filament extruder

I think your next project, Ryan, should be a filament extruder. That way I don’t have to buy it, I could make it… Shall we vote? I’m sure everyone that has a mpcnc would like one…

MPFE for short…

HAHAHAAHA They do seem like a good idea but man, those makergeek vids of the real deal machines looks crazy specific with the cooling. I wonder how close we could get it…Are the pellets still cheap? Just throw a hopper on top and skip making filament all together, direct extrude of pellets? Dang it now it might just be a late night looking into this with the google-fu…

I can’t believe it would be worth it for the cost savings. I get filament from microcenter for 15 dollars a spool. I was looking at that stuff because I think it would be neat to try and make filament from hdpe.

http://reprap.org/wiki/HDPE

Yeah I see that article then I see stuff saying it works. What I really need first is something to grind up the stuff bottles and stuff. Then I could make blocks I could mill. I have tried melting some bottles a couple of times and it is hard to chop up by hand. I used a paper shredder on milk jugs and it worked a little but didn’t totally chop the stuff up.

I think to do it right you some the style of this ssi industrial type units. I have seen designs for those but they require getting steel parts cut which would cost more than I want to spend.

https://preciousplastic.com/en/videos/build/shredder/

Getting the parts cut is going to be the issue. Shredding plastic is a pain in the ass. Metal shreds easier.

So we need a plastic shredder designed first?

I say Liquid nitrogen and a hammer, shredding done (shattering).