Hi, I would like to show you my actual project.
It is the Recycling Beer-Table version 1.0
The Idea of this tiny workspace is to make it portable. A Beer-Table fits in almost every car and so the whole recycling workspace can be temporarily placed everywhere.
I focus on making interactive presentations in schools, universities, on market places or other locations to make people more sustainable in using and recycling plastics.
For this reason it is necessary to make the workspace small and easy to transport.
The power consumption of this workspace should be as low as possible too, because it is not certain that there will be more than a single phased 230V mains connection on all locations.
Maybe Version 2.0 will contain a small extrusion machine too.
An Injection molding machine (V 3.0) will possibly be placed on another beer bench. But then I need more than a normal car to transport all materials. Maybe a small transporter.
Ich finde die Idee sehr gut. Ich bin erst in den letzten Tagen auf die Seite gestoßen und würde gerne das ganze unterstützen.
Man könnte vielleicht sogar einige Startups in Deutschland damit gründen, die endlich das “Müllproblem” richtig anpacken. Das würde ich auch voll als Inhaber eines akkreditierten Mikrofinanzinstitutes (Finanzierung von Krediten bis zu 25 T€ für Startups) unterstützen. Wenn man da ein kleines Geschäftsmodell entwickeln könne, wäre das vielleicht sogar der Renner… selbst wenn es nur nebenberuflich ist… und gleichzeitig würde man überall das Müllproblem anpacken.
Vielleicht kann man ja da ein Paket gemeinsam entwickeln? Ideen dazu?
@patrick-bonsen, that’s the spirit; I ordered the other books now too
@s2019 , thanks, that’s quite some insights; I haven’t thought much about volumes. Doing those kits was indeed on the table but we have to wait til can move into our new ‘factory’ where we have machines fast and efficient enough (Deckel FP4A CNC and CNC lathe, plasma,…) – finally – ‘PP Open Factory’, in December or so. The barrel/plunger, gear brackets, … alone last a day in a small shop as ours (8 frecking hours on the legs – doing loud metal work) and for now we’re happy to do more bigger but quality sets but just a few the month – also to see and learn how this stuff actually works for the users. But yeah, you’re right the frame is a bummer – in many ways -, not that much work but still unpleasant and kinda annoying. I would be happy to mount the injector in a hydraulic press just – they’re stupid cheap and you can extend them for a pump.
I looked at the Drill press designs before I built the desktop machine in the other thread. The things that influenced me were the stroke volume and force I could apply. Even with the Arbor press design, I started with roughly a 30CC stroke volume. This worked fine but was very limiting on what you can make (you don’t get the full stroke volume into the part.) I then modified the volume and got 45 cc. This was better but still very limiting, especially since you want to have margin to minimize voids.
I then built a new hot end that gives me about 200 cc stroke volume. I can get about a 140-150 CC part out of this in HDPE. For me this is a usable volume. To get the 200 CC stroke volume on a desktop machine where vertical stroke becomes a constraint, I increased the diameter to 41 mm. This now requires significant force to achieve good injection pressure. I replaced the arbor press bar with one that is about 600 mm and I’m pretty sure I am applying more than the 1 ton rating of the press at times.
My floor standing drill press also has a limited stroke length and I believe significantly lower press rating. If I had used it, I would be limited to the much smaller volumes that I started with.
Before you go down the drill press route, I would recommend going through some of the volume and pressure sizing calculations and make sure it is worth it. I built my machine for about $100US. If I added a shop press frame (instead of the scrap wood) it would probably double. @ppme , I always wondered if it would make business sense for you to make a version of your rack and gear that would bolt to the top of a shop frame and just sell/ship the rack/gear, letting the user source the rest of the parts which are relatively off the shelf or shop tool makes.
Hi, I ordered the same book the day before.
I hope there are some good inspirations in it or in the other book I ordered.
I don´t think I´ll get the time to tinker with injection molding in the next few weeks but the wintertime is long and I have a lathe
patrick-bonsen, first things first : congratulations. This looks like a rock solid setup. I am always happy to see people to take own initiative and do & think outside of the normal PP box
About combining the press and an injector : yes, this is what I have since too long on the table; it was meant to be done already a few weeks ago. However, I am happy that the summer and other things slowed us down and in the mean time I came across a nice book about making a drill press injection attachment which changed my mind on this combo idea. It’s a nice & refreshing one hour read and it seems like a perfect universal injector to be used in various setups. As I see you’re using a press, If you could send the link or drawings, I can imagine to send you an injector (needs lathe and other machines) – just because I actually have no time left this year for finishing the entire combo machine.
Someone from Eindhoven made also drill press attachment, I can’t find it back right now
Sounds good,
I think this could be a good addon. Maybe it is possible to combine the shop press with the injection molding machine…
I´ll take some thoughts about this
Thanks,
yes it is a lot of fun to work with. Today I presented the Setup in Neunkirchen, a city next to my location. I carried it to the market place, built it up and started my presentation. I got a lot of good response for this workbench , the idea behind it and my products.
I met a lot of interested people and I think that this is a really good start for this project. I made contact to 2 schools and I think I can present the workbench there too.
Maybe it is possible to start some cool projects wit their pupils.
