2y ago

Recycling 3D Prints and Waste Plastic into Filament (PET & PLA) by Dr D Flo

Holy crap, that's a lot of work to get a roll of filament. That's only economical if your time is worth nothing. Ugh.

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tbf, you wouldn't do this because it's cheaper, you'd do it because it's more ecologically friendly and it helps make your 3d printer a bit more sustainable.
But at 20 bucks for a spool of thread, you won't be coming out ahead economically by recycling, I agree.
- It’d be fun to mess around with if it wasn’t 12-18k for the setup.
  
  Yikes. That's a loooooootta filament.
- Assuming it's recycled instead of sent to a landfill.
  Once you find out about how the business of recycling works that's often not such a certain assumption.
  
  You're naive if you think that "recycling" hasn't been a complete smokescreen for decades, FFS.
"That’s only economical if your time is worth nothing." Well, we should all be able to live lives where we can pursue things that do not have monetary rewards. Obviously not everyone is in that position but perhaps for David Florian exploring and learning and trying things is what makes him happy. Of course for him it probably makes money as well, even if indirectly. The fact that his video got shared means more people will see it, and more views means more money, so there's the value for David Florian. It's also worth considering that in science, it's all about trying things and gathering information that will hopefully lead to new (and hopefully lower cost) capabilities.
Someone at McGill university figured out how to recycle wind turbine blades into 3d printer filament. However, a single blade made enough filament that it's length could go to the moon and back. From one blade!
- Aren’t wind turbine blades fiberglass? Can fiberglass be printed?
  
  Anything can be printed with enough heat.
  See: lava
  
  Yes. Well they are mixed with an epoxy.
  You can find the research online with all the details.
To be fair, most hobby 3d printing is only economical if your time is worth nothing
- True, in some sense. However, I can't get a lot of the things that I can 3d print. There's literally no way to buy them.
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