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Affordable plastic shredder

Posted by sungod3k 
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sungod3k
Affordable plastic shredder
May 09, 2014 08:30AM
Since I got my filastruder running I´m looking for a plastic shredder to also use the 40$/kilo print scrap together with fresh pellets.

My household blender is not nearly powerful enough for this job and the only two alternatives the 400$ shredder from filabot and a set of plans from thingyverse are too expensive.

Therefore my question has someone ever seen a mill/shredder/blender or other construction which would be powerful enough to crush solidly printed parts?

Cheers
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cdru
Re: Affordable plastic shredder
May 09, 2014 09:15AM
Quote
sungod3k
My household blender is not nearly powerful enough for this job

You need a Blendtec Blender.
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gmh39
Re: Affordable plastic shredder
May 09, 2014 09:43AM
Wow, I never though of using a blender. That would actually work.

greghoge.com

HUGE 3D PRINTER PARTS SALE!!!
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sungod3k
Re: Affordable plastic shredder
May 09, 2014 10:27AM
Yeah thought of that grinning smiley but for 600 and up i can pay a metalworker^^

My homeblender managed only to get through 4-5 layer thick pieces everything bigger was violently kicked around and came out with only a few scratches.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/09/2014 10:31AM by sungod3k.
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IanJohnson
Re: Affordable plastic shredder
May 09, 2014 02:38PM
Supposedly the blender will work if the plastic is extremely frozen. If you drop it in a cooler with some dry ice for a while, it should become brittle enough for the blender to break it. Better to try it out with a cheap thrift store blender at first.
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waitaki
Re: Affordable plastic shredder
May 09, 2014 11:43PM
How about one of those cast iron things people used to use for mincing meat?

_______________________________________
Waitaki 3D Printer
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sungod3k
Re: Affordable plastic shredder
May 10, 2014 01:55AM
Hm I dont believe that would work. The mechanism is a spiral/auger and the crushing action happens if the meat hits a sieve, so one would need an extraordinary amount of force, pushing a solid plastic part though.

However a conic auger without sieve would probably do the trick as well. It would start big to get the bigger parts and suppress the continuously, but that would be a custom job as well.
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vreihen
Re: Affordable plastic shredder
May 10, 2014 09:19AM
The town where I live runs a recycling center at the highway department garage, where residents drop off paper, glass, and plastic into big dumpsters and the town pays to have it hauled off and recycled.

The town has a wood chipper parked at the highway department garage, that gets used to turn fallen trees into mulch.

Me thinks that I'm starting to see a business opportunity here..... grinning smiley
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3dkarma
Re: Affordable plastic shredder
May 11, 2014 04:25PM
Stick your plastic in the oven in a baking tray covered with non-stick baking paper at a temperature appropriate to melting it. Melt it down to a nice thin pool, take it out and wait for it to cool. Stick it in the freezer and wait for it to freeze, then break it up into smaller manageable pieces by hand (use gloves - you'll get shards that may cut your hands). Finally, stick the smaller frozen pieces in the blender.

I've tried it and had reasonable success using a cheap no-name blender. I'll post the photos once I find them.
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sungod3k
Re: Affordable plastic shredder
May 12, 2014 01:07AM
That could work. I thought about building a low heat furnace but this sounds much easier. If I melt enough plastic that I get a 1-2mm sheet of plastic the blender could handle it.
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sungod3k
Re: Affordable plastic shredder
May 12, 2014 08:08AM
What kind of blender did you use?

I just tried it and f**ked up my cheap blender grinning smiley I think you need a more expensive one with a glass container and a big sheet with lots of time to melt the plastic as thin as possible.

Pics: [printnewworlds.blogspot.nl]
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3dkarma
Re: Affordable plastic shredder
May 12, 2014 05:42PM
GBP £15 blender from the supermarket, although it does have a glass jug. TBH, best blender I've ever had. Crunches ice like a champ. Luckily they had more in stock so I bought another and used the old one to do this test.

I melted PLA down into a thin pool at about 220 Celsius.







[3DKarma.com] - suppliers of quality, affordable 3D printer kits and filament for the UK market.
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sungod3k
Re: Affordable plastic shredder
May 13, 2014 02:20AM
That looks better. I have keep my eyes open for a glass case.

Do you think you can get the pieces a bit smaller? Half of the pieces are probably to big for the Filastruder.
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3dkarma
Re: Affordable plastic shredder
May 13, 2014 05:31PM
What's the largest size pieces a filastruder will take?

I printed out a series of sieves at 5mm, 7.5mm and 10mm and sorted the shards, to give you an idea of how it comes out. The larger pieces (10mm and above) have been returned to the freezer for re-processing.



[3DKarma.com] - suppliers of quality, affordable 3D printer kits and filament for the UK market.
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greenman100
Re: Affordable plastic shredder
May 13, 2014 07:55PM
For best results, 5mm or smaller. You could probably feed some 7.5mm pieces, but if the average feed size gets too large, it will start to have inconsistent filament diameter because melt pressure is changing too much.
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PulsedMedia
Re: Affordable plastic shredder
July 03, 2014 08:12PM
Let me introduce you to my lil' friend, BFH:
[www.bartcop.com]

That ought to make the bigger pieces suitable smaller for the blender winking smiley
Just put in a extra strong bag so you don't get shrapnel everywhere ... and oh yeah probably wearing protective eye wear is a good idea too

Now getting from there to 5mm pieces more reliably than a blender...

Too much manual labor still.
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Dejay
Re: Affordable plastic shredder
July 04, 2014 02:51AM
Maybe something like a big rotating cheese grater? So that it chips away at big chunks and everything that falls through would be small enough.
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Traumflug
Wiki page made
July 04, 2014 06:09AM
Just to make sure this excellent work doesn't get lost, I created a wiki page: [reprap.org]

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/04/2014 06:09AM by Traumflug.

Generation 7 Electronics Teacup Firmware RepRap DIY
     
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Ohmarinus
Re: Affordable plastic shredder
July 04, 2014 08:22AM
I have multiple bags with mixed color PLA and ABS separates from plastic type. Been thinking for a while what to do with it, but now I know!

Haha, we should set up a group to design a plastic crusher! In two weeks I'm having holidays, so I can attempt something.

http://www.marinusdebeer.nl/
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Dejay
Re: Wiki page made
July 04, 2014 04:13PM
Just a small thought, I read somewhere that plastics degrade a bit each time you melt it. So shredding it without melting might be better.
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sungod3k
Re: Affordable plastic shredder
July 04, 2014 06:15PM
Id be interested in sourcing a crusher. I wonder if something like this could be modified to crush the melted pieces into manageable bits.
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Iceman086
Re: Affordable plastic shredder
July 04, 2014 06:31PM
You need to freeze the prints before you chop them up because it helps to preserve the chemical bonds of the plastic.

Melting the prints down then chopping them up in a blender degrades the plastic further than it would if you simply freezed the parts then shredded them. You need a sheering action to properly cut the parts up. Look at ANY other device that industrially created a granulated material from a larger object. It sheers the original object.

Anything other than something similar to the link below is a waste of time. Believe me, I have done the blender method and looked into the degradation of plastic (especially PLA) over time when recycled. It needs to be frozen, sheered then remade into filament.

[www.thingiverse.com]
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Dejay
Re: Affordable plastic shredder
July 04, 2014 06:56PM
Wow that looks pretty awesome. But 1200€ for a kit.
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Iceman086
Re: Affordable plastic shredder
July 04, 2014 07:41PM
For some reason his site was hiding from my initial search.

Here is the site: [filamaker.eu]

You can also find the plans for the shredder on GrabCAD: [grabcad.com]

He also has a larger one that he made recently that you can likely enlarge the mini to become.
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3dkarma
Re: Affordable plastic shredder
July 04, 2014 08:44PM
Given the comments re degradation through melting and my own experience with this, I'm not convinced the blender route is any good. I got a relatively small percentage of shards at 5mm or lower after melting, freezing and shredding. Getting the remainder of the plastic to the appropriate size would impart more heat (through the action of the blender) and degrade the PLA even further.

The filamaker shredder looks like the answer. It seems to be a scaled down version of industrial machines like this one. Anyone up for designing an alternative? The parts look difficult to source, although the blades seem readily available from China (alibaba.com)

[3DKarma.com] - suppliers of quality, affordable 3D printer kits and filament for the UK market.
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A2
Re: Affordable plastic shredder
July 04, 2014 10:31PM
A more efficient method was found by using a Staples(R) brand office shredder which was designed for the shredding of credit cards and compact discs. This proved to be much more time and energy efficient and avoided the use of water. A used shredder was found at a local Value Village for $24.99.
[www.appropedia.org]

RecycleBot v2.2, Michigan Tech.
[www.thingiverse.com]


You could experiment with the compost shredder, I would scale it down, and for the cutting edges try using the head of a Phillips screw. File/grind the face flat until the edge is sharp. I would also add an angle to it to give it a shearing property.

Compost shredder
[www.thingiverse.com]
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Iceman086
Re: Affordable plastic shredder
July 04, 2014 10:37PM
Quote
A2
You could experiment with the compost shredder, I would scale it down, and for the cutting edges try using the head of a Phillips screw. File/grind the face flat until the edge is sharp. I would also add an angle to it to give it a shearing property.

Compost shredder
[www.thingiverse.com]

If you look though, the compost shredder is based directly on the model that the Filamaker guy created and put out there for free. Hell his shredder can destroy hard drives.
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A2
Re: Affordable plastic shredder
July 04, 2014 11:03PM
The "Monster"
[www.youtube.com]
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Juan
Re: Affordable plastic shredder
June 27, 2016 01:42PM
hers is something I received in e-mail

[preciousplastic.com]

I hoe this can help
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Thanos_of_MW
Re: Affordable plastic shredder
June 29, 2016 12:39PM
Check this [www.thingiverse.com]

I like this one better [www.thingiverse.com]

Printers: Heavily redesigned TwoUp with E3D V6 and Robo3D R1+ with Chimera/Cyclops
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