Stan

I would like to see one un-subsidized workspace post that they are profitable. I appreciate @jegor-m briefly posting his experience https://davehakkens.nl/community/forums/topic/hello-from-estonia/page/4/ . He makes beautiful, very marketable clocks, and yet just covers the rent on his space.

The throughput limits and the labor intensive process…[Read more]

@deeemm , I don’t have a SW background so I won’t comment on the forum/web approach, but I see some of the same philosophy on the hardware development side. The V4 plan to me reads like a summary of topics from a brainstorming session rather than a development plan or roadmap. From there it seems to transition to developing homegrown hardware…[Read more]

I think creating offline and pasting in any significant content is what I’ll do going forward. It is not clear to me what the future of the forum is. I think there is some effort to save and organize some of the technical content on other sites.

Is there a tolerance on the screw OD to the tube? Also the profile and roughness of the root?

This Old Tony has kittens in his videos….and half a million views….just a suggestion.

@wolfgang , thank you for posting. In the video it looks like you do some sorting of the plastic for the different sticks. Do you use an unsorted mix for any of them? For things that include PET that may not melt in your process, do you just use enough PE to act as a binder?

Thank you

I don’t understand this thought that profit somehow makes the recycling effort less noble. If we could magically make every workspace (and by extension the machine builders) as profitable as a McDonalds or Starbucks, and there was one on very corner. With people following me to grab the plastic spoon as soon as I’m done scooping ice cream with it.…[Read more]

Cool, you should move your inlet more to the bottom left where Mt. St. Helens should be.

I’m thinking of going dumpster diving in a local laundromat because those bottles have the best colors

I would cut one of those up to see how you are doing on voids.

Have fun

I’m not sure what licenses people think are in place. The terms page https://preciousplastic.com/en/info/terms.html is pretty clear that nothing exists. Is there some other document that states that something other than individual goodwill is in play?

Edit: typed this before I saw Olivier’s post. It appears consistent

I wonder if you could form the nut for the wood auger by self tapping it (perhaps heated) into a block of plastic (hdpe?). The block could then straddle and ride on top of a box beam or upside down channel….just some brainstorming

This is what the buttons look like after my wife got done with them. The funky tie dyed backgrounds are provided by various HDPE sources. The only parts that were painted were the flowers and the letters (and the black button got glitter bombed). I think they provide a fun organic look that fits well with the gardening event.

These will be given…[Read more]

Actually, assigning  the bazar vendor a community rating might be a good incentive. Who would want to be rated zero?

Actually, a few years back I made a small propane aluminum furnace and created my small pile of casting muffins. I plan to dust it off soon to make at least mold blanks.
For this 3D => ??? approach I was trying to start on the cheap/easy end and work my way up. For some things, just being able to have a single use path to make a PLA print into a…[Read more]

Great stuff!
Off on a tangent, I was trying to understand whether incorporating a vent in the extrusion process would improve quality (reduce voids?). I found this https://www.ptonline.com/articles/extrusion-know-how-the-whys-hows-ifs-of-vented-extruders which does not appear to recommend a vented approach.

When you say not working, what do you mean?
Does the controller read temperature if you hold the thermocouple tip in your fingers?
Are the heaters getting hot when the  PV is below the SV and the out light is on?
Are you using an SSR with the PID, Is your PID the low voltage type for use with SSR?
Can you measure voltage on the SSR control input?…[Read more]

I wanted to try out the 3D model => 3D print => low cost mold => Injection molded part process. My wife has a gardening event coming up and some custom buttons would be welcome (and of course justify the new 3D printer).
The first image shows some of the results. The background colors are from various blends of HDPE (though the black one…[Read more]

https://preciousplastic.com/en/videos/download.html

I’m not sure you need to mix it, I just compress it with the piston. I typically fill part ways then compress and let sit under pressure for 5 or 10 min. I then add and repeat. One way I know I’m ready to press is looking at the plastic stuck to the underside of my piston. If it is all melted, looks like soft bubble gum, I’m good to go. If I still…[Read more]

Some thoughts. Bottle caps are a mix, some are LDPE, some are PP, a lot of them are not marked. I would start with marked HDPE bottles (laundry det., milk jugs, shampoo, etc). In my machine, I use 200 C. I found that to get a good melt, it takes lot longer than 10 min., I also do a lot of compaction of the melting plastic with the nozzle blocked…[Read more]

For the machines, I would think that PPHQ would want to know what is being sold on the Bazar, for safety and effectiveness at least. Requiring a posted design description should be a fair requirement or if applicable the list of changes from the standard  design.

For the product vendors, adding a “how I made this” summary to the product…[Read more]

@leonheld , The testing does not have to get overly scientific. You just need to be able to repeatably and safely apply a measurable load in a way that’s meaningful to the joint you are considering. I made some suggestions in the joinery topic. https://davehakkens.nl/community/forums/topic/injected-joinery-for-modular-construction/
Your first…[Read more]