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There are already quite a few designs for 3D printer filament recycling systems that allow you to reuse the material from failed prints or to create your own cheaper filament from plastic pellets. We were looking through the various systems already available and ones that are coming soon to choose the one that seems to be the most functional and useable device in our opinion. We’ve checked the most popular options including ExtrusionBot 2, Filabot, Filastruder, Nozetek Pro, ProtoCycler and Strooder and our choice was the ProtoCycler that is going to be released later this year. It is not the cheapest choice, nor it is the most expensive, but in our opinion it is the most versatile and promising all in one solution. The ProtoCycler from ReDeTec comes with hand powered built-in grinder and integrated spooling mechanism, so you do not need separate hardware for that. You get a good speed of the created filament rated at about 10 feet per minute at a low power usage and high maximum speed for melting different plastics to create filament.
Technical Specifications:
– Diameter tolerance: +/- 0.02mm
– Extrusion speed: Up to 10 ft/minute
– Electrical usage: 60 Watts
– Dimensions: 14″ x 12″ x 10″
– Grinder input: 5″ x 5″
– Hopper Capacity: Expandable
– Max Temp: All metal hot end for 400+ Celsius
The ProtoCycler was crowdfunded on IndieGoGo earlier this year successfully with over 200 backers of the project and is currently available for pre-order at $699.99 USD with estimated shipping set for Fall 2015. The people that backed the project via IndieGoGo have priority, so if you pre-order your unit now you will have to wait for their units to be shipped first.
– For more information about the ReDeTec ProtoCycler filament maker…
Time to try out another of ColorFabb’s PLA/PHA filaments, this time it is a Woodfill Fine filament that contains actual wood particles – about 70% ColorFabb PLA and 30% recycled wood fibers. The end result from printing with this filament is a 3D printed object that feels like it is made from wood and looks like one, it is also lighter than the same print using only plastic filaments. ColorFabb uses fine pinewood fibers for this filament that are mixed with their PLA/PHA filament acting as a binding agent and the combination does seem to work pretty well. The box of the filament says recommended printing temperatures are 190-210 degrees Celsius and the official website mentions 195-220, 40-100 mm/s printing speed and if a heated build platform is available to set it at 50-60 C, though it is not specifically required.
We have tested printing with ColorFabb WoodFill Fine filament with a temperature of 190, 210, 230 and 250 degrees Celsius – outside of the recommended values to see what we are going to get as a result. The MakerBot Repilicator 2 3D printer that we are using was set to print with 0.2 mm layer height and 90 mm/s extrusion speed. Last year we have tested the Orbi-Tech LayWoo-d3 3D Printer Filament that was similar to the WoodFill from ColorFabb, but there were distinct differences between the two. At 190 degrees Celsius the ColorFabb WoodFill was having some trouble printing properly and we were getting filament jams inside the nozzle, going for 210 to 230 degrees things were fine in terms of printing and even at 250 the results were acceptable though the quality was not so good. We should note that around 210 degrees Celsius is probably the best temperature as with higher temperatures the filament is oozing too much from the nozzle and that requires a lot of cleanup work for larger models as you can see on the photo above. Also, unlike with the Orbi-Tech LayWoo-d3 where extrusion temperature affects the color of the printed object, with the ColorFabb Woodfill there is very little variation in color of the print using different extrusion temperature. The good thing however is that you can use standard printing speeds and settings with this filament just as you would with a normal PLA/PHA plastic only filament from ColorFabb.
The MakerBot Replicator 2 3D printer does not come with a heated build plate, but you can add one – either a readily available unofficial upgrade or make a DIY one. The control board of the Replicator 2 does have the needed support to control a HBP if you install one and decide to let the printer control it based on your settings. You would of course need to replace the power adapter with a more powerful one that will be able to handle the extra power requirements of the heated build plate…
The more important question however is how do you use the HBP after you install it on the Replicator 2 with the MakerBot Desktop software (previously called MakerBot MakerWare). What you can do to make the heated build plate is to switch the software to the Makerbot Replicator 2x profile instead of the Replicator 2 that you should normally be using. You can do that from the MakerBot Desktop going to Devices – Select Type of Device – Makerbot Replicator 2x. It however comes with some drawbacks such as slightly reduced build plate size in the software, though your heated build platform may actually be smaller compared to the original space available prior to that.
You need to go through the Print Settings panel in order to get access to the settings for 3D printing and under the Temperature tab you will see the option to enable the option called Heat the Build Plate and set the Build Plate temperature to the desired value. Also since the Replicator 2 has only one extruder, you need to set the temperature for the extruder in the Right Extruder panel.
On the MakerBot Replicator 2 3D printer you also need to do something in order to activate the support for the Heated Build Plate. You need to go into the following menu Info and settings – General Settings – Set to Yes to the Heated Plate option. Also in order to properly use the Preheat setting from the 3D printer you should also go into the menu Info and settings – Preheat Settings – Set the desired temperature for Preheat under Platform.