Hi! I couldn’t find this question listed anywhere. I find this fascinating and stealing a bit of time from my workday so I’m skimming, and sorry if I missed it. Has anyone here, or does this project have any channels for melting this plastic into a 3d printing filament? If not… I would like to suggest that’s what’s needed to make this one of the most important projects out there. Very happy to elaborate, very curious and excited about what you guys are doing here.
Thanks!
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@meddy12 the only “different” thing I saw something trying was using aluminum instead of inox steel for the shredder, other than that, I would not recommend using any non-steel alternative. One of the most important parts of the shredder are the knives, and they need to have sharp edges to cut through plastic. If you print plastic blades, no matter how thick they are, the sharpness of the knives edges will disappear within seconds of starting to shred, and you will be left with dull plastic knives that spin but doesn’t shred.
@xxxolivierxxx Thank you for responding so quickly!!
I have been doing a bit of research on both, those are really cool! It is incredible that we live in a time where a person can get a personal 3D printer for less than $100USD. I have a bit of saving up for everything anyways, so I may just wait for the 101Hero to be a lower wait time, but both seem like good options.
That is really good to know about the filament, the PET is easy since that is most water bottles, so that is basically the best answer I could have gotten.
As soon as I get everything up and running I will experiment 
In regards to that, on a different note from this thread, has anyone tried to use those to print the parts for the shredder? in the states laser cutting in so expensive that it would be not possible to do the whole project, I have looked at other ways to shred and like some, but the normal shredder looks like the best design for efficiency. In the light of this info, I was thinking about getting the printer, and printing the parts either with normal plastic, but as densely as possible, then only shred less dense objects, or using one of these metal filaments. Has anyone worked with them yet? Any thoughts on that idea?
@meddy12 Cheapest printer so far is the 101hero, but if you order one now, it will be delivered like in 3 months because they are back ordered.
Another good printer that costs a little more (but has great quality) is the prusa i3.
On regards of plastic, if you want to make filament out of recycled plastic the best option would be PET, any other plastics such as HDPE or LDPE or PP are not really good for printing.
Those wood/iron/etc mixes you have seen out there are performed by huge manufacturers who have spent months/years of research to find the sweet spot of the mix that allows you to have a filament that won’t clog your printer nozzle. You can be an entrepreneur and try to replicate those filaments at home but it will be a rocky road 
To those of you out there who already have 3d printers, how difficult is it to find the right plastic? Can you use any plastic? I have seen mixes of wood and PLA, is that possible with the machines we are looking at here? Lastly, what (cheap) 3d printer would you recommend?
@sharma-sagar – any updates / progress on display? Would love to know how things are going?
@davehakkens yeah. i am working with a fellow Precious Plastic-eer from Hong Kong. Its a trial-and-error thing. We’ll upload the files once they are done
Would love to see that upgrade @sharma-sagar, sounds great!
don’t thank me, thank @davehakkens hes the mastermind behind it.
im currently working on this machine and im trying to find a way to hook up a filament width sensor to it, this is the step to further automate this machine and get filament with accurate diameter
BAM! That’s what I’m talking about! Thanks sharma-sagar!
If I may say, this may be the beginning of one of the most important inventions in the diy / eco-friendly / maker sphere that has yet to be made. I’m SO excited to see this happen.