Turning 3D Print Waste into New Filament!

I tried to make new filament from the multi-color purging poop of my Bambu Lab printers, and it wasn't straightforward. Let's find out more!

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Chapters:
00:00 Introduction
00:47 Sponsor
01:44 3D Printing Waste
03:23 Shredding the Poop
04:34 Extrusion Batch 1
07:19 Filament Pelletizer
08:39 Extrusion Batch 2
10:41 Recycling Alternatives

#3Dprinting #Recycling
DISCLAIMER: Part of this video was sponsored by VoxelPLA.
FTC Disclaimer: A percentage of sales is made through Affiliate links

[CNCKitchen]

*QUESTION* What are you doing with your 3D printing waste?

[MakersMuse]

Haha I knew there had to be a reason for collecting so many poops! That filament dimensional accuracy is so hard to nail, but you're getting closer and closer! Really encouraging, considering there are zero methods of recycling print waste currently (at least none here in Aus)...

[Mildly_Amused]

Some other people I know that recycle their own filament use a Blendtec blender to grind the filament into tiny pieces after drying the filament scraps and p00p. They say that blender turns the filament into tiny particles that melt easily. The blenders use to be famous for the videos where the blend iPhones, whole frozen fish, garden tools, gold balls, etc... so I don't doubt their power to grind filament.

[DocAlex-cxot]

Nice idea!

When you collect the poops you know which color is is (mainly) if no better solution you could monitor the motion of the filament rolls. Why don’t you sort the poops while printing? That would give you the possibility to control the resulting color better. Instead of brown you could get red, green, blue, grey or similar results.

[tomerh]

You can use pulltrusion to make sure the recycled filament's diameter isn't too thick.

[rexmcstiller]

I think home filament recycling is the next big step in 3D printing.

[zombiemann]

What are your thoughts on "silk" PLA filament in this context? Should it be kept separate from regular PLA, or would it make any meaningful difference in the final product?

[NicksStuff]

Can't you avoid the poop by printing a second model in which the printer would purge its nozzle?

[codewithme]

Okay, hear me out. Have the poop fall directly into the chopper. Have the chopped poop fall directly into the filament extruder. Have the newly extruded poop filament feed directly into the 3D printer. Full cycle.

[TheDalveenLain]

I press my waste into sheets with a trouser press, which I donate to local schools for their design tech lesson materiald

[minmogrovingstrongandhealthy]

Now I understand all the comments I seen on my local recycling facilities a month ago or so when I was checking plastic prices, lots of people asked if they recycle the fillaments waste and failed prints, at first I was like is there really that much amount to even bother with it?
Then seen this video and many others who have tons of failed prints, basically so many waste is made that honestly yeah also ask where the heck do we even utilize that.

I still don't see much point in this and rather go with the old ways of make a sculpt then mold, make production batches. I cannot imagine wasting so much time and energy both mine and electric or whatever to make bunch of failures so as still the final prints need ton of sanding and cure process so I say to hell with it.
On mold I cut the seems and be done with while with 3D prints I have to remove all those ugly print lines and errors. No thanks.

[grinningtiki]

I think it's ridiculous that it has to be ground down first. Why not just heat and extrude into pellets that can then be run through the filament extruder.

[YungassPadawan]

Dang this mf always putting out bangerz. Keep it up my man

[JustCharly]

It‘s time that Bambu or some other company is getting an affordable filament extrude / recycling station on the market asap! Maybe not for the biggest/thickest parts but at least for the poop!

[Kevin]

I'd buy recycled material if it was cheaper, instead it's more expensive than just buying fresh filament.

[iamdarkyoshi]

Given you've got the tools to do so, I'd love to see what re-melting it over and over again does to the mechanical properties of the filament. Does the layer strength drop? Perhaps the filament becomes more prone to shattering. I think it'd be a cool thing to test!

[vvitch-mist]

I don't own a 3D printer but the fact that you are trying to recycle and use as much of the filament as possible is great.

[davidwillmore]

Helpful tip, put the magnet in a small bag before dropping it in. It makes cleaning it of debris much easier-- just invert the bag.

[TheTsunamijuan]

Lowering your purge volumes in Bambu studio also helps. If your willing to spend some time to figure out how much of a purge length you actually need. In my experience I found that for many solid colors, halfling the extrusion distance worked well. But in some situations I went and further refined this getting down to 1/8th of the original purge distances. It does also allow you to set purge volume based on the filament colors involved in the change. So say a very dark like black to a transparent might require a greater purge than to another solid color. I generally don't use a purge block either.

[CrazyScubaCouple]

i've always wanted to have a 3d printer but despised so much the idea of generating so much plastic residue, i'm glad to see some 3d print youtuber taking the interest on reducing such harmful waste.