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Hi from Saarland
- This topic has 17 replies, 4 voices, and was last updated 2 years ago by
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Hi folks,
I am Patrick.
I live in Saarland, a tiny place in the middle left corner of Germany.
Our part of the country is mostly embossed by the car manufacturing industry and at the moment it is very hard to get a good job here.
For this reason and because I am a 3D printing enthusiast since 2012 I made my thoughts about what can I do.
I found the precious plastic project and the website of Dave Hakkens and I like the way he goes.
I bought myself a little shop press, an old kitchen oven and I started to recycle old 3D printed parts because I think this will raise up to a big problem in future.
China floods the online marked with cheap 3d printers and these machines do not work properly. So they produce a lot of waste material. But good working machines produce waste too.
Most printed parts are made of PLA, ABS and PETG, and these materials are easy to process because the parts are clean and easy to shred due to the light infill patterns.
So I built the Shredder, driven by a 1.8 kW winch motor from eBay and it works very well for 3D printed parts.
I melt the schredded parts and press it between two cheap stainless steel bowls to create thick-walled plastic bowls.
And with some pieces of leftover 3D printing filament I can create some nice looking patterns on these Bowls.
I hope you like my idea and my work.
Greetings from Saarland
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and here are my tools:
-Schredder
-Oven
-Press
In my next project I will combine them on a beer bench 😉
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Thank you very much.
I recently tried some different things, like a stool, a clock and a planner.
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Hi Patrick, thanks for the post! I’m considering using a winch motor such as you and have a few questions. Do you notice any overheating from a long time running it or any other problems? What is the rated kg of your motor? I am looking at a 500 kg or maybe 1000 kg motor. Thanks, Ben from Vietnam
By the way, I love your bowls. They look very sturdy and a bit unfinished which adds to the charm and reminds me of the thick hardwood bowls which my grandpa carves
Hi Ben,
a winch motor is not the best solution for the shredder, but the cheapest.
It works very well and you can shred a lot with it before it gets hot.
Then you can drink a coffee to let it cool down a bit 🙂
Later when you have earned some money you can sell the shredder and built a new one with a bigger (industrial) motor.
I looked for the biggest possible winch motor i could get. I think my winch could lift up to 1300kg and costs around 160€ on eBay.
Best regards
Patrick
Thanks Patrick,
That’s great news, and I’ll go that route as well and try to get a motor similar to yours. I love not needing to mess with a gear box in the beginning.
Cheers and happy holidays!
-Ben
Hi Ben,
I’m Duc from Hanoi too. I ordered two shredders to be built and it got finished. Do you want talk over plastic recycling or something. I’m into tetrapak recycling now but maybe we can do something together with plastic.
if interested please send me a sms I’ll call you back, my cell +84 913010 five one one
Hi Duc, pressing molten plastics into moulds is really easy. You need a inner and a outer mold (for bowls) or a mold and a flat plate. than you calculate the volume of your workpiece (outer mold minus inner mold) and then you can calculate the needed amount of shredded plastic.
Spray some mold release in the outer mold. I use ptfe spray.
then you put the outer mold in the oven and heat it up to the melting temperature of your plastic.
When the mold is hot add some plastic and let it melt. In the first step I add 4-5 spoons of material, so that the bottom of the mold is even filled. Add not too much or you will have more bubbles in your workpiece. Repeat adding and melting until the mold is full. when the last pieces are molten, use a gas torch or a heatgun to pop the bubbles on the surface of the molten plastic.
then spray mold release on the inner mold and put the inner mold in the oven too to preheat it.
When it´s done put the molds under the press and press the molds until the plastic is reaching the edge of the mold. let the plastic cool down a bit and apply
more pressure bit by bit. while the workpiece is cooling it will shrink a lot. to prevent cracks or airpockets apply more and more pressure until the workpiece ist cooled down.
Then release the pressure and remove your part out of the mold.
That’s very useful infromation, thanks Patrick! I’ve connected with Duc and hopefully we’ll be getting that far soon 😀
Hello Patrick,
thank you very much for the detail answer, but maybe I did not make myself clear though. I saw your “press” machine and it looks quite simple, much simpler than the precious plastic version so I wanted to ask how you made it.
I used a hand clamp like this to press the mold but of course it can not make much pressure
https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/XMoAAOSwE0JY~4bN/s-l1600.jpg
So how do you make your press machine?
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Hi, the press is nothing else than a ordinary car jack and some steel bars.
You can build it by yourself. You need a hydraulic (or spindle) car jack and some big U-Profile steel Bars.
The press I have has a height variable press table but this is not really needed.
you can adjust the distance between the mold and the car jack wit some pieces of wood.
you also can built the press with the car jack under the table, so you press against the upper bar.
Here is an example picture of the press I use.
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Here is the link to my actual project.
http://onearmy.world/community/forums/topic/recycling-beer-table-work-in-progress/
Hallo Patrick, vielen Dank fuer das Foto. Hast du vielleicht einen Video wie das ganze funktioniert? Ich bin leider nicht der Mechanik-Freak und brauche dazu einen Ingenieur und muss ihm vom Anfang an klaeren, was ich haben moechte.
viele Gruesse
Duc
Hi, leider hebe ich gerade lein Video zur Hand. aber schau mal bei Youtube unter dem Suchbegriff “DIY Shop Press”
MfG Patrick
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