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Raw materials.

Posted by tcgehris

tcgehris

Raw materials.
November 06, 2011 11:08PM

Registered: 12 years ago
Posts: 3

I just joined this forum.

I was wondering if there were any projects to actually produce the raw materials used by the rep rap.

Not sure what type of plastic is used or can be used for making items but is it possible to make items using recycled materials? For example, a machine that will grind up soda bottles or some other plastic source, and extrude them into a tube that can be used in the rep rap.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/06/2011 11:15PM by tcgehris.

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NelsonRap

Re: Raw materials.
November 07, 2011 02:33AM

Registered: 13 years ago
Posts: 862

Not yet there isn't but people are working on it.

RepRaps use either PLA or ABS plastic

__________________________________________________________________________
Experimenting in 3D in New Zealand

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korban

Re: Raw materials.
November 07, 2011 03:49AM

Registered: 13 years ago
Posts: 33

Some good progress has been made:

First you need to chop it up

[reprap.org]

Then melt it down and extrude into filament

[reprap.org]

Not just useful to make raw material from scrap, but to also recycle failed prints.

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tcgehris

Re: Raw materials.
November 07, 2011 11:48AM

Registered: 12 years ago
Posts: 3

Thanks! That is fantastic. Do either of you know of any links to projects I could check out? I'd be interested in reading about them.

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korban

Re: Raw materials.
November 07, 2011 02:45PM

Registered: 13 years ago
Posts: 33

Both of those links, if you scroll to the bottom it has a list of 'Related Projects'. Those will be the best ones.

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tcgehris

Re: Raw materials.
November 08, 2011 12:23AM

Registered: 12 years ago
Posts: 3

Sorry, I didn't even realize there were links there. I just read over that post thinking "what is [reprap.org] doing there?". I'll check them out.

Thank you.

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se5a

Re: Raw materials.
November 08, 2011 04:08AM

Registered: 12 years ago
Posts: 119

From what I understand the bigest problem with recycling plastic bottles is that hdpe (which is what most plastic bottles are made of) shrinks a lot so it's tricky to print without warpage.
nophead I think has experimented with it a bit, I recall reading about it somewhere on his blog: [www.hydraraptor.blogspot.com]