We live in a time where 3D printing has become so accessible that the waste it generates as a byproduct is now of concern. Building projects are easier than ever, but often supports or failed attempts pile up in the trash and end up going to some landfill instead of being recycled. But what if you could actually recycle all that filament? It's not a novel concept; large-scale extrusion machines already exist, but they're expensive — that's what the ExtrudeX aims to change with its Kickstarter campaign.
Made by the folks over at Creative3DP, the ExtrudeX does exactly what it sounds like: it's an extrusion machine that you can build yourself at home with 3D printing. You need some hardware like a motor, temperature controller, fans, etc., but nothing that will break the bank. In fact, CNX Software calculates the cost of those things at around $180-$250.
So, how does the device work? There's a base upon which everything is mounted, starting with the hopper on the right. You throw in your pellets here, and they go through a churning barrel that heats them up, with a nozzle on the other end. The barrel is powered by a DC motor, and there's a temperature controller that you'll use to set the desired heat level before turning on the power supply.
Once the reborn filament starts to ooze out, you gently pluck the strand with tweezers and connect it to the puller on the left end, which continues to extract the filament and do the job for you. The process becomes automated after a little manual intervention at the beginning.
That's it, the chain is complete, and now all you need to do is keep feeding it pellets. The ExtrudeX will melt them, mold them into filament, and the puller will keep extracting it until a spool's worth is ready to collect. Oh, and there's a fan between the nozzle and the puller that will rapidly cool down the hot filament, so it hardens properly. You can also attach a gauge meter here to monitor the diameter of the filament in real time.
The recommended ratio for these pellets is 60% virgin plastic and 40% waste, and you need to make sure that the waste is ground/blended up beforehand into tiny pellets that match the size of the virgin ones. It's not 100% recycled — like the infinitely recyclable Chinese resin we covered recently — but for home use, it's enough to do your part. The machine is also designed to be portable with a carrying handle attached on the side.
The Kickstarter campaign is now live, and unlike most products that you actually (hopefully) receive at your doorstep, the ExtrudeX is essentially just a blueprint. Creative3DP will give you the STL files to 3D print the housing at home, along with links to all the hardware that's needed to buy it on your own.
If you choose to back this project, $49 is what will get you those things, but you need to pledge at least $109 for a commercial license, and there's also a $149 tier that gets you "ExtrudeX + PETFusion 2.0 Files with CL," for people looking to do this professionally. All tiers come with one-on-one support and video guides for assembly and operation.
You can keep reusing filament that would've otherwise gone in the bin, and continue experimenting with projects that were previously unsustainable. The founder of Creative3DP even shared a few finished prints from the recycled ExtrudeX filament, and they seem pretty decent, as you can see in the picture above. The structural integrity of the build remains to be seen, however.
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