3DPrinting @lemmy.world GrayBackgroundMusic @lemm.ee 8 mo. ago

Recycling 3D Prints and Waste Plastic into Filament (PET & PLA) by Dr D Flo

Holy crap, that's a lot of work to get a roll of filament. That's only economical if your time is worth nothing. Ugh.

27 comments

tbf, you wouldn't do this because it's cheaper, you'd do it because it's more ecologically friendly and it helps make your 3d printer a bit more sustainable.

But at 20 bucks for a spool of thread, you won't be coming out ahead economically by recycling, I agree.
- It’d be fun to mess around with if it wasn’t 12-18k for the setup.
  
  Yikes. That's a loooooootta filament.
- It's also not more ecologically friendly -- you've gotta use near 80% virgin material with 20% regrind for a good quality product. All you're doing is bringing its production into your house on a smaller, more inefficient scale. And then you're paying this dipshit here $20k so you can save $5 on your 1kg of PLA.
  
  To be fair, however, it is good if you're testing small batches of filament formulations because you're running an actual production line though.
  
  ngl, I've never tried it and I doubt I'm about to start, so prints go into the recycle bin so they can get dumped in the landfill with the rest of the recycling.
  
  But at the very least, it's a better practice to use PLA as your main choice.
  
  The video uses 50/50, not 80/20
- No, the ecologically friendly option is to send it to the recycling.
  
  Assuming it's recycled instead of sent to a landfill.
  
  Once you find out about how the business of recycling works that's often not such a certain assumption.
  
  Assuming it's recycled instead of sent to a landfill.
"That’s only economical if your time is worth nothing." Well, we should all be able to live lives where we can pursue things that do not have monetary rewards. Obviously not everyone is in that position but perhaps for David Florian exploring and learning and trying things is what makes him happy. Of course for him it probably makes money as well, even if indirectly. The fact that his video got shared means more people will see it, and more views means more money, so there's the value for David Florian. It's also worth considering that in science, it's all about trying things and gathering information that will hopefully lead to new (and hopefully lower cost) capabilities.
To be fair, most hobby 3d printing is only economical if your time is worth nothing
- True, in some sense. However, I can't get a lot of the things that I can 3d print. There's literally no way to buy them.
Someone at McGill university figured out how to recycle wind turbine blades into 3d printer filament. However, a single blade made enough filament that it's length could go to the moon and back. From one blade!
- Aren’t wind turbine blades fiberglass? Can fiberglass be printed?
  
  Anything can be printed with enough heat.
  
  See: lava
  
  Yes. Well they are mixed with an epoxy.
  
  You can find the research online with all the details.
  
  Glass reinforcement material is a common filler, just as much as carbon fiber.
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Recycling 3D Prints and Waste Plastic into Filament (PET &amp; PLA) by Dr D Flo

Recycling 3D Prints and Waste Plastic into Filament (PET & PLA) by Dr D Flo