Making your own stuff with a 3D printer is vastly cheaper than what you’d pay for manufactured goods, even factoring in the cost of buying the plastic filament.
Yet, you can drive the cost down even more by making your own filament from old milk jugs. And, while you are patting yourself on the back for saving 99 cents on the dollar, there’s a bonus: you can feel warm and fuzzy about preserving the environment.
A study led by Joshua Pearce of Michigan Technological University has shown that making your own plastic 3D printer filament from milk jugs uses less energy—often a lot less—than recycling milk jugs conventionally.
Pearce’s team did a life-cycle analysis on a run-of-the-mill milk jug made from HDPE plastic. After cleaning it and cutting it in pieces, they ran it through an office shredder and a RecycleBot, which turns waste plastic into 3D printer filament.
Compared to an ideal urban recycling program, which collects and processes plastic locally, turning milk jugs into filament at home uses about 3 percent less energy. “Where it really shows substantial savings is in smaller towns like Houghton, where you have to transport the plastic to be collected, then again to be recycled, and a third time to be made into products,” said Pearce, an associate professor of materials science and engineering/electrical and computer engineering. Then the energy savings skyrocket to 70-80 percent. And, recycling your own milk jugs uses 90 percent less energy than making virgin plastic from petroleum.
Pearce also compared the cost of making your own filament with buying it.
“Filament is retailing for between $36 and $50 a kilogram, and you can produce your own filament for 10 cents a kilogram if you use recycled plastic,” he said. “There’s a clear incentive, even if you factor in the cost of buying the RecycleBot.”
Commercial variants like the Filastruder cost under $300.
HDPE plastic isn’t ideal. “It shrinks slightly as it cools, so you have to take that into account,” said Pearce. “But if you are making something like a statue or a pencil holder, it doesn’t matter.”
This new recycling technology has caught the eye of the Ethical Filament Foundation, which aims to improve the lives of waste pickers, who scour other people’s trash for items to sell or recycle. “In the developing world, it’s hard to get filament, and if these recyclers could make it and sell it for, say, $15 a kilogram, they’d make enough money to pull themselves out of poverty while doing the world a lot of good,” he said.
The Latest on: 3D Printer Filament
[google_news title=”” keyword=”3D Printer Filament” num_posts=”10″ blurb_length=”0″ show_thumb=”left”]
via Google News
The Latest on: 3D Printer Filament
- Class 11 students create 3D printer to turn household waste into filamentson April 24, 2024 at 11:47 pm
Meet the young minds behind the creation of Replastify, a revolutionary 3D printer designed to repurpose household waste and transform it into versatile filaments for everyday use.
- Plasmics Combines Individual Requirements and High Quality Standards With Innovative FDM Printingon April 23, 2024 at 3:02 pm
We sat down with the CEO of Plasmics to learn more about their innovative hotends, orthepedic 3D printing application and more!
- Best 3D Printer Deals for April 2024: Anker, Flashforge, Elegoo, Moreon April 23, 2024 at 9:32 am
D printers have come a long way since their inception and they’re now more user-friendly (and affordable!) than ever. So if you've been on the fence about buying one, have we got a deal for you!
- How a New 3D Printer Automatically Masters Diverse Sustainable Materialson April 23, 2024 at 3:06 am
The advance could help make 3D printing more sustainable, enabling printing with renewable or recyclable materials that are difficult to characterize. While 3D printing has exploded in popularity, ...
- 3D Printing To Lead Prototype Development for McLaren F1 Racingon April 22, 2024 at 9:08 am
McLaren Racing has fully embraced 3D printing for its prototype manufacturing process, as 3D printing has overtaken traditional methods.
- Top 5 Best Filament Dryers in 2024on April 20, 2024 at 5:00 pm
The phase of filament drying is critical yet frequently neglected in 3D printing. The presence of moisture in the filament can cause problems with the print’s quality, including bubbles ...
- CREALITY 3D: "A Decade and Beyond": Creality Celebrates 10 Years of Innovation and Community Engagementon April 15, 2024 at 3:41 am
Creality, a leading global 3D printer manufacturer, celebrated its 10th anniversary on April 9 in Huizhou, China, with exciting events and product ...
- Best 3D printers of 2024on April 15, 2024 at 3:09 am
Going hands-on with each of our recommendations, we compared the best 3D printers for miniatures versus those with a large print area for prototyping - and explored everything from filament types ...
via Bing News