Affordable Filament Recycling?
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 12 พ.ค. 2024
- In this video, I attempt to build an affordable filament recycling setup that you can build, too. Brought to you by PCBWay. Register at jle.vi/pcbway and get a $5 welcome bonus!
PART II OUT NOW: • Affordable Filament Re...
So I have a confession...
For the last, oh, year or so, I've been hoarding every single shred of wasted filament from my 3D prints. And in this video - the first of a series, we're going to try to build a practical, affordable filament recycling setup that allows anyone to turn wasted filament into a usable, beautiful and functional 3d printer filament.
Throughout this entire series, we're going to work on recycling 3d prints and 3d printer filament into new filament that we can actually use and 3d print with.... all for less than $1,500. So if that's something you're interested in, make sure to subscribe and hit the bell icon!
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🎥 IN THIS VIDEO: 🎥
00:00 Introduction
00:48 Background
03:29 Project Scope & Challenges
07:24 The Shredder
11:53 The Frame
14:48 The Motor
18:53 Assembling It All
25:28 Next Steps
🔗 LINKS MENTIONED IN THE VIDEO: 🔗
👉 My interview with Rudolf Leue of Recycling Fabrik: th-cam.com/users/livenccjE_7mqmE
👉 Recycling Fabrik: recyclingfabrik.com/
👉 Filament Recycling Directory on Prusa World: world.prusa3d.com/
👉 Precious Plastic: www.preciousplastic.com/
👉 PP Capi Spain on Precious Plastic: bazar.preciousplastic.com/cap...
👉 Clough42 on TH-cam: / @clough42
👉 Affordable DC Stick Welder: geni.us/DCStickWelder [Amazon]
👉 My previous video about the maker tools I wish I'd bought sooner: • 9 Maker Tools I Wish I...
👉 3D Printing with Recycled Garbage: How Are The Results?: • 3D Printing with Recyc...
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Treadmills tend to have up to 3kW motors, with controls to drive them very slowly, and can be had (used) for like $50. I use those a lot in various projects 👍
@@timnoko3588 Wow, that's a really good idea, wish I'd thought of it.
the fumes are not the best
Never thought of that though Idk that it would withstand the torque for a long period of time.
At 16:22, you mention a worm gear box, but visually, people will only see the rack and pinion transmission in front, creating potential confusion, especially for newcomers.
I used to support Precious Plastic from the early years, but it faces a fundamental challenge: the economics of recycling. While the raw material may be nearly free - which is not : sorting, cleaning, shredding, stock, etc. - the operational side demands significant investments in facilities, skilled operators, and expensive machinery. This setup hinders fast production and, more critically, requires substantial energy to create parts that struggle to be sold at a reasonable price due to their higher production costs. Without government support or a viable funding mechanism, it becomes an elusive dream. Alas. From the beginning, I hoped that One Army would recognize this challenge and develop a sustainable business model with a product range that could surpass the profitability threshold. Unfortunately, my expectation persists, albeit with dwindling optimism. In my humble opinion, tackling this subject would make for quite an entertaining video, but I must confess, I harbor doubts about whether the hype surrounding a Precious Plastic setup is truly justified.
Here's my take on welding: In this situation, insufficient power is causing the weld to stick. You'll need to increase the power, but be cautious not to go through the material by mistake. No worries here with the thick steel of the shredder. Simply put, only decrease the power when working with thin steel. Stick welders can be tricky for beginners. A flux-cored MIG welder, available at a similar price, provides a smoother experience and yields proper welds more rapidly. On the other hand, thickened epoxy offers a robust cold weld with a variety of materials, including mixed ones.
Sheet metal worker here, I would be using the 6013 rod too, so good start. Absolutely have to clean your metal down to bare shiny before welding. Cleaning the ground area always helps too. Rod angle is important, always should be dragging the rod not pushing when horizontal. About 80 degrees for butt welds, 45 degrees for T welds. Practice on some scrap!
Thank you! This is helpful!!!
If there's slag, drag!
Its mild steel with a stick just a quick hit with grinder disk or wire wheel is generally enough, you want to get rid of paint and corrosion, push or pull isnt as important you can get good welds either way.. there are a bout 1000 different techniques. but "clean" surfaces and having the settings on the welder somewhat in the correct place will get him 90% there. @thenextlayer setup a some long butt weelds and pritice for a few hours, play with the welder
And you can get magnets to hold the pieces together at various angles like 90° or 45° so the stress of holding the materials is less
Great reply
I'm looking forward to seeing the rest of this video series. A collaboration with CNC Kitchen might be a good idea so you get the best possible filament out after the whole process.
With a VFD, the frequency of AC supplied to the motor can be varied which changes its RPM. Changing the sequence of the 3 phases changes the direction of the motor's rotation.
Though, you can run the motor much slower with a VFD, you won't be able to get a high enough torque to crush plastic reliably. I will highly recommend adding a gearbox.
Shoot… ok I’ll look into one, I guess :(
I don’t know where to source them here though.
I concur
@@thenextlayer you shouldn’t need anything super fancy from the gearbox. You could probably get by with even something like 2 gears with a high enough gear ratio, you could probably get the cut relatively cheaply from a laser cutting / water jet company. Alternatively looking into a planetary gearbox as those can get higher reductions and are typically enclosed.
Maybe you could look into gearboxes for car winches, they look to be similarly sized for the motor you have. Those are meant to get cars unstuck so they have a boat load of torque at a low rpm output, and I’m sure you can find ones with burnt out motors and functional gear boxes on the used market.
@@dpear3 Thankfully someone messaged me and has what I'm looking for - so grateful for viewers on TH-cam...
@@thenextlayer a filament extruder usually has about 17:1 - 32:1 gear box the screw and barrel sise is for any size extruder line the same should be fine for the shredder maybe stay closer to the upper range for touque over RPM
What BALLS you have to show us your actual process! Well done! The only way to learn is to make lots and lots of mistakes as quickly as you possibly can. You're doing life right.
Use a grinder and clean the metal around where you are going to weld and where you put your ground. This will help get a clean contact. Also take some scrap and play with your settings on the welder. That is the main reason you are sticking at the beginning of the weld.
Thank you!!!
Jay is correct and for old box tubing 7018 or 6011 rod is a good all purpose rod more prep more results cheers @@thenextlayer
I am an engineer, welder, tool and die maker, etc with 50+ years experience. And I have actually built shredders such as you are doing though larger and intended to shred metal. I love the project (am also hording plastic waste) and am very impressed by your "just do it" approach. Lots of people talk and day dream about such things but you are actually doing it. So great respect to you. Good that you are using salvaged materials and trying to reduce cost. Purchasing the kit is a good start. However, the welded frame is, as others have mentioned, totally inadequate for the intense vibrations such a machine will produce, even if you could align the motor with the shredder (which is unlikely without precise machining tools and skills). As others suggest, a MIG welder is much easier to learn and grinding the weld area to shiny metal before welding is essential. The frame needs triangulated bracing and adequate welds as many others have said. The motor must have a substantial mechanical speed reduction (and torque multiplication) system by gears, chains/sprockets or belts and pulleys to drive the shredder. Some shredders actually run at high speed but that would just melt the plastic we want to shred. An appropriate gear reduction system that would couple to your motor and your shredder will be a challenge to find and likely quite expensive. A belt or chain speed reduction system will need pulleys or sprockets, bearings, keyed intermediate shafts and additional framework (and guards for safety) with provision for adjusting belt or chain tension. All a bit more complicated but still possible with your drive and ambition. I would be happy to help you with the design of such systems and might duplicate here for my own use.
Another concern you havent mentioned is cleaning the plastic scrap before shredding. 3D printing needs filament that is very pure with nothing that will clog the nozzle. I know the stuff I collect is likely to have bits of debris included that will cause problems if it gets into the final product filament and I am not sure how to eliminate that problem. It may be that filtering the shredded material by melting it and extruding through a 0.4 or smaller "screen" will be required and that seems high maintenence at best.
I checked out precious plastics designs a couple years ago and the shredder was one step the next step was to clean and dry and they have plans up for s make shift washing machine with a pool sand filter for the microplastics, and then like a screened bag to put the shredds in to dry, which is another make shift dryer made from a drying machine
Yeah, you should definitely check out the Precious Plastic project and HUGE community. They have done this for ten years now, and have a set of D.I.Y. plans/parts/machines in project sites all over the world. Including shredders and extruders. This video is totally reinventing the wheel a decade too late.
Well I mean some things are a little out of date at this point there are other systems out there that can run longer and have a better accuracy then b4 but it is still a good reference or starting point
But the process is the same
This comment helps a TON! Thank you! Can you message me on discord? @jonathanalevi
Stick welders are not good for beginners. You should look into getting a Flux Core MIG welder. These are the type that use a spool of wire. You will get much better welds from this. No rod sticking here. Stick welders are also more used for heavy thick metal where as a MIG can be dialed in to better match thinner metal welding. They also use a wand with a trigger that allows for more precise control of your weld. They are comparable in price to any stick welder. Good luck!
I'm tempted. I didn't wanna spend the money until I knew that I liked welding, but now that I know I do... I think I'll get one.
Good to know, thinking of buying a cheap welder soon myself to learn with.
I've been super interested in responding my scraps, especially since getting the x1c recently. Love what you're doing. Looking forward to the rest of this build.
Awesome project! Welding tips: Only weld on clean metal (grind or wire brush to bare metal and de-grease with acetone). Wire brush the flux off your previous welds before welding over or next to them (a wire brush and chipping hammer are essential tools, stick welding leaves a flux coating that you do not want to weld over). In the U.S. many steel supplies sell remnant and scrap cuts to the public if you're having trouble finding steel. When beginning to learn welding, practice on flat steel plates to learn how to tack pieces together and lay slow and steady beads in straight lines. Before welding a new project, practice on scrap steel of the same thickness in the same kind of joints, trying different welder settings to see what works best. Beginner stick welding videos on TH-cam are a massive help getting your welding hobby off the ground.
Thank yoU! These are great tips, I'll do all this next time.
cleaning to that level is overkill unless its stainless, ms with stick with literally burn though anything if the arc is started, a decent clean surface should be used though, if your welds are good you don't need a hammer at all the slag peels off and you will finish the surface later.
Awesome! Love the determination! Looking forward for the rest of the video series! Thanks Jonathan!
I'm glad I came across this video as I recently was visiting my best friend along with his 11-year old son and both of them had just recently dived into the 3D printing world. I was only a few months ahead of them myself and gladly helped get them all setup to go. During that time, his son proactively saved every single shred of waste filament, and when I asked him about that he said he wanted to save all of it so he could figure out a way to recycle it all at some point (even if he had no idea what that involved). I was impressed by his natural ambition to attempt something extremely useful and helpful on his own and promised to help him with that goal. I think this video series will be extremely helpful to anyone trying to get an affordable recycling solution off the ground, so thanks again for that. I am not a TH-camr by any means, but I do plan on taking video of my design, build, and testing process in order to help anyone else interested in recycling do the same as well, and it may also be a good test case for your overall goal of enabling the average follower to implement something like this!
Cant wait for the next episode! I have been wanting to do this for ages...
Kudos for actually making a video about a topic where you do not excel to perfection and showing the shortcomings. I will be following this series with great interest.
Amazing video, can't wait to see the rest of the series! Some tips for the welding:
- Be very careful welding any steel that is galvanized, it's fumes are uber bad for you. I'd do it outside if possible and grinding the area you're about to weld will reduce these fumes (though it's difficult to grind the inside of steel bar).
- You appear to be using a 110v welder. To increase it's penetration in the material (and therefore strength), you can pre-heat the metal with something like a propane or map gas torch.
Other than that you're doing great! Keep up the good work :)
Love the concept of this series and its got me thinking if i could do something similar. Love the fact your just going for it yourself chopping, welding sourcing and most importantly making mistakes, brilliant! keep including errors makes the whole series more real.
Without errors, we do not learn. NO ONE learns!
👍😁👍
I've been on this road and after I wasted some money I ended up buying a plug and play extrusion line.
I love this! I've been eyeballing all the things required to start recycling my own filament and it's pretty overwhelming. This may actually be what it takes to get me to do it myself!
You definitely need to look up the Precious Plastic community. They have everything you need.
Great job!
I'll take ugly and functional over pretty and useless every single time.
The alignment of the motor and cutter shafts looks like it's probably close enough that the coupler will be able to mate them. If not, that old crafting technique of "a shim" under the motor will get you through :)
Looking forward to seeing the finished result!
I love how open you are about your skill level, the mistakes you made and how you got everything. Awesome video! Cant wait to see more.
Thanks so much!!
You didn't mention it in the video, but have you seen the new DIY filament extruder option that Stefan at CNC Kitchen tried? This might be an economical option for part 2 if you haven't already got something figured out. Also, a few of the other TH-cam channels that have tried this have noticed that if you use a filament cutter to shred your first round of extruded filament, the second time you run it through the extruder it yields a much more consistent diameter. Just some thoughts for part 2! Can't wait!!
Stay tuned! In the next video we deal with extrusion
Thanks for this video, Jonathan! Filament recycling is something I've been actively researching for years now. Exciting stuff!
Such a great video as always. I've been looking for a recycling solution so I can't wait for the next video bravo!!! 👏
Thank you! Cheers!
I probably would just drill holes into steel and bolt everything together with 90 Degree steel angles instead of welding (it will go to the corner with between so probably doesn't matter if it's welded or not)
And you can disassemble everything if needed
This is amazing. I love the project mission and execution. Thanks for doing this.
Glad you enjoyed it!
DUDE! I love this video idea! I have kept all my waste since I started 3D printing in the hopes of recycling it. I could really use and learn from your experiences before i spend thousands of dollars on machinery I don't know how to use
Let’s do it!!!
Using a VFC for reducing the rotational speed while creating a 3-phase power signal from a 1-phase wall plug is nice. However, you don't gain any torque from using a VFC. In fact, you will be overloading the motor torque-wise. Also, because of the very low motor speed (est 1..2 rotations per second), the built-in fan inside the motorhead will hardly generate any cooling, overheating the motor even more.
You really need to insert a gearbox between the motor and the shredder.
Secondly, a remark on the frame. You use rectangular frame geometry without any shear supports/stiffeners. Without shears (creating a triangular frame geometry), you will be overloading the welds and creating a weak, feeble frame with lacking rigidity. I expect the frame to fail and crash within hours of operation.
Thirdly, a remark on the shaft coupling between the motor and the shredder. You have chosen to use a rigid shaft coupling. This is an absolute no-go for this type of low-precision assembly. It causes a lot of friction inside the bearings, resulting in torque loss, excessive wear of the bearings, and long-term fatigue-based shaft failure. You need to use a flex coupling instead of a rigid coupling. There are many different types of flex coupling (with different degrees of freedom, different values for the allowable misalignment, and different torque capabilities).
I was just going to add a fan on the back…
But ok, where can I source a gearbox like that in Israel, lol…
Just saw the other comments, too. I always wondered why people do the triangular geometry. Ok… if it fails, I’ll redo it… can you link me to an example of what you mean!?
Also, dang. Didn’t know about flex couplings. How do I find one with the right diameters? I’m starting to think that maybe I really do need a gear box.
@@thenextlayer Power (kW) = Torque (N.m) x Speed (RPM) / 9.5488. Your motor can deliver about 7 N.m. If you only run the motor at 50 RPM and not the 2900 RPM your motor can only deliver 0.04 KW. Its not going to work without a gearbox. So you can run the motor at 2900 RPM and get 2.2Kw out off the motor.
@@thenextlayer Google lovejoy coupling, it's what we use at my work
I am happy to see someone trying to make recycling 3D filament affordable. I recently looked into pellet 3D printing and wondered if pellet 3D printing could take the "turn shredded plastic into filament" step out. Sadly pellet 3D printers are not common.
Yes and no. They take the step out of producing expensive filament in the first place. Everybody with a print farm should be looking for pellet printing since the raw material is by a factor of 5-10 less expensive. But for home use, filament is just convenient. You get tight tolerances, good material quality but much less control over color, material properties and price is way worse. My guess would be that pellet extruders will be the next hype after all the other issues like print quality and print speed and also price for FDM machines is basically already solved. Filament is just way way more expensive and thus nobody uses 3D printing for manufacturing unless it´s a very small part count. No automobile manufacturer would ever use FDM printing for mass priduction ever. But with a significant price reduction they may be willing to label their product "gree, recycled great for evirenment bla bla" and 3D print them is they are cheap enough.
This chap and the pellet extruder project may be something you want to keep an eye on
th-cam.com/video/AS898H9F04s/w-d-xo.html
You might want to check out Greenboy3D and follow his attempts to create a universal pellet extruder. /watch?v=AS898H9F04s
Massive respect for trying, and OWNING your own inadequacies when welding. It's not a particularly easy skill to master, but the fact that you want to learn, and aren't trying to show people how to weld; let alone are TRYING to humbly learn your own way makes me not even want to critique your work. I'm not a stick welder (I prefer TIG/MIG) but I've done some - I'll throw some tips though, you look like you'll take to it like a duck to water.
- You have an angle grinder already, get a grinding wheel for it and grind the millscale (the grey dull coating) and paint off what you're trying to weld. The cleaner it is, the easier it is to weld. With stick welding, it's a bit more forgiving than MIG/TIG in my opinion for dirty joints but it's not infallible. Experienced guys can kinda weld through anything but they'd clean it if they can.
- You've already got the idea down for starting your arc, drag the stick, don't poke it. I think part of your issue starting is the millscale, but I think you might be lifting the stick too high and too fast. They say it's like "striking a match" but I don't think it's quite that quick. Definitely get some scrap and practice laying a bead down. Once you can scratch start it reliably, it will be so much easier for you to weld.
Keep up the good work, I'm deeply interested in this project myself!
Because of the interest in recycling, I would note that a real easy place to get a warm drive gear reduction would be the steering box of an old vehicle that might also be destined for the scrap heap. If it does not have a rack and pinion then it will have a worm drive gear in a small metal box.
I love what your doing. Keep up the great content. I can't wait to see the end results
I like the term babysit the filament, I used the same term when I was talking to a friend about my anycubic Kobra 2 neo, I've since sorted the fault and have a lot less wasted prints , I don't have to babysit it anymore but I'm still new to printing
Love this project! Looking forward to it :)
A VFD takes ac power converts it to dc so you can control the speed then converts it back to ac.
Most of those motors can also be wired for high speed and low speed.
To make the motor reverse direction take any two of the three wires going from the vfd to the motor and swap them.
not sure if it was just the camera angle but you need to make sure your shredder shaft center is as close to center of the motor shaft. this will help save your bearings on both sides.
Awesome. Literally talking to my friend today about inventing one of these!
This video earned a subscription from me. Enthusiasts that ignore the fact we're giving this planet away when we die are people I refuse to associate with.
Can’t wait to see the next video in the series! Keep up the good work man
As someone who works with VFDs everyday, I'm excited to see this series. It's not often I hear about them outside of work. Your explanation of them was funny, but pretty much right. I encourage everyone to watch a video on how VFDs work, interesting stuff.
Love your project! You spoke very well in the presentation. Couple of thoughts - you're going to want to make sure to line up the output of the motor to the shredder shaft as perfectly as you can. Try to fab some provisions to allow some adjustment for the shredder or the motor. Then use a flexing mechanical coupling. The VFD looks like it may be sized too small for single phase input to 3 phase output plus wanting high torque. Granted, you may be limited by amperage available at your studio so you may not be able to run a larger VFD. This project may end up needing a gearbox for a reduction to get the torque needed.
Great video, congrats on 100k btw. Also I just recently started posting my designs on printables and I want to ask how do you generate traffic to your printables profile?
Thanks x2!!
Wonderful project you have taken on. I surely shall be following along. As for the welding. It helps a lot to have a scrap piece of grounded metal beside or near where you are welding. Strike your rod on this scrap piece to heat the rod, like to red hot. Then move to your work piece with a hot rod to start. Another thing do NOT be afraid to hold the welding rod with your other dry gloved hand near the end of the rod. I mean hold the rod with your hand to guide you as you start. Once started you can let go of the rod as it gets pretty hot with you hand that close to the weld. But now running the weld is much easier. Thank you for the series.
Shalom! Watching you, all the way down from Brazil! Awesome content! Looking forward for new episodes! Thanks and keep it up 👍
I'm very excited to see this come to life.I know i can expect great things from your videos have been toying with the idea of making a filament recycler for cheap.I like the filament extruder from cnc kitchen's video has from germany ill see how yours compares. I'm still trying to figure out the shredder part because that's my biggest obstacle currently.Your video have given me lots of great resources and information.I really appreciate the effort in this video.
If anything, I'm showing you how NOT to do it. Just reading the comments here, I've already discovered 10 different things I did wrong.
Next week's video might be me redoing all this based on subscriber feedback 🤣
Hey Jonathan, totally dig this video moving towards recycle/repurposing resources. I may be repeating a few comments seeing 257 and counting hoping this comment brings it all together.
Being a safety kinda guy I'm going to point out a few things that will be crunchy, but all in good intentions and care about your safety. AND I do have a suggestion on your gear reduction issue.
Safety
1. The box tubing looks to be galvanized. IF so the off gassing is very dangerous. even so I highly recommend ventilating any off gassing created by welding. Even with a respirator, that gas has to be evacuated. A small hood set next to the work with a strong couple of fans with vent hose pulling the gasses out to a nearby window is better than nothing.
2. Using Galvanized metals, any metal needs to be ground clean for the welds to take, In the case of Galvy, I'd grind it a good 6~8" back from the area to be welded. or wrap a wet rag a ways back from the weld to contain the heat.
3. The area you're welding in looks very unsafe, your rug to the side could easily catch fire, not sure about. Welding will launch molten metal drops amazing distances. Also get a fire extinguisher, it's a must have.
4. Nicholas has a good advice on welding rod technique. If you're planning more welding get a MIG, much easier and they are so much more affordable these days.
5. If you're welding sheet or thin metal clamp a piece of Copper on the back side to help prevent blow through.
Ok on the gear reduction.
A. Not sure if you have access to this supplier but great resource for what you need for this project. www.mcmaster.com/
B. If you can't find a gear box consider a chain gear reduction. You can save yourself some space by having the motor offset from the grinder. Easy to figure out your gear reduction, using a chain is solid! just be sure to put a chain guard over that. eats fingers real fast, also helps keeping debris out of the chain. Best of all you get the motor back up into a better torque range.
Stay safe over there.
Best
Jim
Oh I forgot to add, by using a sprocket and chain you'll solve your mounting and alignment issue. You can mount the motor to the 1/4" (6mm) plate, I'd suggest welding a bracket to the frame, bolt the bracket to the plate that holds the motor, The plate you'll need to stiffen on either side of the motor plate to stiffen it. PM me if you can I can do a sketch for ya. Shouldn't take any time to do it.
GREAT tips. How do I know if metal is galvanized? I turned on fans opened windows, as well as a vent... but I do want to be safe.
Enjoy your permanent ban, Prints of Darkness!
@@thenextlayer The Galvanizing has a grey finish, chalky to the touch feeling. The finish will chips off to reveal the metal below. Most chainlink fences and round piping have Galvanized finishes. So you could compare that.
@@thenextlayer banned?
Biggest tip for improving your welding technique is set aside some time for practice. Nobody starts out with perfect technique. You got this 💪
great project, and don't worry about the welding, it all power and practice, I'm still a beginning (have a mig welder) and did some tube welding a while back, it looked terrible but it was strong :)
Brilliant video, thanks. It's all coming together baby!
With stick welding, you want to strike the stick to get it started, then put the tip where you want to start your weld. Hold it 1-2mm above the metal for a hair over half a second, then you want to move the tip of your stick away from the weld spot you just made (it should be a puddle of metal), but in the direction your weld will be going. Only need to move it about 1/2 an inch away from the existing weld for 1/2 a second then move it back to the bottom of the existing weld that you just did. Repeat this, you should see overlapping weld puddles CCCCCC, kinda like that, but obviously better overlapped than simply typing repeating C's.
Just came across your channel through this video and I really like your videostyle.
You just earned my sub 👍
Love from Türkiye❤
Ever since I got into 3D printing, I've been hoping to recycle my prints. This definitely makes it seem attainable.
It won´t for a long time. There are all sorts of issues. Just the price will kill it for home use. I am still waiting for a good pellet extruder instead.
Finally something education & entertaining on youtube. I feel like the whole of yt and the internet has been a hole but this is useful!!! Great work on the video and keep it up man ❤❤
I'm currently working on the big brother of this project, which wasn't initially big in my drafting phase, but I scored a retired industrial 40mmx1100mm injection machine screw and will be building my machine around it. Initially, I designed and resin printed an injection screw and was going to cast it, but the real screw was an absolute steal and I couldn't resist.
The motor is something that is definitely an item that needs specificity. Single phase motors don't have the option of speed controllers if they are AC powered, so you'll need to use a reduction gearbox, which for the type of motor you'll need, can eclipse the budget of the entire project. I'm a notorious scrap rat, but all of the motors I have aren't anywhere near torquey enough to spin the 20lb chunk of steel screw even with a gearbox, or slow enough with pulleys. A 3-phase with VFD is ideal in both our cases, but as a cost-saving measure, I'm going to try an initial iteration with a pneumatic impact gun and see how it goes since I have it, and it will be amply powerful for the job.
Frames are also a necessary evil, and steel prices have been skyrocketing into the ridiculous territory the last few years. One used to be able to go scrapping for usable steel, but anymore the good, usable stuff gets picked by the pros, and the junk goes straight to the smelters. I've ended up collecting free bed frames for the angle iron steel and welding up what I need.
For injection/extrusion nozzles, you can pick them up extremely cheaply through industrial suppliers, or if you're relatively clever, drill out steel pipe caps. The industrial nozzles can be had as cheaply as $13, where you can thread and tap an insert for making other sizes when the use case comes up. I'm aiming for 10mm so I can use hydraulic lines and connectors, but I'm also aiming to do for injection mold use rather than running filament, but with a tapped insert, I may try my hand at doing custom composite filaments in the near future.
Add: I'd nearly forgotten, but bulk shredders don't necessarily have to look like you might expect. I've had great luck with homebuilt crushers that were designed for rock (I use them for processing graphitized carbon for my graphene products), but you can change the screen size to adapt to the pellet or particle size you want and dump into a sack/bucket, feeding as fast as you want. While grinders and shredders work, they can take a long time to process any sizeable volume runs. With my crusher, it's almost instantaneous and you'd be surprised how little time it takes to have a constant stream shooting out the exit port. 😁
Awesome video brother! I love seeing people try new things like you welding! It's both exciting and stressful in normal environments much less your current atmosphere.
One of the best suggestions I can give you with the welding is getting all the paint off the steel first. This start and stop popping is because of that. Paint is effecting your ground.
Clean metal always wells better. Keep up the great work sir!
Jeremy
Should check places like automation direct for the motor, gearbox and VFD. Decent quality and prices. Also, as someone who works with motors, I would pick something with a 56C frame with a hollow shaft gearbox and probably wouldn't go above 1/2 horse for a shredder.
I’m based in Israel…
@@thenextlayer For some reason I thought they ship to Israel. Their website shows TOPCO Control & Automation LTD as a distributor in Israel.
Glad your taking this project on too I've been slowly working on it as well the past few years, I also bought a motor not realizing I needed a slow rpm motor, picked up a 1 hp motor that goes 1800 rpm....
Been looking into gear boxes have a line up on a couple but they can be expensive was looking into a vfd as well, but glad I also read about it not really giving you more torque, just less rpm, I would definetly look for the right gearbox for your motor would not like to get an underrated one as the gearbox or the motor will fry after awhile and have to replace it again I will try to find the video I was watching on this
th-cam.com/video/LZA-kEpQgNM/w-d-xo.htmlsi=nbP0iSxp5OoOyuHn
Another video of making a plastic shredder same idea but there's a spot in the video that talks about what too look for in a gearbox for your motor,
Hope that is helpful and wish you luck look forward to see the extrusion process you decide
Stay tuned for the next video, lots of hard-won lessons...
Gotta learn somehow
excited to see this series thru.
That is one massive project! WOW!
As for the stick welder, while I've used the one I have now and then, I too just can't get used to getting the spark to start without getting it stuck to the metal. LOL
So I ended up getting a MIG welder. Since there's no stick to strike against the metal, just a handle where you push the trigger and the wire starts to feed out, it's easy to get the spark going without sticking.
That might be an idea for you.
I find since getting this, my welds are much nicer now.
Good luck on your project.
The number one thing that’s gonna help you out with welding is a clean the surfaces first that means take a grinder, grind everything off of them before you put them together
A good rule of thumb when ordering a VFD to convert from single phase to three phase is to order one that's double the amperage. So if say you were had a 15 full load amp (fla) motor, youd want to get a vfd thats rated for 30... And I highly doubt you're going to get the proper torque by going down in speed with the VFD. You are still going to want a gearbox.
This is exciting. will be fun to learn about how you do the extruding part.
great work!!!
VFDs are similar to pulse width modulation. You control the speed be essential turning the power switch on and off really fast.But it's great for getting 3-phase AC when you don't have a 3-phase source.
On the welding bit, your electrode sticking is a normal phenomenon. The trick isnt maintaining contact, but maintaining the right gap. Adjusting your "heat" will help with penetration. Maintaining a steady arc is another crucial thing. Starting and stopping with something that contains flux like a welding rod or flux core wire, it melts the slag that covers your weld and mixes it in with the metal creating inclusions or porosity in the weld. One other thing, used upcycled repurposed etc is amazing, however, where you are making your weld MUST be cleaned. For one, it creates impurities or weak spots in the weld and it makes it harder to steike and maintain an arc. By no means am i saying dont use used or older materials, it just takes a few moments extra work. I love your content, im glad you and yours are doing alright there. I appreciate getting to see most of these projects
that was pretty funny, love your sense of humor xD
Great video! have a blessed day
Sometimes "good enough" is just fine. Though out if the scope for most people, if some reuse is possible then it is worthwhile. Looks like it will be an interesting journey to follow.
Looks like a fun project with a lot of opportunities to learn something. Looking forward to next video. Quite curios about the coupling of the motor and the shredder. Luckily the latter can be shimmed easily to the right hight.
By the way. You might want to inform you about the potential health risks of grind dust. I was told its more dangerous than stone or wood dust.
Good luck with the project :)
Ok so there is few major issues with this setup, first while it’s true you can lower the motor speed with a VFD but that motor won’t be able to handle all the torque as that is limited by the motor physical design, second that poor base will break apart as soon as you turn on the motor 😅 you need frame between the motor and the shredder that can handle all this bending forces.
Can you elaborate? A lot of people have said the frame will break... Do you mean I need to add a cross-bar in the middle, or what?
@@thenextlayer
for every action there is a reaction, when the motor turns the shaft one of two things will happen, either the shredder will run or the frame will break and the motor will start to rotate around the shaft depending on what is weaker the shredder torque demand or your frame. What I would suggest is have maybe a plywood as common baseplate between the motor and shredder (maybe you will need more than one layer, I didn’t do the math on it 🙃) you can look up pump baseplates for some inspiration and further understanding. You will also find how they do shaft alignment that also is very important for your investments lifespan 😁.
This is something I have been keeping tabs on for a while, an easy way to process the various plastics
Look up Precious Plastic. A community driven project that already id this an spread it world wide. This video is literally reinventing the wheel a decade later.
Welding inside on what looks like a wood floor is pretty neat to see...
😁
I have been considering buying what is called an oil press. Its used to extract oils from nuts and things. It has an extruder screw and a heater and hopper to feed in the nuts. It seems like it would be a fairly cheap way to convert to an extruder. It has all the parts already for the most part and its between 100 and 300$. I have not seen anyone do this yet, but it seems like a straightforward way to get a very cheap exteuder to me.
I tried something like this a a few years ago now. unfortunately it just tured in to a massive money pit. but i am excited to see what you come up with.
Uh oh... lol I'll do my best
Look for a star coupling for getting the drive shafts connected, normally you want in any mechanical joint a soft material that can wear before any of your mayor components, the coupling has a rubber section that is easily replaceable and helps with minor deviation and vibration.
As a retired fabricator, my welding advice would be to try to get hold of a small MIG welder. If you can run a hot glue gun, you can mig or wire weld. Seriously a lot of people spend years learning to arc weld, if you are a DIY/hobby welder it's not worth it, try to get a MIG welder. Mig stands of Metal Inert Gas.
This is badass🥳🥳definitely should try out the fluxcore welder and cut 45/90 degrees for the corners🥳🥳this is really cool brother!! Can’t wait for the next one🥳🥳
Can’t wait for next weeks episode!
as a mechanic the welding hurts but i belive you will get there eventualy.
use more amps and try to be consistant with the speed. practice striking the arc on scrap metal
I really think this is a gap in the market that all the big printer brands are missing. A prusa/Bambu style ease of use mass produced machine for this would be amazing.
Thanks for the great video. Also, I am thinking of you and your family and hoping you all stay safe. ❤
Living in the Netherlands myself (and have some friends that also have 3d printers) this might actually be interesting!
I love this video. Your welds, however are triggering. I highly recommend sanding/grinding off the millscale and paint from the weld zone. As thin as your stock is, you might consider using a MiG or small flux core alternative. I don't know about availability in your region, but local hardware stores often carry small wire feed machines that are much easier to use than the stick welding alternatives.
With stick welding (what you're using) more amperage generally means more heat (it's actually more complicated than that, but this will get you started). If you find the rod sticking a lot bump up the amperage slightly. If you get a lot of spatter, you're either too far away or your voltage is too high.
With wire feed it's very similar. Your feed rate can control your heat and adjust the voltage as necessary.
There's a lot more involved, but this has also been a huge info dump.
Wow, having a youtube channel pays really well.
But its good that you managed to go back home. Let's hope for peace noon.
Thank you for this ... I am going to follow closely. I am not generating enough waste to make this practical for me (new hobbyist). I am interested in seeing the locations on the printables site ... but cannot find it. Can you point me to where it is? Thanks.😀
World.prusa3d.com I think
You can't change the torque of a motor with only a VFD. The gearbox is the torque multiplier. You need to mechanically change speed to change torque. A 5kw motor at 50hz 1800rpm, being supplied 25hz makes it basically a 2.5kw motor 900rpm. The torque calculates out the same. Keeping it at 50hz, at 1800rpm, and using gearing, belts, chain to go to 900rpm doubles the torque. VFDs are great for controlling speed, and using it as a soft start.
I sell bearings, motors, conveyors, etc.
You don't need to cut the square metal beams. You cut a V at the point where you want the end to be and then bend it over and weld. Must faster and neater and stable as it's still technically a single piece yet.
Damn this is a good idea
on the topic of multi color multi material printing. tap changer seems like a great option especially since you already have voron printers
Great work. I am a welder by trade and you are doing great, practicing and building thing is the only way to get better, I am still constantly surprised at how strong welds can be even ones that look like bird poop, keep it up.
Good luck on your project
DC motors may cost more depending on selection, but your options for reliable speed control and torque are going to be greater in a residential situation. 1ph to 3ph VFD's are usually very small and pretty expensive for being 2HP or below. Just some thoughts from someone who works in industrial automation and also does hobbyist electronics. Check places like mouser to narrow down your potential parts based on your physical requirements. Cross reference from there for domestic pricing if available where you live.
the guy from precious plastic (dave) now has another youtube channel : Project Kamp
Oh snap I’ll check it out thanks
Just gotta clean that metal up before you weld it! Metal immediately start's to oxidize when exposed to air you basically have to knock that oxidation scale off before you weld. I'm sure you will get the hang of it.
Thanks for including shipping and importing fees. Many channels simply don't mention these costs which is kinda deceptive
No problem!
I recommend 3D printing parts and re enforcing them with the metal you are using.
You could also use 3D printed parts to hold the parts together while you tack them into place to ensure a perfect square. They may melt as a result of the heat, but the point is to hold everything in place while making the welds.
Damn, that's a really smart idea.
Can't wait for the next episode!
Your picture of me (us) is very close, except I don't wear that apron, because I don't do a lot of metal working. 😂
Thanks for the project. I, like you, have been hoarding for over a year my waste and it's becoming out of hand.
Seems promising. I too have the same remarks about current solutions (I know the sketchy one you mentioned, and I am also sceptic about that one)
Case you're curious about how to control the motor rotation, torque and speed, you will find very similar parallels even on stepper motors. In klipper, for example you can configure the run current (the higher the current, the higher the toque the motor will be able to deliver). Differently from that though with AC motors you get to play with frequency, voltage and current. Making it spin the other way around is all about swapping the polarity. That device there you can probably DIY it.
Decreasing the voltage whilst maintaining current will get slower speed. Maintaining voltage whilst increasing current will get you more torque
As someone who went down the "self taught" road for welding I can recommend a few tips. 1 don't start with stick especially on thin ish material. Its very hard when learning to not either burn through or just have cold welds that are worthless. Starting with a flux core mig welder is by far your best bet in terms of getting good results without having someone more experienced standing over you telling you exactly whats wrong. Also as a hobbyist your not likely to be welding anything much over 3/8 thick but you are likely to be doing alot in the 1/8 or thiner range where mig shines over stick in alot of ways as stick tends to be better for thick not so clean material. 2 It doesn't matter what your welding the cleaner it is the better. If theres any rust or paint it will make your life hell and you'll never get good strong welds. 3 This kinda goes for learning anything but watch as many videos about welding as possible. People like welding tips and tricks or This old tony are amazing and you'll definitely improve by watching and learning as much as humanly possible on the subject. 4 If stick is all you have to work with get yourself a thick plate preferably 3/8 or 1/2 in and just run beads on it over and over again. Don't bother trying to stick two pieces together at first just practice making good looking consistent beads with no porosity. I found when learning cheating the settings up to the hotter end for the size rods and thickness of metal makes it alot easier to strike and maintain a good arc. Obviously this will generally cause a bit of under cutting and on thiner metal, burn throughs, but control comes with time and practice so its a worthy trade off while learning. Hope this helps!
As an ex sheet metal worker for welding I would suggest a MIG welder for beginners. You can get gasless and also gas MIG, easiest is gasless, but the welds aren't as good, as the gas acts as a flux enabling you to get a better weld. These machines are more expensive than an arc welder, but worth the extra cost. I have both and I rareley use the arc welder.
Hi Dude, Stickwelding is hard. I learned it at Burmeister & Wain a lifetime ago, but haven't hardly used it since. A Tip how I see it (it's like religion) I use the angle of the stick to control the tempo of the burn and thereby the size of the weld. It looks to me like you should use more of an angle and just let the burning tip run along. Hope it helps.
Little tip: if you will add an angled (diagonal?) stiffener to every side, your frame will be a lot more stable.
This strategy is quite common for woodworking workbenches.
Thanks I might do that
Cool project. I'm still dubious about impact on environment of such solutions. I mean I hate wasted plastic and giving it's really poor recyclability reuse could be great. However there's a cost to such recycling. The parts we buy the machining, welding etc of the machine. The building of motors the shredders not to mention electricity to run the thing also have impact on environment. I'd love to see some analysis that would break down the total impact to environment of such recycler and when does its recycling offset its own impact on the environment.
Tbh all Im intrested is the shredder. If I shread my prints they are easier to store. And Im hoping the cost of extrusion will reduce and it can be a furture me project.
Stay tuned