Wanted:Filament Extruder

This is a wish list page - we don't have this tool yet!

A filament extruder is capable of turning plastic granules or shredded plastic waste into 3D printing filament. We do not own one yet; this page is intended to serve as a place to gather information for now.

Potential

We could engage in recycling projects and really close the circle in local manufacturing!

Options

Protocycler

Of the current commercial machines on the market, none seem to be worth the money. They usually lack a spooler and especially real-time diameter measurements. However, there is a promising startup called ReDeTec which is planning to release the "Protocycler". Their machine supposedly has very exciting features, but it is not clear when they will be able to begin production (the original release date was going to be August 2015)... Let's keep checking their blog for interesting updates!

Precious Plastic Extruder

Precious Plastic is a project providing open hardware designs to build machines from scrap parts to make things from recycled plastic. They provide an extruder design and show a filament spooler construction in one of of their videos.

Preparation

In addition to adding more facts to this page, everyone can already help by collecting excess plastic from 3D printing. We are collecting that plastic sorted by color and material.