BRAND NEW FILAMENT RECYCLER!!!!!
Everyone,
check this out!!! A company called Loop just released this machine that can recycle old filament models and scraps. Then transform them into filament to use again.
See link below:
They will give you a 40% discount if you reserve your today. But, I'm not sure if the price for it will ever balance out? Because, how many scraps of filament do people have, and how many models do people throw away?
RE: BRAND NEW FILAMENT RECYCLER!!!!!
Thomas from Made With Layers done some DIY filament recycling, his results were... mixed. Seems you have to be really careful with the plastics you put together and if you change (say from PLA to PETG) then you have to make sure the grinder and extruder and completely clear of all previous plastics.
As much as I like the idea, it just seems expensive and, as you mention, probably not financially viable to payback the cost of the machine.
There are quite a few projects like this; they all hit the same economic hurdle. Individual printers, even small print farms, don't generate enough waste to justify the costs.
The machines to make filament from old PETG drink bottles and HDPE milk cartons always tempted me but calculation suggest I would have to drink a cubic metre of cola to make a spool of filament.
Large print farms, bigger makerspaces and university engineering departments might be suitable customers.
Cheerio,
RE: BRAND NEW FILAMENT RECYCLER!!!!!
That's my thought as well, you need somewhere that produces almost industrial amounts of waste and is able to ensure no contamination of other plastics
RE: BRAND NEW FILAMENT RECYCLER!!!!!
Heh that page design is weird, or I have too much adblocks.
According to this https://makewithloop.com/pages/discount you get a product for 1500 USD if you place a 100USD deposit. Otherwise it will be 2500 USD.
PETG is something about 30 USD per kilogram, so instead of buying 50 (or over 80) spools you buy this device to recycle a filament that was already used, and the device produces for sure a filament with a worse quality than you get from the premade spools... So you eventually risk of failed prints due to an issues in the filament.
No idea how fast it is able to produce the filament from the scraps ( at certain scrap volume it may be just too slow to generate filament fast enough). For how long the blades and other parts will last?
It sounds like they target very specific niche group, but even then it may be just not worth the price if you get into account other options/scale they aim at.
See my GitHub and printables.com for some 3d stuff that you may like.