Question about plastics

Hello,

I am interested in building a reprap. I am curious however if it would be possible to use a plastic that can be made in a well equipped garage/home lab? I have been searching around (including this forum) for methods to make bioplastics and different types of termoset plastics, but haven't come up with much yet. One hopeful is a type of thermoset plastic made from glycerin, phthalic anhydride and ammonium acetate. I have also been reading about creating plastics from vegtable oil (such as canola oil) but haven't be able to find much on the process to create these types of plastics.

Has anybody around here experimented with creating their own plastic at home that can be used in a reprap? Has anybody created plastic at home before and willing to share some knowledge?

Thanks very much.

PS: i am still going to build a reprap even if i can't make my own plastics.

Pizentios, et al,
With the current heated extruder, reprap is basically constrained to using thermoplastic, rather than thermoset polymers.

Although it may not be as satisfying as making plastic from raw materials, but recycling existing plastics has been discussed on these forums, and people are making some progress. (You might try searching the forums for the terms granule and/or recycling.)

I'm no chemist, but phthalic anhydride sounds like a possibly dangerous chemical; (at the very least) read the MSDS, and have appropriate safety equipment on hand before mucking about....

-- Larry

Larry_Pfeffer Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Pizentios, et al,
> With the current heated extruder, reprap is
> basically constrained to using thermoplastic,
> rather than thermoset polymers.
>
> Although it may not be as satisfying as making
> plastic from raw materials, but recycling existing
> plastics has been discussed on these forums, and
> people are making some progress. (You might try
> searching the forums for the terms granule and/or
> recycling.)
>
> I'm no chemist, but phthalic anhydride sounds like
> a possibly dangerous chemical; (at the very least)
> read the MSDS, and have appropriate safety
> equipment on hand before mucking about....
>
> -- Larry

Thanks for the reply, i'll defiantly be checking out the threads on recycling plastics. As far as the MSDS, i always read em and usually i try to exceed the safety protocols when handling any chemical.

The main reason that i was looking at the glycerin based plastics is because i am avid bio-dieseler and the process i use produces glycerin that is easy to clean (some processes leave a brown color in the glycerin and other by-products) and probably could be used for things like plasics, cosmetics (and dynamite if your really crazy).

Thanks again for the reply.