Account Options

  1. Sign in
The old Google Groups will be going away soon, but your browser is incompatible with the new version.
Google Groups Home
« Groups Home
thingiverse
Home
+ new post
About this group
Join this group
Message from discussion Recycling/Extruding ABS?
The group you are posting to is a Usenet group. Messages posted to this group will make your email address visible to anyone on the Internet.
Your reply message has not been sent.
Your post was successful
 
From:
To:
Cc:
Followup To:
Add Cc | Add Followup-to | Edit Subject
Subject:
Validation:
For verification purposes please type the characters you see in the picture below or the numbers you hear by clicking the accessibility icon. Listen and type the numbers you hear
 
4volt Jeremy  
View profile  
 More options May 4 2009, 4:16 pm
From: 4volt Jeremy <jeremy....@gmail.com>
Date: Mon, 4 May 2009 13:16:30 -0700 (PDT)
Local: Mon, May 4 2009 4:16 pm
Subject: Re: Recycling/Extruding ABS?
Print | View thread | Show original | Report this message | Find messages by this author
Thanks for those links, very interesting. I'm not a big fan if the
acetone method, I was thinking something along the lines of a upsized
paper shredder to get the bits into smaller chips.

I've been doing a bit more research on ABS extruding, and it looks
like for commercial production a screw driven extruder is used for
this kind of thing. I'm not sure if air pressure alone would work, but
it would be convenient to use a 12volt electric car tire pump for
pressure, that I think would probably max out at 50-60 psi. I guess it
all depends on how fluid melted ABS is, even if the extrusion is slow
that would be okay for my uses.

I'm going to look into small-ish pressure cookers and see what I can
find, I'll also need a way to regulate the temperature so that it does
not get too hot. Other then extrusion pressure, the next biggest
challenge will be to get the plastic to melt without air bubbles in
there.

After some thought and research I see five challenges in the process:

1.) Shredding the plastic
2.) Melting the plastic evenly without over heating
3.) Making sure there are no air bubbles in the melted plastic
4.) Creating the pressure needed to extrude the melted plastic
5.) Cooling the plastic while still keeping the extruded plastic's
shape and keeping it from sticking to other extrusions

It's a fairly tall order, I'm going to start with some more detailed
research. The resulting machine would probably be just as complicated
as the rep-rap itself.

Jeremy

On May 4, 12:17 pm, The Masked Retriever <maskedretrie...@gmail.com>
wrote:

> Forrest Higgs has done some work on recycling with both mechanical and
> chemical processes:http://3dreplicators.com/cgi-bin/cblog/index.php?/archives/423-Revisi......

> I think the RepRap team has done experiments with 3mm extrusion to get
> the powders and grinded pieces generated by these techniques with
> positive results.

> It's definitely possible to recycle scrap ABS into print material--
> it's just a matter of getting the mechanical properties of the
> mechanical engineering right, and of course of not overheating the
> plastic, as it tends to release fairly toxic gasses once you heat it
> far enough past the melting point.

> I think Thingiverse would probably welcome plans for recycler pots!

> On May 4, 11:29 am, 4volt Jeremy <jeremy....@gmail.com> wrote:

> > I recently started a project where I recycled the electronics from
> > several old printers and scanners, which left me with two large
> > garbage bags of ABS plastic that were the shells of the printers, all
> > are as far as I can tell they are all ABS.

> > I'd love to reuse this plastic and not have to send it to a landfill,
> > It would be really cool to make new 3D prints from yesterdays trash.
> > It would be like a whole new product cycle, no need to throw out your
> > old stuff, make it into something new!

> > Has anyone tried to recycle old 3D prints into a recycled ABS coil, or
> > does anyone have any experience or thoughts about ABS extrusion?

> > My first idea is to melt shredded ABS in a sealed metal pot with a
> > small hole in the bottom, then use positive air pressure to extrude a
> > similar sized ABS cord that would be air dried.


 
You must Sign in before you can post messages.
To post a message you must first join this group.
Please update your nickname on the subscription settings page before posting.
You do not have the permission required to post.
Create a group - Google Groups - Google Home - Terms of Service - Privacy Policy
©2013 Google