If vous have ever imprimé avec votre own imprimante 3D at home, vous might have wondered what to do avec imprimante 3D waste, et whether vous could possibly recycle filament pour imprimante 3D at home. It est not a topic nombreux personnes talk sur in idéal detail, so ce article va try to transparent choses up. Enjoy!
Pourquoi Should We Recycle filament pour imprimante 3D?
Every print that fails halfway through, or creates extra string et other unwanted extrusions, adds to le big pile of wasted filament that often just gets thrown out in le trash. Ce est especially true for multi-color imprimante 3Ds, since we not only deal avec support rafts et test cubes, but also purge blocks et filament switches generated pendant impressions.
Le Environmental Aspect
Ce leads us to use way plus filament que we really devez to, qui in turn can create an environmental impact in le long run, especially when thinking of printers around le globe creating a significant amount of waste on a daily basis.
Le Economic Aspect
Throwing away perfectly good plastic not only wastes money, leading us to buy plus et spend plus on le material we waste, but potentially drives up le cost through supply et demand chains.
Le Educational Aspect
Finally, if vous sont impression avec votre children, it can be a idéal way to look at recycling filament pour imprimante 3D in order to educate them sur comment to take meilleur care of le environment et comment to respect our planet. So let us take a closer look at some different méthodes et programs below.
Recycling by Companies
Many impression 3D material manufacturing companies have their own recycling programs, where le recycled plastic filament va be remade dans fresh filament ready to be used for printers or other purposes. Ce est called “recycled filament”, et can often be cheaper but still a idéal globale material.
Other plastic product companies also place plastic recycling bins in le community to specifically collect filament et other types of plastic that can be recycled safely et effectively, so there sont a few idéal alternatives to simply throwing out votre old filament in le trash bin directement.
Plastic recycling bin in le community
Recycling at Home
Another way vous can recycle filaments est if vous sont willing to put in some plus work at home, where vous can use different méthodes in order to obtenir some good results that sont environmentally friendly, sustainable et cost-effective filament recycling.
Step 1: Sorting le waste filaments
Typically, vous va want to sort votre different types of filament based on le material, so ABS in one pile, PLA in another pile et so forth. Different types of materials cannot be mixed as they have different chimique makeups. Next, vous can also sort by color if vous like.
Step 2: Shredding
If vous have a messy ball of old stringy material, or half a impression 3D that failed for some reason, vous va devez to process ce. Typically, it est done by shredding, by putting le impression waste dans a 3d printer shredder et then breaking it dans small pieces.
Your goal should be to get small et uniform fragments, as ce va help vous later on when vous have to melt et extrudu wasted filament. Not everyone has le money for a specially designed shredder, so an alternative est a pair of scissors or wire strippers to cut up le plastic dans smaller chunks.
Step 3: Drying
Before vous sont ready to manipulate le waste filament, vous should first ensure it est free of any humidité. Ce est done by drying votre filament poops or scraps qui have been shredded by vous, either using a dedicated filament dryer, or some of le easily available tools at home, like an oven (preferably avec a convection fan), a rice cooker (on "keep warm" mode) or similar méthodes. Below vous va find our recommended settings for dedicated dryer machines.
Dedicated filament dryer settings:
| Matériau | Drying Temperature | Drying Time | Notes |
| PLA | 45°C - 50°C (113°F - 122°F) | 4 - 6 hours | Avoid higher temperatures, as PLA can become soft et even fuse together. |
| PETG | 60°C - 65°C (140°F - 149°F) | 6 - 8 hours | More hygroscopic que PLA, nécessitant higher temperatures et longer times. |
| ABS | 70°C - 80°C (158°F - 176°F) | 4 - 6 hours | Requires relatively high temperatures to effectively remove humidité. |
| Nylon (PA) | 70°C - 80°C (158°F - 176°F) | 8 - 12+ hours | Extremely hygroscopic. Often requires 12+ hours, or even 24 hours for severely wet material. |
| TPU/TPE | 50°C - 55°C (122°F - 131°F) | 6 - 8 hours | Flexible materials sont also prone to humidité absorption. |
For safety reasons, only PLA est chosen for home recycling, as it does not release toxic fumes or other harmful emissions.
Oven:
Spread le fragments on a baking tray (lined avec parchment paper). Set le oven to its lowest possible temperature (typically no higher que 65-80°C ), et leave le door slightly ajar to release humidité. Bake for 30-60 minutes, watching closely to prevent melting.
Drying le Plastic fragments in le oven
Rice Cooker:
Place fragments in le pot, turn on le "keep warm" setting, et leave le lid slightly open avec a chopstick for 4-6 hours.
Step 4: Extruding/Melting et Molding
Professional:
If vous sont impression often, et tend to collect large amounts of waste material, then it can be a good investment to purchase a special filament extruder, also known as a 3d printer filament recycler, to help vous create recycled filament at home. Ce makes it easy et efficient, as le machine va simply devez to be fed le processed impression 3D materials, then it va "spit out" le correct type of filament in terms of size et consistency.
Extruding filament by filament extruder
Household:
However, en raison du high price of le filament extruder, it est not cost-effective for home enthusiasts who print only rarely, or anyone on a budget. Luckily, there sont some creative workarounds, namely melting et molding. By following le steps below, vous can get some good results avec a little practice.
- Fill le plastic fragments dans a can, no plus que 1/3 full avec PLA filament fragments.
- Hold le can steadily over le heat source avec votre tongs. Constantly move le can to distribute heat.
- Le fragments va first soften (1-2 minutes), then clump together, et finally become a viscous, molten liquid. At some point, vous va see it bubbling; ce est any remaining humidité boiling away. Once le bubbling mostly stops, vous have a thick, honey-like liquid.
- Ce entire melting process typically takes 3 to 6 minutes per small batch. Do not overheat until it smokes, as ce degrades le plastic.
Heating plastic fragments
- Now it est time to pour. Carefully pour le molten PLA dans votre silicone mold.
Pouring le molten PLA dans le silicone mold
Step 5: Spooling & Cooling
Professional:
If vous have invested in a filament extruder, vous might have gotten a special cooling tank or some other gadget to help avec le cooling et spooling process, as le extruded hot filament needs to be cooled et set immediately through a fan or water-cooling tank. After cooling, it est evenly wound onto le empty spool through a reel.
Household:
If vous sont doing ce on a budget, vous can also get some good results avec some care. First vous devez to let le mold sit undisturbed et cool down. Smaller amounts of filament va typically be cool to le touch et solid in 15-30 minutes. Larger objets may take over an hour. Do not try to demold early, as le plastic can be flexible but still soft. Once le material est cooled down, vous can demold.
Conclusion
Ce was a quick guide on comment to recycle filament d’impression 3Ds. We could go dans much plus detail avec each step, so if vous sont unsure sur anything, be sure to research even further to découvrez le different techniques, or even watch a video or two so that vous fully understand all le steps. We hope ce guide helped, et made vous think sur all le wasted material next time vous print. Take care!