More on the 3D Printer System for Repeatable Production from Plastic Shreds
How do you get consistent 3D printing from inconsistent feedstock? Watch this video to see the extruder screw.
How do you get consistent 3D printing when the feedstock material is not consistent?
That is the challenge Austin, Texas-based 3D printer maker re:3D took on as part of the ReCreateIt project to direct plastic waste into local production.
Usually, 3D printing gets to begin with very consistent material—plastic filament or pellets.
But this application seeks a solution for local manufacturing wherever plastic waste is accumulating. The waste material has to be sent into production with only minimal onsite breakdown: shredding the discarded plastic into flake.
The flake material is inconsistent in both shape and density.
To deal with this, to turn the inconsistent plastic into repeatable production, the re:3D printer uses an extrusion system incorporating a screw like the extruder of a molding machine, but tailored to this recycled plastics application.
I filmed the video above explaining the technology (and showing the screw) during a visit to re:3D. This video is a bonus episode of Manufacturing Unlimited, the video series I’ve created with ASTM International. The main episode has much more to say about the ReCreateIt project, which is succeeding at turning plastic waste into local production at an Austin test site—a thrift store. Watch that episode here.