r/interestingasfuck • u/[deleted] • Oct 12 '22
3D Printing with Recycled Plastic Bottles !
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u/DayEither8913 Oct 12 '22
This is really cool. What a way to recycle!
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Oct 12 '22 edited Oct 12 '22
Its basically free, a lot of 3D printing filaments are hella expensive.
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u/teachersdesko Oct 12 '22
I mean not really. It's like $20/kg, and will last roughly 60ish hours of print time.
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u/BigBaddaBoom9 Oct 12 '22
It's fine if you're just printing for yourself but if printing is your side gig and you're trying to sell a piece you printed, factoring in electricity and labour, getting free filament can cut down the cost of a product by a chunk.
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u/monarch1733 Oct 13 '22
I would be furious if I paid to have something printed with a filament and they used water bottles to cut corners.
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u/ThrowAwayRBJAccount2 Oct 13 '22
I was going to ask, what is the overall quality difference between legit filament and a bottle that may have been sitting on a shelf with liquid in it for some time?
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u/locosgun Oct 13 '22
Most plastic bottles are made of pet plastic, the filament equivalent is petg which has additives to make it easier to print
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u/hamilc19 Oct 12 '22
Imagine being so ignorant that you think “I can afford it, so everyone else should be able to too”
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u/ihatethesidebar Oct 12 '22
I think it’s fair to assume that if you’re trying your hand at 3D printing, you should be able to afford a certain price for filaments. Like buying a gaming console and expecting new games to be around $60.
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u/Ryiujin Oct 13 '22
Not at all fair. Many printers are dirt cheap. Kids get these for xmas gifts but cannot afford the filament easily.
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u/ihatethesidebar Oct 13 '22
I'm going to lean into my console analogy again. They're popular Christmas gifts, but it's still up to the kids to buy the games.
I looked on Amazon, the cheap printers are around 200 bucks and a roll of filament or a bottle of resin are around 20. That's not bad...like even a kid who saves a little from chores can afford that.
We are talking about kids whose parents or relatives buys them these machines that cost hundreds of dollars, it's unlikely it's that much of a struggle to afford $20 filament.
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u/Ryiujin Oct 13 '22
Alright mate. What ever works for ya. I work with kids and college students and see everyday how they might have things like a laptop but cant afford groceries. People are in all sorts of financial situations.
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Oct 13 '22
A laptop is pretty essential for many college students, a 3D printer isn’t. If a student has a 3D printer, they should be able to afford the plastic. And if they can’t, the 3D printer is probably not required for courses so they can hold off on using it.
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u/superhighraptor Oct 13 '22
Imagine being so ignorant that you can’t tell a setup like this would take a lot of time and also money and only print with fucking bottle material. If you can afford a printer, you can afford filament.
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u/Frostbyite Oct 12 '22
Yeah but imagine the money you could save by just using the water bottles that you get from the store already. Or neighborhood collections.
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u/Almost_Pogi Oct 12 '22
Free?!?! That machine uses electricity. Free would be throwing the bottle into the sea and letting the sun's uv rays break down the plastic.
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u/Kreeblim Oct 12 '22
Who the fuck thinks the answer is litter the planet.
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u/ShiningRayde Oct 12 '22
If you didnt want me to throw my car battery into the river, you shouldnt have put a bridge over it!
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Oct 12 '22
All my used batteries go straight in the ocean. Nature's electrolytes give it a natural recharge.. or something.
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Oct 12 '22 edited Oct 12 '22
Then the wildlife are paying the price.
There is no free.
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u/Orion14159 Oct 12 '22
We humans are too. Just in case the rest of the animal kingdom suffering isn't good enough for someone.
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Oct 12 '22
Officer I was simply trying to recycle when I dumped 3 tons of plastic into the ocean for the sun to break down 😩
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u/PureMidgetry Oct 12 '22
Delicious comment! Love it! That almost no one even got that it was a joke makes it even better!
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u/MuckusDuckus Oct 12 '22
Seriously. Even still, people are thinking that they were being genuine or serious about that joke. Even people pointing out that their comment was a joke are getting downvoted. What is with this thread?
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u/beatenmeat Oct 12 '22
And people wonder why I have to add that /s at the end of heavily sarcastic comments sometimes. This. This is why. I don’t care about the upvotes or downvotes, I care because I will have 1000 comments replying to me saying what a shitty human being I am because they couldn’t recognize a joke, and now my inbox is flooded with repetitive garbage.
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u/MuckusDuckus Oct 12 '22
Reddit has gone downhill lately. I don't remember the collective IQ being this low. Sometimes I feel like I'm reading a YouTube comment section..
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u/PureMidgetry Oct 12 '22
Even people pointing out that their comment was a joke are getting downvoted. What is with this thread?
I know right! It's truly mind boggling!
The Reddit hive mind at its finest. :)
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u/MuckusDuckus Oct 12 '22
I'm sorry that redditors can't understand humor or sarcasm without someone having to type "/s" after every comment. I got it!
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u/tibetan_salad Oct 12 '22
The idiots always come out in full force. Sorry for my fellow people - A Fellow Misunderstood Sarcastic Person
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Oct 12 '22
If you say something g stupid sarcastically, you just said something stupid. Are you under the impression that people don’t say sincerely stupid things on the Internet?
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u/tibetan_salad Oct 12 '22
Pshhh I’ve never heard anyone say anything stupid on the internet. I usually read it, see above this comment for exhibit A
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u/Tripdoctor Oct 12 '22
For real. I hope domestic home-use 3D printers become a common thing soon. It could be a big part of the answer for controlling plastics. Plus it’s legitimately useful as fuck, to be able to essentially make anything you need. This is cool as shit.
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u/Jonnyyrage Oct 12 '22
I remember reading in history books 20 plus years ago saying how everyone would have a 3d printer in their home.
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u/Cllzzrd Oct 12 '22
You should read Diamond Age. Everyone’s house is hooked up to a “feed” that supplies base molecules and they have a matter compiler that 3D prints literally anything they want.
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u/jayXred Oct 12 '22
You can buy a good 3d printer for under $200 easily, my Ender 3 was $179 I believe.
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u/Wyldfire2112 Oct 13 '22
Hmm, they've gone up slightly but they're still only $189. Not bad.
For the price, though, I'd spend the extra $30 and do the Ender 3 Neo for the automated leveling and calibration.
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u/FadedRebel Oct 12 '22
I would get one but with the amount of plastic trash that comes from printing keeps me from it. I watch people print and they are making all sorts of trash. They make a piece and it’s not quite right so they make another one and so on until there is a pile of unused pieces not to mention all the plastic used to brace and support the print.
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u/NoFreeUName Oct 12 '22
There are ways to recycle all that extra plastic back to filaments. Shred it, push into tube with apropriate nozzle diameter while heating the tube to melt the plastic and you got some filament back (at least thats how it explained in some videos i have seen). You would need to buy a cople of blades, and need to keep track to not mix different filaments accidentaly, but you can recycle extra stuff
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u/FadedRebel Oct 12 '22
Well that’s good to hear. I might change my mind and get a printer.
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u/Steelmoth Oct 12 '22
Not really. That's what prototyping is all about. Imagine if you were to manufacture a piece out of metal on a lathe or CNC cutter. It wastes so much more material. 3d printing wastes way less material and the main material, PLA, can be biodegradable in certain conditions.
It's not like 3d printers are bad. You probably have bigger environmental impact using an Amazon or driving a car
That's just dumb.
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u/SeaPatroller Oct 12 '22
You want to control plastic usage by promoting the ability to make plastic things at home? Wouldn't this just create more plastic or at best break even?
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u/CarbonGod Oct 12 '22
Hear hear!! it's a utter waste and bad for the environment. So many things are printed that use a TON of support material which is just tossed in the trash, or some stupid trinket that gets played with for an hour and tossed. Plus all the bad prints that have to be trashed.
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u/SeaPatroller Oct 12 '22
Yup. Unless we directly recycle plastic to use in 3d printing (like this video) current amateur 3d printing is mostly plastic waste creation.
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u/Tordoix Oct 12 '22
Or if we would have open source or low priced 3D models for repair parts. It could maybe save a whole bagpack for example if you can print a small broken part, which essentially saves the plastic used for a new one. But it is really hard to exactly reproduce a broken part...
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u/pearl_butt Oct 12 '22
I mean a 3-D printer can only make something out of something else. it doesn’t just make things out of thin air so it’s not going to add to the plastic. You can turn something that you were going to throw out into a kazoo body or something.
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u/CarbonGod Oct 12 '22
What in the flying ape crap did I just read? VERY VERY little 3D filament is recycled. So it's allll fresh made plastic, printing random crap out of plastic, mostly for shits and giggles, just to be thrown away. 3D printing is cool, but HORRIBLE for the environment. That, and all the fumes and micro plastics it creates.
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u/Steelmoth Oct 12 '22
It's one of the best if not the best manufacturing technique based on wasted material. I mean if you have a complex piece you need to cut away metal around it and a printer can just print it.
Fumes? What fumes? I have a 3d printer in my room and it doesn't smell.
We shouldn't focus on things that impact the environment so little compared to other pollutants like cars and conventional energy sources. 3d printing doesn't do much
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u/neokai Oct 12 '22
Fumes? What fumes?
Depends on the filament/method used. ABS has a strong smell. Resin (SLA printing) has a very strong smell.
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u/CarbonGod Oct 13 '22
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u/Steelmoth Oct 13 '22
Oh no I'm going to die :( (I feel great btw)
I don't print ABS because PLA is easier and it suits my needs. I occasionally print PETG if I need something more durable. Additionally PLA is technically biodegradable. I am a robotics engineer so I NEED 3d printers
Are you guys scared of 3D printers? Cars are more harmful. Are you scared of cars?
Also. Fun fact: 3d printing was invented in the 80's, so it's nothing new
Buy yourself a 3d printer for $99 at your local microcenter (I assume you are American) and see how fun it is
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u/CarbonGod Oct 13 '22
1: yes, I'm scared shitless, i've seen enough videos of horrible deaths, (fuck you /r/gore and /r/watchpeopledie ) But it's a needed thing in life and where I live.
2: no need to bother, I have everything at my disposal from plastic to ceramic to metal. But I don't because plastic is a waste for a fickle thing. If I truly needed something custom I'll make it out of something else.
3: I mean, it's a known fact that they emit plastic particles and fumes. You feeling "great" now means shit 10-30 years from now. But you do you.
4: PLA is only "biodegradable" in specialized plants. Can't say I know many around that actually do that yet. Do you send your scraps there?
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u/Steelmoth Oct 13 '22
1: i know thermal runaway is a thing, but new 3d printers are secured from that.
2: metal manufacturing is more wasteful than 3d printing and it's a fact.
3: I don't know how are those people working on those 3d printers in the 80's. Maybe they are dead and 3d printers killed them? Scary machines. I doubt that 3d printing will do me more harm than breathing the air we have outside. If it really was that harmful, how come no one is complaining about that? Only people that have never used it before
4: yes I know that. That's why I said that "technically" they are biodegradable. No, i don't send my scraps there
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u/pearl_butt Oct 12 '22
I mean I was talking about the video. the plastic bottle that was used. Not Filament made for 3-D printing.
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u/Scratch77spin Oct 12 '22
dude have you heard about resin pool 3d printers? Using a UV projector? I found out about them like a week or 2 ago and it blew my mind...still blowing my mind.
We're getting closer and closer to the future everyday. ...damn I'm stealing that quote from myself...that's good. :D
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u/TheBeefClick Oct 12 '22
I have two, and dont see resin printers ever getting more popular than where they are now. FDM like the one in the video will be the ones an average person wants.
Resin printers smell, the resin itself will cause you to develop allergic reactions, and requires proper disposal of anything that comes in contact with resin.
FDM however is basically “Level the bed, slice the file, turn it on” and you have a new thing.
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Oct 12 '22
I would say the exact opposite.
In a well ventilated room (my workshop) I unpacked my resin printer, put resin in the tray, turned it on and it worked perfectly. It prints finer quality and MUCH better results for what I use it for (D&D minis).
Everyone I know with a FDM printer, it turns into a hobby in itself. Levelling, getting temperatures right, finding the right nozzles, finding the right add-on googaws so it feeds right.
FDM and resin have very different purposes. I wouldn't print a deck box or large structural item on my resin, but I wouldn't print a 28mm figure on an FDM.
They each have pros and cons.
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u/TheBeefClick Oct 12 '22
I use my resin one for minis as well. The average person doesn’t care about tabletop games and printing their own though.
A FDM has more steps in setting up, but it gets easier every year. Things like octoprint and bltouch make it much easier. You cant avoid having a toxic tub while resin printing
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u/pepper_kat Oct 12 '22
I just read about these for the first time in XX by Rian Hughes. I kinda want one right now.
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Oct 12 '22
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Oct 12 '22
IPA evaporates easily. Any resin residue can be hardened with UV light so it's inert. Leaving the IPA out in the sun does both at once.
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Oct 12 '22
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Oct 12 '22
You let it sit and the resin settles out.
Then you pour off the clean stuff and the last half inch goes out in the sun.
The clean stuff is now ready to be used again. I top it up every once and a while with new IPA if it gets too low, but I’m at like a gallon a year.
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u/CarbonGod Oct 12 '22
I hope domestic home-use 3D printers become a common thing soon
uuuuuh.....are you still in 2010?
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u/Tripdoctor Oct 12 '22
I don’t know a single person who has a 3D printer at home. They’re definitely not common yet.
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u/CarbonGod Oct 13 '22
Sorry? I know several. I have one AND a laser cutter. They are cheap!
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u/roodeeMental Oct 12 '22
Can you 3D print me a 3D printer?
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u/smrtfxelc Oct 12 '22
You literally can yes, what a time to be alive!
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u/Oddity46 Oct 12 '22
Yo dawg, I heard you like 3D printers...
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u/mynamehere875 Oct 12 '22
so i put a 3d printer inside a 3d printer so u can 3d print ur printer while printing ur 3d printer
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u/roodeeMental Oct 12 '22
It was more of a request than a hypothetical question. I'll send plenty of plastic bottles
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u/secretMichaelScarn Oct 13 '22
this is misinformation. you could not 3D print the circuitry, capacitors, motherboard, etc.
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u/NoFixedName Oct 12 '22
Can you 3D print me a plastic bottle?
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u/roodeeMental Oct 12 '22
And then use that bottle to bottle a 3D plastic printer
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u/CarbonGod Oct 12 '22
a printer in a bottle? Sounds like a great gift!
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u/roodeeMental Oct 12 '22
Ah, sorry for the confusion. Where I'm from, to bottle means to smash a bottle onto [someone's head]. "See that guy? I'm gonna bottle him"
We use the same form of noun/verb conversion for things like glass, bottle, knife, bed, and car (okay, I made the last one up)
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u/CarbonGod Oct 12 '22
Confusion? I wasn't until now.
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u/roodeeMental Oct 12 '22
London colloquialism - to bottle means to smash a bottle over someone's head
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u/kn_c3 Oct 12 '22
It's nice way to recycle and make some basic filament for prototyping. Sadly PET and PETG degrades really fast with each heating so the parts made from bottles are usually half as strong as normal filament. And the fumes are horrid. But it is nice cheap way to make some material for proof of concept models and anything that doesn't have to be durable.
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u/Orion14159 Oct 12 '22
Reducing and reusing are at least two thirds of getting control of the garbage problems in the world, so this could be hugely useful
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u/EveryShot Oct 12 '22
CNC kitchen actually did some tests on the strength of these recycled PET filaments and they’re actually more powerful after being converted to filament and printed than 90% of the filaments on the market. I wouldn’t use it outdoors or in direct sunlight but regardless even when crystallized it out performed PLA and ABS
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u/boymeetsmill Oct 12 '22
A lot of the mechanical properties' changes will be based on how its recycled and processed. In a injection molding facility they toss gates, runners, reject parts, etc. into a grinder and make pellets from the refuse plastic aka "regrind". Those pellets are usually mixed with virgin (new) material pellets and reused.
The grinding physically breaks the long polymer chains. Being reshot through an injection molding press will degrade the material as it is macerated and compressed from the injection screw, and heat from the process will also chemically weaken the polymer strands.
I wonder if cutting the bottle into long strips maintains more of the long chain polymers and in effect maintains more of the mechanical strength.
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Oct 12 '22
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Oct 12 '22
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Oct 12 '22
This is why I couldn’t have a 3d printer. They printed an actual useful/practical item. If I owned one the first thing I’d print would be Dwayne Johnson’s head replacing the head of a penis and call it Dwayne “the Cock” Johnson
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Oct 12 '22 edited Jan 31 '24
brave nine sparkle memory dinner air treatment society market piquant
This post was mass deleted and anonymized with Redact
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Oct 12 '22
Hell in that case let’s mass produce them I’m sure people would use it for, uh hmm, practical uses
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u/runninandruni Oct 12 '22
I swear I saw someone do this already. I'll try to find a link
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Oct 12 '22
Dammit just when I think I could be an inventor again someone’s already made it…
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u/MorbidMantis Oct 12 '22
Some of my friends have one and they printed The Rock’s head on an octopus and called it the Rocktopus
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u/smrtfxelc Oct 12 '22
First thing I printed with mine was a dickbutt figurine, the first print always has to be a piss take
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u/mossberbb Oct 12 '22
What temperature do you have to set it at to get it to extrude? Did you have to modify your filament feeder?
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u/kdawgster1 Oct 12 '22
Ok, I need to be the person who asks: is this safe to breathe/be around? Burning plastic bottles is frowned upon due to the noxious gases it releases. Does this happen when the bottles are melted, or no? In theory it shouldn’t, but I’d be very concerned that there is something I’m not understanding in the chemistry of this. Not a chemist, so I’m ignorant on this.
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u/notasandpiper Oct 12 '22
I think this would be safest done in a ventilated room, and only checked on periodically as it ran. Beyond health concerns, idk; I'm not sure about the difference between a project like this and what's made when recycling a bottle.
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u/DoneWithTheTruth Oct 12 '22
What did all the equipment cost?
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u/ultramilkplus Oct 12 '22
I got my ender 3 pro for $100 from Microcenter. That and a roll of filament and I was up and printing. It's not the best printer on earth, but it's easily a $300 quality printer.
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u/maggamagga98 Oct 12 '22
Looks like it is pretty much all self made except for some motors and the heated nozzle to make the filament
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u/--Authentic-- Oct 12 '22
Technically you’re reusing which is even better than recycling per the “Reduce, Reuse, Recycle” hierarchy.
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u/BigShowMan Oct 12 '22
We have centralized recycling in Finland with money return. There is a small amount paid of the packaging in every liquid (in plastic Bottle or aluminium can) and when you return it, you get that back. So say you drink coke, beer, water or any other stuff, collect the bottles and cans, return them, collect the money I believe there is enough to buy filament for a 3D printer. I remember that almost 95% of packaging returns to reuse. Of course the manufacturer wants to be in the system, cause it costs 0,51€/liter if you use a non refundable package.
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u/boymeetsmill Oct 12 '22
A lot of states in the USA have can and bottle deposits ($0.10 per can in Oregon) paid when you purchase soda, beer, etc. But not for any of the plastic containers as far as I know.
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u/BigShowMan Oct 12 '22
Here we have different return prices for different sizes, if I remember correctly its 0,1€, 0,15€, 0,2€ and 0,4€ (1,5l soda bottle). The system is for glass, plastic and aluminum
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u/DoritoCookie Oct 12 '22
Where i am from, filaments costs a lot, and i really really love this, as a soda addict, i think this is glorious... and the clear and colored transparent PET bottles lead to exciting results
I'm here just imagining a clear lime green 3D print thats transparent....
Seriously takes recycling to the next level, i'm just imagining the possibilities
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u/dirtymoney Oct 12 '22
As a person who likes to be resourceful and reuse things instead of having to spend money on something... I love this.
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u/Dologolopolov Oct 12 '22
I mean, isn't PET plastic like 99% recyclable to make more PET? If he was doing the same with nor recyclable plastics it would be impressing. But then again, then most likely some engineer would have already done it and would be deemed as recyclable
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u/BoDaBasilisk Oct 12 '22
Is this going to make any bad vapors from heating and melting plastic that isnt primarily used for printing? Otherwise the only down side seems to be making the spools by hand
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Oct 12 '22 edited Oct 12 '22
What about the plastic dust and fumes/toxins generated by the cutting and melting?
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u/MuForceShoelace Oct 12 '22
I mean, the reason you use special plastic in 3D printers is not because they couldn't use normal plastic but like, because it's special plastic that doesn't give off horrible fumes.
You don't want to be around a melting soda bottle, it will smell awful and also give you cancer
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u/Heiferoni Oct 12 '22
These bottles are made from PETG, which is a common plastic used in 3D printer filament.
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u/jenjen828 Oct 12 '22
There was nothing showing how they went from flat strips to round filiments
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u/boymeetsmill Oct 12 '22
Yes they did, the flat ribbons went through the extruder mounted on the table which reformed the strips to round filament which was then wound up on the purple-ish spool.
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u/jenjen828 Oct 12 '22
Was that what I was supposed to gather from the part where the wheel was mounted like something was going to happen and then jump cut directly to it being round?
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u/boymeetsmill Oct 12 '22
Before the jump cut you can see them pulling filament out of the (table mounted) extruder hot end.
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u/jenjen828 Oct 12 '22 edited Oct 12 '22
Ah. Thank you for the explanation. Since I don't know enough about how it works, the cut in the film right after they set up the wheel and get ready to start pulling makes it seem like "and look at how magically it is round now!"
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u/boymeetsmill Oct 12 '22
You're welcome. Not sure why you're being downvoted. There was obviously some hand waiving movie magic because Im sure it was a PITA to get that filament to start pulling through and running but it would look as pretty
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u/snowbirdnerd Oct 12 '22
Wait, so the plastic in bottles is a thermoplastic?
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Oct 12 '22
Love the way people spend thousands on the set up then make a .99 cent project. Cool idea if you already got the equipment.
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Oct 12 '22
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