We've just launched our map. Add yourself by clicking here!
Precious Plastic Version 4? 😮
- This topic has 160 replies, 107 voices, and was last updated 1 year ago by
.
You might have been aware that we launched Precious Plastic Version 3 a few months back. Maybe. We made many new things, introduced the bazar, container workspace, a series of art objects, a map for collaboration, more techniques and a way for the community to share their own tutorial videos. Quite a lot. Our main focus for this version was on expanding the platform and making it easier for people to collaborate.
This period is really fun for us. Seeing what the community, you guys do with the information. Always exciting to see if its used the way we intended. But besides observing we also gather feedback, comments, posts, topics we see or improvements we could do. And I canāt help myself, but slowly I think about what a V4 would look like.
So thats where this topic is for. To share your ideas, suggestions,improvements. What would you like Precious Plastic to work on and improve next? Throw it in here! Together we set the course 💪
*Oh and I might look inactive every now and then because i donāt leave a reply but I read all of it. No kidding.
Why don’t you set up a training school where people can go and learn how to build the machines.
Those people can them become trainers/builders and could visit places/communities that want to learn but don’t know where to begin.
We are a school with a well equipped workshop but some of the machines have daunted us a bit. The electronics for example seems very challenging and could put people off starting to build.
Hey Dave (and fellow people of the community),
I’ve been thinking a lot about this project. And your videos are very fun and inspiring to watch. I feel like I’ve learned a ton from you already. So, thanks for that. Anywhos, I’m wondering if there is any way to make the project more mobile and accessible to everyone. I’m envisioning a fleet of mini vans or trucks that run on an uber/lyft/like app service. Users would be educated about recycling, sort materials properly and then incentivized when they would call for a recycling pickup. When they’re ready for a pickup, they simply make a request on the app and the vans of the precious plastic fleet would show up to people’s offices or homes and shred plastic on the spot. Then they’d sell it off to companies who need recycled plastic and wah-lah, you’ve got a sustainable business model. Just wanted to throw it out there. It’s a rough idea. But I figured it was worth sharing with you. I think one of the biggest problems is that there’s still a major gap of understanding on how and what to recycle properly. And if you give people an incentive to do something, that always seems to help.
Please let me know what you think.
– Johnny Michael
Hi there,
I am currently discovering this amazing community, and am impressed and really glad about all the work done!
For precious plastic, I think for V4, you should pursue in the direction of facilitating each and every step of the process.
I will begin by the end of the process to illustrate my word : Designed products.
These are the motors that will pull (or not) the economic rope. These, if they are effectively bought, will make the difference and multiply the installations of new shops. You have to make recycled plastic look sexy. The Biggest effort for me has to be put in sexy design, intelligent and usefull products. You have to find a way to have more designers helping with this challenge. For instance by harvesting funds to lanuch a big design contest ?
Then you have to facilitate the job of the ones willing to install a shop. Tools to facilitate communication, to launch a crowdfunding maybe, or to find public support from the city for instance. What I call the barrier to entry has to be as small as possible. Congrats to Siemen and his idea to facilitate Business Models here !
So, for me, the next 2 big steps for you are more improvements in design and communication.
Keep going !!
And in the future if we have an app for mobile phone, especially for the community and forum . Its gonna be awesome (y)
And what about vacuum forming machine?
We could use compressing machine to produce thin sheets, which then could be used for thermoforming.
There is one of examples: https://youtu.be/CQpr1AoAKsk
there is a guy think in the USA,,, could be wrong,,,as i can’t relocate his youtube post…that recycles waste rubber crumbly and product waste from grown products into a Door 8×4 or smaller items on his rescycling press,,which heats up the project and then he closes the top to press it together …
If you soldered /brazed a stud on the the dies to suit the hole in the soldering iron you could batch stamp faster than waitng for it to reheat each time.
@wexymeche, that’s correct; i am somehow looking at @s2019 ‘s workĀ since he came along: it would enable a pretty cheap way to make all parts for a lego like system to build a shredder; at least for soft materials that would do. you can even screw grinded metal kinfes on the blades; same for the stationary counter ‘blades’. damn, i need 5 lifes or mini-me-s …
I’m still in favor of combining a washer and a blender.
Big tub or barrel, handheld cement mixer with adjusted (or just sharpened) blade(s), wash and shred!
Should be easy to test.
Thanks, I think making a plastic specific handle (30 cm?) may be the way to go. I try to avoid using a saw because of all the plastic debris it makes.
@s2019 the effective blade-length is about 10-15 cm, think I can make precise cuts up to 10 cm. For melting they don’t need to be so precise.
Main issue for me is the 1 m long handle, which I would recommend to shorten for plastic cutting. My cutter is quite heavy (and a bit worn out due to heavy use), it can handle steel up to 6 mm, but you dont need a 1 m lever for 6 mm PE. š
My recommendation to you would actually be to use a cheap cheap bandsaw.Ā Think that would work way faster. I I think about making – lets say – a 100 strips of plastic with my steel-plate-cutter I would probably get annoyed after piece 50. š
@jobbew , Thank you for the reply. Yes, I want to use it for things that are too thick to do easily or safely with a utility knife. Fortunately my injection machine will accept strips of the 3×10 cm scale so I don’t have to make that many detail cuts.
Are you using the shear that you posted last year? That looks like a 200 to 300 mm blade.
Hey, I’m kinda new to this site, and I have kind of a weird situation.
I am doing a project for my Intro to Visual Communications college class, in which I must support an organization I truly care about. Since this is a great organization and something I believe should be supported, I chose Precious Plastic and have decided to lend some help if it is needed. If there’s anything I can do when it comes to merchandising (if that’s something y’all would be interested in) and designing said merchandise (once again, only if that’s something you wish to roll with). I am willing to help out and will do my best!
Regards, Olivia
@pporg thank you for your reply and explanations. So, who have the lead to manage the PP V4.0? Because I just want to ask the method of project management that is followed to eventually suggest some tips about..
Another question (sorry but I repeat: I’m new in the community and I don’t now how it works): with the award of 300’000 ā¬ what’s happend? How do you reinvest these money? It’s plausible to think to buy some machines and send in the east zones to create some startup where there is the real necessity to clean the planet?
Thank you again
Hi there,
My daughters Kindergarten is running a waste and litter project and we discussed how we could give more awareness to plastics and recycling. A simple teaching toolkit would be a great contributor to early education. Something similar than the chemistries boxes you can purchase for education. No big shredder needed if plastic foil or similar could be used for small batch / examples.
Would be a great to find a way to introduce the ecocoin In the Precious Plastic Community.
Attachments:
https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:3223723 Hi , i would like to share this bad made concept that need to be realized and tested.
I hope u can find a reasonable way to produce and commercialize it. (in my dreams).
Was just an exercise, thought to be made in wood (scrap) with roller skate wheels, may it be entirely produced with recycled plastic ? (i think yes).
Does it worth ? (maybe looks like i’m far away from the global market reality :D)
If that may be done, for sure an Hollander Beater (for pulping materials) may be done š (ok this may got too far).
Hope you find this some kind of useful.
Thanks
A
hi just adding few snaps of the industrial blade grinder. we called it 12 inch blade shredder. this machine can shred up-to 1000kgs to 1500 kgs of PET/ PP/ HDPE plastic in few hours time. this runs on 5 hp motor and three phase power. then the blades need to be sharpen again to make it going. we can make this for huge quantity by increasing the size of the shredder blade its size and its capacity .
Attachments:
Is it possible to use same motor for both shredder and excrusion machine in a series and adding a coupling between the shaft ?
Extruder:
1- Adding interlock between the heat and the motor movement.
2- Identify the heat element capacity ( mix requirement )
3- design another way to reduce or avoid the alignment adjustment effort.
Compression:
1- Totally change the design and add a small water cycle for cooling the mold.
Shredder:
1- needed a bigger design.
2- Add auto reverse when Jam
Something to create thin sheets of plastic! Also a good cleaning/drying technique
This home-made hydralic press (image down below) I found in abadoned car service could not only serve for compression, but for whole workshop. I would like to make the injection machine into a tool that you put inside, achiveing higher pressure with less effort.
Talleresferica already tried to build similar machine:
Attachments:
Iām wondering since months about why v3 is not being cleaned up yet, and first!
1. why are the machines still exposing those dream scrap yard numbers ? There are enough realistic numbers here in the forum about those machines! The numbers exposed in the downloadable kits are around 1/4 ā 1/5 only of the numbers in reality ! The owner of the project argues that the more work you put in, the more cheaper it gets. This is a blatant lie. Most crucial machines require non DIY components like motors, reducers, couplers, extrusion screwā¦. The only real DIY things you can do with this machines are the frames and hopper.
2. Why is this ridiculous wood drill being still in part list of the extruder. Everybody will figure out sooner or later itās complete waste of time, money and other precious resources like redoing the whole thing with new metal mounts.3. Why does the website still suggest that people can do filament with those machines? It has been numerous stated that the filament is useless. It requires way more machinery and time to make filaments.
4. Why are the power consumption numbers are not exposed clearly on the machine main pages ? People should know right away what footprint/pollution is involved!
5. Why there is no warning about the blades, there are enough facts which emerged pointing out quite some problems!? The warnings should point out wear, itās a matter of time the whole shredder box has to be re-done and right.
6. Why there are no warnings about the weak motors problems of the shredder, leading to jamming,ā¦ ?
7. Why is there no warning about the massive work times involved (4-8 weeks full time,ā¦)? It has been stated in a video but thatās not enough!8. There are no facts about the shredding and extrusion capacities in the kit ?
@javierrivera
Have you considered a refit of a campervan? They come in various sizes and are quite cheap secondhand. The machinery would be inside, and can either be fixed in place or stored for travel. A large awning can be attached to the van to create a workspace. Also the roof can have solar panels to help keep the on board batteries charged.
This would be far easier than a double decker bus to get to places, and as theĀ chassis is robust.
You must be logged in to reply to this topic.
