Save Crazy Money Turning Milk Containers to Filament for 3D Printers

[Nomadd_UK]

Hi Wolfie,

I never said I was confused. I just stated that there are no complete methods that I have found describing how to make one. Have you made one?

Thanks for the "Build one" link. It seems to be better than some I have found. The buy one link seems very expensive.

So, yeah, thanks for the links and your 'polite' tone.

[bkochis]

Hi LambdaFF,

It is a Texet A4 desktop shredder that can also shred credit cards. As the milk bottles are quite thin plastic it does a fair job of shredding them. It creates small strips about 4mm x 25mm. Although they are fairly rough cut at the edges due to the nature of the plastic. It saves a lot of time doing it with scissors. You still need to cut the bottle into small chunks though.

Here is the US, I am getting my packages with silly little bags filled with air as stuffing/padding. They are also HDPE. Also, the silly plastic bags from the grocery store I believe are HDPE.

Do you think this type of shredder would accommodate these items? I realize this is not referred to as a cross-cut shredder because it comes out in strips not in little squares.
Thank you

[awerby]

I think the bags at the grocery store are made from LDPE (Low Density PolyEthylene). Upon looking for anything about HDPE filament for 3D printing, what's mostly there are articles saying how great it would be if we could recycle milk jugs or whatever and make 3D filament. But hardly anyone seems to offer HDPE filament, although there are people who have tried to make it. Here's someone's thesis about how it might work: https://www.theseus.fi/bitstream/han...pdf?sequence=1 He seems to have gotten it to work to some degree, but with difficulty.

This source talks about how it can work, but enumerates the problems: http://www.hotcopier.com/hdpe

Apparently, people have had better luck printing with PET (PolyEthylene Terephthalate), another polyethylene variant which is also used to make plastic bottles. It has the #1 code, whereas HDPE has the #2 code and LDPE is #4. Here's the chart: http://plastics.americanchemistry.co...esin-Codes-PDF

If you're determined to try this, it seems that collecting, shredding, washing, drying, extruding and using PET would be more effective than with HDPE.

Andrew Werby
Juxtamorph.com

[bkochis]

I think the bags at the grocery store are made from LDPE (Low Density PolyEthylene). Upon looking for anything about HDPE filament for 3D printing, what's mostly there are articles saying how great it would be if we could recycle milk jugs or whatever and make 3D filament. But hardly anyone seems to offer HDPE filament, although there are people who have tried to make it. Here's someone's thesis about how it might work: https://www.theseus.fi/bitstream/han...pdf?sequence=1 He seems to have gotten it to work to some degree, but with difficulty.

This source talks about how it can work, but enumerates the problems: http://www.hotcopier.com/hdpe

Apparently, people have had better luck printing with PET (PolyEthylene Terephthalate), another polyethylene variant which is also used to make plastic bottles. It has the #1 code, whereas HDPE has the #2 code and LDPE is #4. Here's the chart: http://plastics.americanchemistry.co...esin-Codes-PDF

If you're determined to try this, it seems that collecting, shredding, washing, drying, extruding and using PET would be more effective than with HDPE.

Andrew Werby
Juxtamorph.com

Andrew,
I had thought of PET but was unsure if anyone had tried them. I checked the grocery bags that I reuse for garbage in the car and the really smelly stuff, like fish, at the house. The majority of them are HDPE.
Thank you for the info.
Bob

[awerby]

I was thinking of the bags that come in a roll, which you put your produce in before taking it to the checkstand. Those are LDPE. The bigger bags, which they put all your groceries in once you've paid, are often HDPE. (They've demonized them in my state, and made them hard to get; now everything gets packed in paper bags that disintegrate half-way to the car, and you have to pay a dime each for them.)

Andrew Werby
Juxtamorph.com

[LambdaFF]

The Strooder team has announced that their machine can make filament out of PET. However it's still unclear if/when they'll start deliveries.

[djprinter]

In order to save "crazy money" filiament would have to cost "crazy money," it doesn't.

[awerby]

It would certainly cost "crazy money" to go through all the processes required to turn scrap HDPE into a usable filament, though...