heat against the sides of the bin. In aluminum, the first shredder is often referred to as a preshredder or a "bale buster" because it's only job is to just break the larger pieces to medium pieces and to pass along a consistent size to the main shredder, where the majority of heat and shredding occurs. 2. One of the "issues" you're having is because shredders rely on the weight/gravity of the material in the first pass to drive down the material. In aluminum, we're fortunate because cans are baled in dense briquettes that help with this, but we do still have to feed in thicker gauge pure aluminum to help feed the shredder and keep from clogging the teeth. In your case, it may be good to test out feeding thinner material/lighter material first, then loading denser prints on top. Metering out the densities is a good component of shredding. 3. I'm still unsure why you need to wash/dry the material, but with aluminum we use a rotary drum to accomplish this, with baffles on the inside and we can adjust the temperature, tilt angle, rotational speed, and inlet conveyor speed. All this allows us to control the residence time and the amount of heat. I would suggest that you could probably accomplish the same thing with a dry filament box where you could add a slow mixer inside, turn on the dry box, set the time and temp, and then it would be easy to monitor the moisture % as opposed to the internal temp of the filament. 4. Finally, one thing we use that I could see being very handy here for your dusty environment (trust me, you have nothing on an aluminum plant when it comes to dirt/dust), is we utilize a ton of "shaker pans". They're very easy to make. Simple hook up a vibration unit of any type you like to a "pan" that has a sieve of appropriate size for your material in the middle of it. We use four large springs, one on each corner, and just let the material pass on it (the pan is tilted slightly). Material shakes, dust falls off/through and you can adjust tilt/vibration to increase or decrease separation and time needed to pass over. Hope this helps. I cannot stress enough that the teeth setup in the shredder is absolutely the key component of a shredding line. If you have one setup, you're shredding automobiles, another you're shredding paper, another you're shredding aluminum and light metals.

[@thenextlayer]

Wow. This was so helpful. I’m not going to build another shredder because this will work even if not ideal, but there was a lot of great information here. Thanks!

[@RyanCrossOfficial]

This is great information. I'm an engineer as well (though without any of the specific experience you have) and I had some similar thoughts. I understand the project may not seem worth continuing much further, but I would really love to see the multi-stage shredder approach being applied. While I understand the need to wash/dry the filament, I also agree that some better approaches to filtering/shaking/sieving material at stages would also help, and the drum-dryer would be a good way to handle some of that. I think this could also make the human time/effort involved in the process would go way down. What is being described is a bit like a conveyer-belt toaster. Perhaps the big difficulty is also keeping all of this equipment and processing into a small enough area, without needing to have a fully industrial scale system.

[@מיכאלקשי]

@@cuthwulf this is gold

[@simply_exploration]

Awesome information! In this case, would having a quick-change sieve be a cheaper and sufficient option, or do you need two sets of teeth? Could that be an upgrade at a later date, depending on throughput? I'm considering this for a small-scale home or maker space setup.

[@RyanCrossOfficial]

@@simply_exploration having two stages as described is about having different size of shredding outputs. A bit like cutting your food into smaller chunks before chewing into smaller pieces to swallow. The other analogy is can think of is sand paper. If you go directly to fine grit, it will be very hard and take longer to get the right surface and if you only go with a rough grit, you’ll never get a fine finish, so you need to sand with rough grit before sanding again with fine grit. If you look at similar systems like the filabot reclaimer, you’ll see this two stage model in a single tool, otherwise ive seen plenty of others with 2 machines- a rough shredder and a smaller grinder

[@BloodyMobile]

Not even 100% over budget AND he now knows how to weld. I'd say that this went better than expected overall. And I really love these projects, even though currently it would not be reasonable for me to do one myself. The more people do these, the more knowledge about how to do them and what /not/ to do is out there. And ideally the process of getting parts also becomes easier.

[@chasingpips]

Please do not stick your hand in there when its running. IF those teeth get ya, you will not be able to turn it off in time before it does massive damage. Be safe and Nice looking setup honestly.

[@thenextlayer]

Good point. I’ll make a stick out of PLA to adjust stuff when it’s stuck.

[@ChrisHeerschap]

Kinda shocked to see this comment so far down and with so few likes. I cringed when I saw that. Wouldn't reach anywhere near those blades unless it was completely unplugged, and might even work in a mechanical lock to keep it from moving. Reaching in while it's running... heeeellll noo.

[@thenextlayer]

@@ChrisHeerschap Yeah, I won't do that again.

[@deafengineer]

​@@thenextlayer good idea. When you do, though, build it with multiple intentional fail points so when the stick gets caught it snaps a chunk off instead of jamming the whole stick in place OR getting caught and becoming a lever that smacks you.

[@impact0r]

How much is it worth it for you for him to not put his hand in there? Put your money where your "please" is.

[@1870movie]

Your humility is priceless. Thank you for your honesty and transparency.

[@thenextlayer]

Haha thanks :)

[@robertlevandowski4457]

I feel like that acrylic lid really needs to be connected to a deadman switch, so that the motor can't run if the cover isn't closed, especially since the hopper is big enough to accept a human limb.

[@dustinroberson1865]

If they didn't want to buy a switch, they could have easily ran the ground into the lid and had it make contact on the other side. Clamp it down and it's a solid contact. unclamp it and you lose your ground. Essentially the same thing as a bought deadman switch, but free.

[@-n3rv1o43]

I am honestly very pleased that you building projects not for moneymaking or just fun, but to help people in the way that we feel actually better and even though this project is overwhelmingly ambitious, you still doing till the end and i LOVE IT!

[@shadowphyre4746]

I think I saw somewhere somebody that was reclycling filament in 2 steps. Something like taking failed prints and all that stuff, grinding it and extruding it without caring too much about the diameter, chop down that extruded filament into pellets and re-extrude the chopped pellets. I think he obtained way better results that way.

[@ThePetalesharo]

Seems like a good way to do it! I also recognized that getting the correct extruded diameter in one pass seemed like a pain. Was workshopping an idea in my head of extruding to a large diameter, like 3mm, and then down to final at 1.75mm, and have a camera connected to the winding mechanism that would measure droop (since inconsistent 3mm diameter would cause speed up/slow downs of the final diameter) and adjust the winding speed accordingly. Chopping it and refeeding it would definitely be a lot easier though. Could have a blade connected to the extrusion drive motor with a disengageable coupling/gear, and have the blade chop right at the extrusion nozzle. So first pass it auto chops at regular intervals, disengage, feed pellets through again and have it wind a spool.

[@hellothere6627]

This system makes a lot of sense for universities. There is more collective knowledge to get it operating. The economics don’t have to make sense. It is a learning experience for the unpaid students to build and operate, environmentally friendlier with the quantity of waste produced, and it is a community service and outreach option allowing others to recycle their waste and learn more about it. You video is a good guide, inspiration, and what not to do, thank you for making it.

[@FPSG]

I worked for 10 years as a tool and die machinist for an extrusion company and I will honestly say that the cost to performance is impressive. The shredder at least works for the most part, though the blades seem low quality and probably won't last. The majority of the time at the extrusion plant, we did not have any shreaders. We used granulators. They consisted of two sets of knives. Usually 3 attached to a rotor and 2 attached to the bed. The rotor was biased to create a psudo spiral and the bed knives were placed 180 degrees apart and gapped a fraction of a millimeter away from the rotor knives. The edge of the bed knives were only exposed to the same dimension as the holes of the screen or slightly smaller. This means that one direction of the cut would be small enough to pass through the screen. They also would spin at around 1000 RPM. The blades were made from D2 tool steel. We did have some made from A2 but they had about 1/4 the life. Later we added a shreader to our main regrind operation but the shredder fed the granulator. The shredder had about a 25mm screen and the granulators had about a 4mm screen. Our shreader also was a totally different with square inserts on a rotor with bed knives that had passages for the inserts to pass through. Not something that someone could easily build at home. I suppose you could get a spiral cutter for a wood planer, and use it to build a small granulator.

[@thenextlayer]

A lot of this is over my head but the compliment at the top made my month! ;) Yeah I kinda regret not getting at least a stainless steel shredder kit. This one is already rusting.

[@FPSG]

@@thenextlayer I know where you are it would be difficult, but used industrial equipment can be cheaper. An there are aliexpress granulators that you can get for 800 to 1800 usd.

[@32BitJunkie]

Hard to follow that description but it sounds like a giant blender? Could you just use a normal blender? That old "will it blend" youtube channel used to feed in iphones and chonky stuff and they got powderized just fine

[@FPSG]

@@32BitJunkie no, it's more like a spinning paper cutter. The blades shear almost like scissors but with a very small gap between the blades, so like bad scissors. The screen at the bottom let's small enough pieces to fall out so they don't get pulverized. If you Google "plastic granulator" you should be able to find some images that show how they work.

[@garretthazlett9116]

Everything is by far and wide not about money. The skills learned and appreciation of the craft is what's important. Great job and kudos on your tenacity.

[@thenextlayer]

Thanks I really appreciate the supportb

[@realgoose]

There is a very humble maker space at my local library. I could see this type of project supporting the vision of a community library. The community can donate the PLA/PETG waste and the maker space can turn around and help the community learn how to 3d print. Plus, they could sell the recycled spools for cheap to support those donating the waste.

[@BurntMemoriesAlt]

babe wake up, new The Next Layer video released

[@thenextlayer]

Hahaha nice

[@anactualspider6413]

I watched a few others that went down this path. They had issues with with the integrity of their recycled filament. They found that mixing 50/50 virgin material and recycled was just about the best ratio for the homemade filament.

[@josefjelinek]

Refreshing honesty and transparency and not pretending that the result is something better than it actually is... I still think that the best home recycling strategy would be to produce solid blocks/sheets of plastic which can be then used in CNC/laser cutters as it does not require precision as filament does and the base materials for CNC / laser cutting are not cheap.

[@Progress303]

I just posted the same concept. Sheets/slabs is one of the parts it is easier and much faster to fabricate instead of printing. Only drawback is the fact that 3d printing doesn't use as much plastic.

[@josefjelinek]

@@Progress303 I think we are quite aligned on the more pragmatic material reuse. The amount of material from 3D printing is significant if you iterating on prototypes... I also have many spare parts for printers, which I reprinted several times to get the satisfactory quality... some people also go crazy on multicolor prints...

[@caiocapasso]

Even though I'm still saving the money for my first printer, I've been enjoying content related to it. One really important thing to me is that a 3D printer can be sustainable. PLA (and similar) filaments are really cool and promising, and if we have a way to reuse the wasted filament (even if the quality degrades somewhat) is a really important step to that sustainability. Keep up the good work!

[@Adam-rs4en]

I empathize deeply with the kicking-yourself humility in this video. Love it. Pure humanity.

[@cattierfriend]

I definitely still want to see more experiments! watch you try to mix colours and make your own gradient rolls would be awesome.

[@thenextlayer]

Cool I’ll do it. Maybe YT shorts?

[@Schjoenz]

I literally saw a small chunk of plywood dropped to the shredder. You also need to reconsider using plywood. Another thing, why not wash your material first before grinding them? I can see most of your printed wastes are large enough for you to wash it easier than ground plastics. Just make sure that your shredder and catch basin/container are thoroughly clean.

[@WATCHMAKUH]

Subscribed. You’re definitely the most enjoyable channel regarding 3D Printing. Explanations of trial and errors, news, reviews, etc all packaged in a humorous edit got me hooked. Keep up the great work!

[@thenextlayer]

Wow. This is high praise. Thank you 🙏

[@CrashTestZombie-mx3nj]

Honestly - for a lifetime of doing the hobby, it's iterative and rapidly advancing nature, being able to expand on it overtime in tandem with *enjoying printing*? $2700 seems like a steal, to me. Especially when compared to others and factoring in free-intake of raw printing materials. I'm moreso impressed that you were able to print at all, tbh - and without any comprehensive manual to go off of. And, for that success, you are deserving of the honorary title of: Freak 🏆 Job well-done, man. I already know this is where I want to go with my printing hobby - and I now have a reference to a proven working concept.

[@baddan]

Congratulations for your effort! Greetings from Brazil You are a conqueror of this new land called 3d printing

[@richkaiser9453]

you have open doors for more people to try things like this and create someone to create this in to a project build like a ratrig or voron, it's people like you that makes this a great community to be a part of.

[@thenextlayer]

Wow, high praise, thank you!

[@jetblackstar]

Ok. $2,700 for this actually isn't as bad as I thought. You are right pro machines are easy way more expensive. Especially for a pilot project. You should expect many multiples in cost if you're finding your own way. I've been lining up to do this for years. And I do really appreciate you running the gauntlet for us. Sadly the final cost in time in clearing contamination is a big issue with any recycling. It often prevents it from being as cheap. But it's just so much less wasteful. Given we put all this energy and research into turning black goo or soy beans into filament. Projects like this are a small step to refining the process to make it as cheap or cheaper. Thaks

[@benoitlagace]

Add some virgin pellets to regrind to help it smooth out the extrusion process. you surely have to shred them since you bought the regrind extruder but half half with virgin material very well blended can help you also heatsink mounted all around the grinder with fans

[@theimike4360]

Oh man your videos are the best :) and thank u sooooo much for sticking with it :)

[@davidedwards9157]

Assuming most of your metal is steel, I'd suggest adding cow magnets to the bin your plastic goes into, keep them with the plastic through the washing phase, and then pick them out before drying, hopefully with metal fragments attached. No idea what they're called in Israel... They're lozenge-shaped, plastic-coated magnets that farmers will feed to their cow so that if the cow eats a nail or piece of fence wire or..., it'll end up staying in the first stomach instead of perforating it's way through the digestive tract. But the plastic is usually pretty robust stuff, and, for obvious reasons, they're waterproof.

[@vulpix9210]

V pulling to the middle sounds like the best setup, as material will get pushed into the middle and the ones that can't/won't be done in pass 1 should seperate to the sides after the blades try shredding them

[@JakobDam]

Thanks for making this, being so thorough and humble - and let me say, you've quickly become one of my very favorite 3D printer themed channels. Keep up the good work!

[@3DWolfEngineering]

Love to finally see it running, very very well done mate ! - so lovely to see another recycling setup so less plastic goes to waste (in my opinion still the biggest problem with 3d printing) And respect that you haven't given up, as a engineering enthusiast i absolutely understand how frustrating projects especially on that scale can be... cant wait to finally do my large scale projects... About the blade arrangement: i probably wouldn't do it outward, that has the potential of pushing against the walls(which shouldn't be a problem with those thick plates but still just feels wrong) most shredders usually have them inward towards the middle, towards one side or random i believe it doesn't matter too much, as long the force on the motor is as consistent as possible (always the same amount of blades engaging ideally) again awesome video, cant wait for future ones :) and hope you're alright !

[@esurfrider7687]

Hey bro, I have a small print farm and I’m very proud of the fact that the only waste I generate is brims and initial print purge lines. I’ve reduced my failed prints to zero so in other words in my opinion the best way to recycle pla is to not waste it in the 1st place! However if I were to take on a PLA recycling project, I would not seek to reprint with the material, it’s too difficult to turn it back into filament, a better option would be to melt it into silicone molds of various types and take full advantage of the psychedelic color patterns that would naturally come about. If one were creative enough, it could probably be done even without grinding. Just saying it don’t always have to go back in the 3D printer!

[@thenextlayer]

Yeah, the thing is, I don't need anything from a silicone mould, I would just be making something to make it, so ultimately, that's waste. What I want is filament that's decent enough for rough drafts, gridfinity bins, etc.

[@Argosh]

​@@thenextlayerBins couod definitely be done from moulds.

[@BlackHeartScyther]

A silicone mould of a ingot or brick could help with storage of waste material. Or perhaps a funnel so that it doesn't matter the amount of plastic, just melt it when the funnel is relatively full.

[@BlackHeartScyther]

I wonder if you could combine a mould and a pelletizer? Have a silicone bag you put the waste plastic in, heat it up and squeeze it to force the plastic through a pelletizing nozzle? Time to dig up one of those old fashioned clothes wringers?

[@BlackHeartScyther]

Brothers make uses a panini press to melt the waste into bulk molten plastic to make other things. Stuff the blob into a piston based extruder kinda like the cocoa press and pelletize or print directly 🤷‍♂️

[@donnyg313]

I really enjoyed this video. I particularly like the idea of being able to have a community recycling point. Where I am, literally no one does this. I'd also love to see how it goes to try and mix colors, and strength/quality comparisons. You did a great job with this.

[@n8zimphotography]

I discovered this channel from the first video announcement of this project. I’d love to continue learning about recycling filament and seeing this project turn into a production machine.

[@Soederlund]

1:13 into the video I press the "Like button". This guy is by far the most likeable person that also produces quality content that gives you most value for your time spent. GOOD JOB, please keep it up 💯👍💪

[@cronchythelordofchazz]

i love this series and i look forward to a future of less plastic waste. what you're doing is important and appreciated by many

[@ThePetalesharo]

Good job sticking to it and seeing it out! I imagine there's still a good way to go though tbh. I'm prone to dropping projects when they get difficult and I get stumped, so I know it took some effort to get to even this point. You got this!

[@cRobin1375]

I would love to see more of this. I also love this kind of project, so down the line I may be making this myself.

[@elliottlloydhawes9564]

Loving the build of this devilish beast and the hard work and learning you’ve put into it. As a viewer only new to this Chanel it’s been nice to only wait a couple weeks for the final results!!! Sorry to everyone else…. Just wanted to mention Delta and triangle are the same wiring configuration. It’s delta and star that are the two different ways to wire a 3 phase motor

[@thenextlayer]

Ohhh yeah thanks. Shows how much I know!!

[@florianbecker1215]

Thanks for taking us through this journey. I think experimenting with making filament is a long term investigation. Shred/recycle solutions may come down in price and complexity in time, so a knowledge base with "how to treat recycled filament" could come in handy.

[@0CalAgricola]

I love the idea, I hope in the coming years a company or companies come up with a home recycler around $750-1500 (or cheaper!). At that price it could be used by home print farms or small businesses that produce a lot of waste but don't want to go through the cost and hassle to make their own. Anything that keeps more plastic out of landfills and the ocean is a good thing!

[@tomvanbellen2980]

Would love to see more Im concidering to build one this winter

[@brianwilcox2543]

Learning is the best superpower humans possess.

[@cbgslinger]

I’m glad to see you were able to successfully recycle PLA filament waste! Clearly building everything you need for the process is expensive and time consuming. And then the work and time required to get from waste PLA to useable filament seems high! Recycling PLA makes the pulltrusion PET bottle to filament process look easy. I evaluated it and decided recycling PET bottles wasn’t worth the effort. I think you are right; the low cost of PLA filament makes recycling unattractive. What you learned from the project though is priceless and will pay dividends down the road. Thanks for sharing the journey.

[@ayydan]

Super glad to see that you're starting to get consistent results! Annoyingly I've had the same issues with clogging of my melt filter, preventing extrusion of more than about 300g at a time. Strangely when inspecting my clogged filters I really haven't been able to spot any particulate, and it looks more like the material being pushed through is too viscous, slowly warping it and building up pressure over time until it jams. I am planning to try a similar washing technique, but using a 5gal bucket with a mesh bottom inside of another complete bucket to facilitate easier removal of dirt. Interestingly I've noticed that I haven't had issues with moisture while testing, when I forgot to dry a batch it still turned out perfectly, but that is likely more to do with humidity in my region. An idea I had for drying was to again use a 5gal bucket, and attach a stir bar coming from the top, and then again having a mesh bottom to then place it atop one of those circular food dehydrators. My thinking here is that, if done right, the same washing bucket could be used to do the drying as well. As for your unit, what temperature have you been extruding your granulate at? As I mentioned, it almost seemed mine was too cold when operating at 180C. My reasoning for temperature being a factor is that even 100% virgin material was managing to clog in my case (I normally run a 30/70 blend). Very excited to see more from you on this topic!

[@thenextlayer]

Sounds to me like your regrind has large shreds in there which are clogging. Are you sieving it first? I run at 174C and it works nicely, but I had to sift. Also David provides great service and support by whatsapp if you’re stuck.

[@ayydan]

@@thenextlayer yeah I have been sifting, but I may have to get more aggressive with it, I think my grinds are a good size in x/y, but are a bit too long

[@spinningsteel4624]

I really want to see something about strength test of recycled filaments because I'm new to 3D printing but I have experience in metal machining and such and I'm curious how 3d printing stacks up once the materials have been recycled a few times. Great content I've seen from you so far and I will continue to binge watch when I have time. thanks a lot for your hard work!

[@StAnBu84-KM3AGN]

I think this project was dope! I would totally spend it to repurpose failed prints (if the community was willing to bring me their waste) OR take my failed prints to a recycler doing this. What would REALLY make this super cool is if you could take actual household plastics that are being thrown into the landfills and make filament out of that...not just filament out of filament. THAT would be a game changer and TOTALLY worth the money.

[@GarrettBShaw]

While not practical and not something I would do for myself. I would 100% keep watching videos on this series just to see string test and color mixing another fun stuff.

[@DMonZ1988]

well done, its so great that you've made this work to the point that you'll actually be able to use it, and even open up the recycling ability to your local community. i think hte results are great! all things considered, the total cost or even the volume needed for this to recoup the investment isn't that outrageous at all and some of the plus points you mention at the end are arguably priceless. although you said that you want to stick to PLA for the moment, also consider that you could potentially recycle other plastic waste that may accumulate much more quickly. there are already some other nice solutions for plastic bottles but yeah those, maybe yogurt pots, the trays fruit, meat and veg often come in, disposable pens and so on. they might not be materials that cost you much originally but potentially would if you want them in filament form and its another spool not bought.

[@deafengineer]

From my own efforts: highly advise getting a "smash" set up to literally beat the crap out of prints to make them into smaller chips. Water helps with wood, but if all you metal is ferric, you can use a magnet to catch small materials. The toaster oven is absolutely the way to go for drying, but you can also use it to melt material into small "sheets", that you can shred again for more consistent chips and to maybe find missed imperfections. Haven't gotten to where you are yet, but it's an idea! P.s. I went towards trying to remelt the plastic in the oven into sheets because my "prototype shredder" is a old paper shredder. The process so far outputs rectangular plastic chips roughly the size of a eraser at the end of a pencil. I figure that size would be easier to store and hopefully make for more consistent grinding and melting to smaller particles.

[@PatrikTheDev]

I’ve always wanted to make a similar project but as you say, it doesn’t make financial sense (which isn’t necessarily a barrier). What I find more interesting is something like what Precious Plastics is doing: injection molding with those shreds. Since the required precision for that process is significantly lower, you might have an easier time using your shreds that way

[@Pootel]

Seeing this project finally get to fruition is really exciting taking into consideration all of the hurdles you had to go through! Making stuff like this look doable with a quite reasonable budget (for this scope of a project) is actually an amazing leap forward in terms of allowing hobbyists to do hands on recycling, which I hope in turn will provide manufacturers with a reason to develop fully fleshed out consumer products. Also, as a fellow Israeli myself, I hope that people could use this video as a much needed reminder that Jews and Arabs can coexist, just as you and Muhammad can. Great job man, cheers!

[@thenextlayer]

Yeah man! Thanks for the kind words. I bet the “apartheid state” people are scratching their heads now..::

[@mofojones0434]

I live that you did it and showed us all the cost but it would also be interesting to see how low budget you can get this set up to. Maybe see if benders are a comparable alternative or things like that

[@kurtiskinter7201]

Thank you for the effort. My decision to toss my waste in the bin has been suitably reinforced. Cheers.

[@k0mpreni]

Very nice! Also thinking that going with pcbway will be faster for some stuff and as well easier than/ more durable. My 2 cent for quick things that could prevent some issues: - for the waste, I believe that just putting them into huge trash bags will keep them way more cleaner - use a magnet over the shredded filament to remove metalic parts Again, very nice and this stuff will make it more accessible for everyone (I already saw that there is a micro shredder, and maybe a machine to make your own filament event cheaper than the artme soon)

[@TallynTech]

So I started collecting some things when you started this project because I wanted to re-create it for myself. Then after seeing the total cost and effort of what you've gone through ( I wouldn't be down for hand cranking a shredder ). I've settled on that will work best for me and that is to just build an Artme Extruder and buy new lower cost virgin filament pellets to make my own filament. I was looking about just maybe building a pellet extruder for one of my printers but they are not really good for anything other than really super large 3d printers, ( like Elegoo Giga minimum and much bigger ). So buying the virgin pellets is like 1/4th of the price of buying the spooled filament and comes with the added benefit of being able to play around with your own custom mixtures of additives. For example how much carbon fiber I might want to add, or glass fiber, or even making my own custom combos like ABS + PC is super amazing filament.

[@MikePhirmanWatchables]

You are awesome, and even though I can’t make this (on account of money, time, or space), I LOVE that you did it, and I would absolutely donate my failed prints to someone nearby who could make one.

[@deafengineer]

I'm excited to keep rewatching this like a wannabe alchemist listening TO A "How to" guide to change lead to gold.

[@overcaffeinatedengineering]

I'm thinking of buying a hand-cranked version from precious plastic. I would still be interested in seeing more videos on what makes for good recycled filament. Personally, I don't really print for strength, but things like appearance, flow, temperature, etc. would be really interesting to me.

[@thenextlayer]

Ok I might do more videos !!! Try the hand cranked and let us know!!

[@onaclovtech]

I enjoyed hearing about your process and immediately was thinking that a hand crank option hooked up to a bicycle might be a fun workout device that also saves the environment

[@thenextlayer]

Good point, I hadn't considered using your legs. This would be a cooler project honestly.... and maybe I'd get some actual exercise. Why didn't I think of this lol

[@JRT3D]

I've literal a TON of Bambu poop and more from a local farm :) Doing similar to you the last couple years and moving forward to list myself onto Prusa in the USA...cheers :) $1K on my shredder/grinder $800 on ARTME. I really enjoy recycling. Especially when you know it doesn't get recycled properly. Thanks for caring and contributing. WITH OUR POWERS COMBINED!

[@steveking4878]

I think I’ll start saving my PLA waste in a sealed bin, in hopes that I’ll be able to find a local recycling solution (ideally one where I can get a roll of filament back!) in the future.. I already only print in 2 colors (black and grey, it’s for prototyping parts) so sorting would be easy. Great vid, thanks!

[@dhenion]

Excellent video - thanks for sharing all this. And yes - I'd like to see what happens when you mix different colors, like orange and blue, etc.

[@jtclark5274]

I built a hammer mill for recycling the iron powder from pressed parts (toroidal inductor cores) in the 90's and found random offset blades were the most effective to avoid buildup patterns.

[@thenextlayer]

Yep. I rebuilt it with a V, and now I think I should do random. Still bunching up in the middle.

[@alexvolodarsky8103]

Thanks

[@thenextlayer]

Wow, thanks so much!

[@Dalardan]

This is really, really great! This is your most interesting project! Please continue it!

[@OSRxButcher]

I know a local 3D printer that limits waste but wants to recycle. Has been collecting sorted bags in his garage waiting for something like this to pop up in the area. Just doing for myself I would be willing to drive across the city to dump my scraps as well. Hope this catches on. Great job on this project.

[@thenextlayer]

Send him the video!!!

[@the1bmc1]

I really enjoyed watching your process. I am working on à similar project at my local makerspace. Please make more on this

[@TS_Mind_Swept]

I thought the project was neat and I'm glad you were able to come to a point you could call it complete (at least mostly). While I don't exactly have a plan on making one of my own, I _have_ been sorting my failed Prince / residues in the original bags the filaments came in since I started printing, so whenever taking or sending them to a place to get them recycled comes up, that part will already be... well, sorted Keepo

[@professortuber8389]

Company called Taskmaster grinders uses a similar setup to grind cannabis waste. Blades rotate inward to center to shred. Could add another shredder/blender under grinder and step down particle size.

[@firefil]

Very awesome work! An idea to remove the sawdust, maybe using magnets or electromagnets can help getting rid of magnetic waste.

[@Wombatzone31]

use static electricity to attract the grinded plastic which will leave the metal on the bottom. And you can scoop out the wood chunks in the bath phase as it will float.

[@nl8345]

Failures are great! Thank you for doing all that. Great video again.

[@goodsoldier1p1_7]

Love all your videos! I just started my 3D printing journey last week, but if I've had a stray thought (like how could I recycle all this wasted filament) I've found out that you already have a video for it, or, have mentioned you will be making one! Stay safe and thank you!

[@thenextlayer]

What other stray thoughts do you have? Sounds like you’re a treasure trove of good ideas!!

[@goodsoldier1p1_7]

@@thenextlayer right now I’m working on modeling on sections that will work like the magnetic tiles, and use them as dividers or even containers. Some stray thoughts though, my wife does a ton of sublimation so what all can I make to make her production time go by faster. Making her a honeycomb wall would help but not like it does for me. So I’m thinking for of tumbler clips, pen holders (to hold it while she’s wrapping the design on it), something to help her put fragrances in the car fresheners, etc. Also how to keep my 13 month old from climbing over the gate, but sadly 3D printing won’t fix that problem 😂

[@UlfSiddaIndustriesllc]

I'd like to see more. I can apply this or much of this to my more broad recycling setup I have here at home. Color mixing especially would be a huge boost to the knowledge I've already collected

[@leafprints3d]

Such interesting information! I'm currently composting my waste so it sounds like if I do this, I should maybe focus on pelletizing soda bottles since that would keep more out of landfills

[@JackWagonOne]

Brother, please, look into making some safety interlocks for the grinder portion. You need to think about having simple control circuitry that helps the system "fail safe". Even something as simple as a few NO switches on the acrylic lid.

[@marcayres8567]

I'm just about to get my first printer but if i love it, I'll definitely build one of these, i probably have 90% of the components in my shop already & I'm a welder so shouldn't be a problem...💚🇬🇧🌱

[@hillzy3611]

If you get two containers to wash out the granules you could, drill holes on the bottom of one tub, stick down a fine mesh. Place the drilled tub inside the whole one, wash, lift out the drilled tub to separate solids from the liquid.

[@thenextlayer]

Good idea. I’m gonna try this

[@sliverbaer]

Congrats on completing this. Definitely a challenge. I'm still saving my scrap, but not only is building it a lot of work it's quite a process to make the filament too. Wouldn't it be great if LDO made a sweet kit for these?

[@3rdpig]

I appreciate your honesty in making it plain that this isn't cost effective for the average 3D printer or hobbyist. And no, despite the fact that I already have all the skills needed to build it, I wouldn't considering the years it would take to pay for itself, the man hours required to run, maintain and keep it repaired and in working condition....and that I can get a high quality PLA for $13 a roll. But I did enjoy watching the series and would watch more, I love building machines even when they fail. But don't break the bank, money really isn't everything until you can't afford food and housing.

[@dSquared0162]

Great, honest, documentary of the project. Thanks for doing this. Certainly gives me something to think about...

[@thenextlayer]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[@andrewknots]

I’m really impressed that you have done this. I would not, but well done!

[@thenextlayer]

Honestly I’m as shocked as anyone.

[@CalebMiller-x6u]

I am working with a makerspace to get filament recycling equipment, but we are planning to buy a used industrial shredder for about $1000. That and the Artme 3D should cost just over $2000 and save a lot of assembly time. I would love to see more recycling videos to help me learn more about recycling.

[@jamesanderson2381]

We have an electric hammer mill style chipper design for wood that we use for granulating waste plastic. It works great and you can change out the mesh size. Not sure how much it cost but probably less than $1000. Uses kinetic energy rather than torque to pulverize everyting.

[@minkwandering3561]

SO EXCITED!!!

[@kjpierson1152]

I was, and still am, interested in this. I want to pursue recycling filament but the cost for the tools is a giant hurdle. I’m not the tree hugger demo that some expect, and I never expect it to break down to be as cheap as new filament from the get go. I keep telling myself “this is for down the line when I sell things”, but I’ve yet to get there lol

[@mechnut450]

I would love to do this as i can always use more filament since limited funds to spend on such things. I also think a drill driver to a worm gear would be smarter too if done right.

[@tobins6800]

I have plans to try and go a different route. Using my oven similar to what you burnt your hand on, making forms and using that. Also, i do plan on trying to do the same thing with soda bottles and caps.

[@stevewilliams91]

Could you whack some peltier element on the grinder as a quick and dirty way to cool down the shredding?

[@TheSolongsidekick]

Uh... no. You know heat has to, like, transfer from place to place, right? You know how when you burn your hand your foot doesn't hurt? Also, peltiers are completely worthless. The faster society understands that, and idiots don't come out of the woodwork every couple months claiming to have thought up a new technique to do something when in reality it's been tried numerous times and doesn't work, the better.

[@kevinsmart2165]

My goodness. Even a single step of this process, be it sorting, shredding, washing, drying, etc, or the mess and headache involved, would deem this whole endeavor "not worth it". Good for you for not giving up, because I would've a long time ago.

[@Kbirson1]

Impressive work! A few potential ideas. With respect to the grind direction, most that I see have two wheels turning in different directions to get the most grinding force. Having it funnel into the middle might put too much stress on the middle gears, especially with bigger chunks. I think you could recoup your investment more quickly if you offer a grinding service rather than selling spools. People can bring their waste (assuming there are a lot of people doing printing in your area), get it shredded, and walk away with a spool. The other would be to offer a waste collection service, where people can just dispose of waste filament at your shop. Last, I think a big time saver would be to forgo the color sorting altogether, or keep a batch that's all mixed that you can sell at a discount ($10 a kilo) for prototyping (where the color wouldn't matter. Thanks for sharing your experience!

[@Matty-Realise]

HELLO 11 SECONDS, OMG NEVER BEEN THIS REALLY I LOVE YOUR VIDS, ITS A WHOLE EVENT TO SIT DOWN AND WATCH WITH MY DAD

[@thenextlayer]

THANKS, this was heartwarming to read :)

[@TheGuilev]

Amazing works, congrats ! Can be used to recycle PET bottle too and reduce more your waste and cost.

[@thenextlayer]

Thank you! Cheers!

[@vstolpner]

Yeah, absolutely would love to see more about color mixing and testing quality. I think it would go a long way to incentivizing more recycling centers to open up in more places if it can be shown that the filament is at least nearly as good. As for is the project worth it? Only in the sense that I would love to have a place to donate my filament in my area and know that it goes to good use. This is especially important with more and more inexpensive multi color machines coming out and creating a real filament waste issue

[@mattlberge]

I'm still interested in the recycling and learning more about how it goes in practice. Though I understand if it doesn't get enough views to be worth it

[@Pyriscent]

Currently this version is too big for my uses but I would love to see a mini version in the future.

[@pcpanikMusik]

I have a thought. If you only want to reuse PLA, couldn't you put it on a baking tray and bake it at around 70-80° until it's so soft that you can roll it flat and cut out suitable pieces that you can simply shred with a blender? Alternatively, you could cut out circles the size of a CD. Then have them shredded with a CD shredder. These are often found in high-quality office shredders. Not everyone can build this large device and put it in the corner. Just a thought, but of course it can also be a far-fetched idea. But somehow it seems to make more sense to me to melt the material into manageable pieces so that you can shred them with smaller devices.

[@NCVluminati]

I respect the effort and yet it's probably gonna be another 10 years before I'll be able to do anything like this. Still though what you are doing will definitely contribute to the community of people who can actually afford to do this and hopefully benefit their community

[@ivantrail702]

Projects, especially hobby projects, are rather scary when counting cost. Best not to and just enjoy the process. Also, good job finishing this rather monumental project! 👍

[@thenextlayer]

I like this approach!

[@titusm9837]

hmmm....you should look at flower making machines (i think the term is "grain mill") as those make flower from corn or cereals so it should work for plastic with some adaptation. It works much faster. I remember my grandpa using one and shredding 50kg of corn would take a few minutes. My grandpa had a version with rotating blades that were not fixed -- they were acting like hammers. the size is smaller than your version but it is way faster as it work with high speed blades.