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Hi PP community,
In November, I'm starting my own LDPE workspace full time and would love to hear what you guys think of the feasibility of it all.
I will be making marble-like desk/coffee tables out of LDPE packaging taken from mostly businesses that throw it away. The plastic is usually the packaging that surrounds PVC or aluminum double glazing products, so clear and not highly contaminated.
I will not shred the plastic, however this complicates things as if there is contamination then it will be harder to wash in the washing machine. I will try my best to remove any contaminants before putting it in the washing machine (machine will be set up similar to this THREAD and using microplastic bags).
The good thing about the marble-like process is that it doesn't require shredding of the plastic but only heating from 95-115 degrees C for it to melt. Then the plan is to mold it by hand when it comes out from the oven then using a hydraulic press, a wooden frame and flat metal sheets to compress the hot plastic as shown below.
Any pieces that will go over the edge of the sheets will be cut off and recycled again. The final product should be a marble-like sheet that will then be polished and cut to customer's specifications. We will then screw simple table legs, design of this is still pending.
The whole aim of this project is obviously start small at the start but ultimately produce large volumes of sheets to allow us to produce a multiple products such as bathroom tiles, coffee tables and desks in the future.The retail price of our coffee table is currently 159 euros and it will cost us 78.54 euros to produce (including electricity, workshop and labour). End to end of production time is 12 hours but 2 and a half hours of hands-on labour (polishing, cutting and assembly). Production projections are of 20 sheets per month after 3 months of starting the project.
I will keep this post updated on our progress, but does anyone has some thoughts on using LDPE for this specific application? (Pictures attached of the potential final product - taken from Weez and Murl website who use LDPE for their products).
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