
Free Filament here's how!
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With millions of plastic bottles ending up in landfills, it's surprising that we can't use them in our printer. Unfortunately, I don't have enough time in my day, but one or more of you might like to try this out. This idea solves the problems caused by irregularities when using flaked or shredded PET through an Auger setup - issues with size, air gaps, and feed speed. Converting flat or square input to round is theoretically simpler. Step One: Turn a plastic bottle into PET string as demonstrated by this genius guy at sploid.gizmodo.com. Instructions are available here at wonderfulengineering.com. A printed version of the project can be found in the comments below, thanks to some helpful individuals. If you try this out, let us know! I'll get around to it eventually, but work keeps interfering with my playtime. Step Two: Create a print head that can be fed by flat string extruding filament in 1.75 or 3mm format. It should be easy enough to overlap short sections to produce continuous filament. Feeding in short lengths of filament left on reels would prevent waste and create multi-color filament using the same method. Step Three: Link step one and two so that the motor feeding the extruder powers the bottle-stripping process. This requires a bit of work preparing and loading the bottles, but it's worth it for free filament and recycling at its best. Let us know if you try this out! I'll get to it eventually...
With this file you will be able to print Free Filament here's how! with your 3D printer. Click on the button and save the file on your computer to work, edit or customize your design. You can also find more 3D designs for printers on Free Filament here's how!.