Hi,
I am planning to recycle PC/ABS plastics into filament for FDM 3d printers and wanted to invite everyone to discuss my plan and progress. I run an electronics ecommerce business and wanted to donate some electronics / filament to an electronics club for children instead of throwing the vast amounts of plastics to the dump.
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The plastics are from large TV sets and usually are marked as PC/ABS (polycarbonate and abs mix). In 3d printing terms PC/ABS is considered as high temperature material and requires a heated bed and a closed chamber for succesful prints. I have no idea if its viable to create filament from PC/ABS for 3d printing, but I will try it anyway.
Here’s my plan for PC/ABS recycling.
1. Cut the large TV frames into smaller parts with a table saw (100 tooth blade)
2. Shred the small parts into even smaller parts with a shredder
3. Wash the plastic? Might be optional step (if plastic is clean…)
4. Dry the shreded plastics in a clothes dryer (packed in a bag)
5. Create new filament spools from dry shredded plastic with a Filastruder kit
So far I have collected lots of TV frames and got a table saw. I am unsure about the recycling and don’t have any knowledge about degradation of PC/ABS when its reheated. For my First batch I will definetly use a paper shredder for step 2. to mitigate any risk of buying an expensive shredder. I talked to some specialists/engineers and was told that it should be possible to recycle the material and if not it will definetly be possible if I mix virgin plastic into my shredded plastic. Its called a ‘refresh’.
Suggestions, ideas and proposals are welcome!
Here’s a picture of the table saw (lol)
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