5 Steps to Make New Filament from Old 3D-Prints

After you are done purchasing your new 3D printer, the most natural step would be to go through the guide of 3D printing to understand the intricacies of printing 3D objects. Irrespective of how good you are at doing the job, you will have to deal with failed or unwanted prints. When you are new, you will be experimenting a lot. Countless reasons contribute to an excess of 2D prints.

You must be thinking that it is such a waste. But, what if I told you that you could use these unwanted prints to create something cool and exciting? If you do not believe it yet, this article is going to give you five steps in which you can recycle your 3D prints.

It is probably the easiest method in the book. You can create something very nice and cool by combining two or more prints to make something unique and incredible. Put in all your creative energy to come up with ideas in which you will be able to combine two or more prints.

In order to be successful in this project, you will have to check out the items that are available to you. If you are designing and printing prototype parts, it might be slightly tricky. If you feel that you are out of inspiration and the parts you have are not usable, you can always try to get inspiration from the internet and social media platforms.

You can try breaking up the print, melt it, and then come up with a shape for the different failed prints to make something entirely new and unique out of it. If you have more than two colours, try to go for a multi-coloured pattern. If you wish, you can also go with a single tone.

In order to make new filament out of the old prints, we are going to share the five significant steps.

1.    Separating the old prints – when you buy a new printer, make sure that you visit the best filament store because it is essential for quality prints. After you have a few unwanted prints, you need to collect them and segregate the different materials in it. Doing it precisely is essential because the melting temperature of the two materials will be different.

2.    Shredding the old prints – You will require something that can tear the prints. People use shredders to do this job. You can also try crushing the prints by keeping them on a towel or bag and suing a hammer to hit it.

3.    Setting up the extrusion lab – The process of extrusion is going to be complicated. You need to select a place and then get a filament extruder. Placing it in a stable position is also quite crucial. The filament will have to flow consistently out of the nozzle. A winding system will be helpful in that case. Certain setups run water through the filament for cooling it. Cooling the filament is essential.

4.    Extruding the filament – The fourth step will require you feeding the waste inside the extruder. You can use the controls of the extruder for fine-tuning the filament’s diameter. The control functions will profoundly differ on the basis of the kind of extruder you own. Set the temperature higher as it will help in increasing the filament’s flow rate. The good temperatures for extruding shredding prints will be –

ABS – 170C to 200C

PLA – 140C to 170C

5.    Spooling and using it – If you have spooled it yet, it is your time to do it. You can manually do it by winding it on the spool or using a drill for spinning the spool until the entire filament is on it.

If you are planning to create something new and unusual using the prints you have, these steps are really going to help you. Make sure you keep all these factors in mind in order to achieve what you desire.