Hey all, I have been interested in 3D printing for some time and the biggest thing that holds me back is the thought of all the wasted spool. Are there designs or shops which allow for bad prints / scrap to be respooled? Someone once told me about using beads instead of spool, which could then be reformed. Is this totally nonsense? Thanks for the feedback!
There are some “beads” extruders. But its more diy/homemade and you wont get all kinds of plastics that easy. Dont know where your from but in most europe such “waste” is recylcled. I see it that way: you buy molded things which dont fit your need or if they do they are made by the millions which dont all get sold and are wasted anyways. And milling or turning things is a wasteful way aswell.
Just think about smartphonecases. How many get made and arent sold until nobody uses that mobile anymore?
Yes there are people who only print shit which gets thrown away but everybody is responsible for his own matter.
I’m from the US, and I prefer to avoid buying chintzy things precisely because they promote that kind of waste. I guess from a sustainability perspective, finding spool that my local recycler would accept is the best bet. More than anything, I like the idea that I could print something, enjoy it for a while and then chuck it into a bin where it would be processed for re-use. A very idealistic closed system indeed, hahaha.
If you have the money you can buy or build a filastuder. Which grinds down prints and makes filament.
Nice, thanks for the lead, I’ll add it to my wish list.
This is my waste of failed prints and discarded/broken printer parts after several years of printing, threw the away when we moved last year. These days there are hardly any waste at all.
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@Francis_Sziebert_Fra Another possible option I have my eye on is Protocycler. Not only for recycling but for producing fresh filament at low cost. I want to have better control over the quality of the filament I use.
No matter what filament making machine you use if you recycle old prints you can only use about 10% recycled plastic with the balance being new bead. Repeat-ability of quality (not to mention color) can be a problem as each time you melt and cool plastic it changes it properties. It seems there would be a limit to how many times you can do this and still get quality filament even at only 10% old plastic blend, but I do not have the experience to confirm the limitations if any.
So far I generate very little waste (usually just the skirt around the print and sometimes a minimal amount of support) compared to the large amount of printing I do but it is something I’m considering as it will eventually build up…
Thanks for all of the feedback. I am looking at different build types to get started with right now. You’ve all been very helpful.