This project is design of a "3D Printed Waste Recycling machine", which recycles the 3D printed waste, and converts it into 3D printable filament again. In this project, all the components are designed, assembled, and animated in the Solidworks software by Dassault Systemes.
The FDM 3D printers are the most widely used 3d printers. These 3d printers use thermoplastic filaments like ABS, and PLA in the form of wires, and melts them and extrudes on the build plate layer by layer. In the coming era of industry 4.0, 3d printers are going to be an extremely useful piece of tech. According to a survey conducted in 2019, it was said that by the end of the year 2020, 6.7 million 3d printers would be sold. This will equate to more than 80 million kilograms of plastic filament needed in the market. Now taking a lower percentile average of only 10% waste per 3D printer, it will still generate a 3d printing waste volume of 8 million kilograms.
The 3d printed waste comprises the test prints, and the trial prototypes of the model are one of the major sources of 3d printed waste. The support structures, rafts, walls, and brims also contribute to the waste.
The use of 3d printing technology is increasing day by day, and as it increases, we have to be very keen on its waste management. So, recycling this 3D printed waste is very important to save the environment, and achieve sustainable growth.
This machine is designed to help solve this problem, saving the environment and reducing the cost of filaments drastically. The standard 3d printed filament costs around Rs. 1000 For 1 kg. With this machine, we can do it for completely free! We can also buy raw pellets of ABS and PLA, and directly put those into the extruder to make a filament at a very cheap cost.
Now, moving on to the design of the machine, it has 3 main subassemblies.
1. Shredder
2. Extruder
3. Filament spool winder
The shredder is basically used to shred the 3d printed waste and make fine granules out of it. We have to put the 3d printed waste into the shredder Hooper (big Hooper) on the machine. The shredded material will be collected into the removable collector placed below the shredder. This removable container is designed in such a way, that it can be removed, and the shredded material can be again put into the shredder, in case we do not get fine and uniform particles after shredding. Oftentimes, the material does not get shredded perfectly the first time. So, we can re-shred the material, until we get a fine set of particles.
Now, we will put those granules into the extruder Hooper present on the machine. This extruder is the smaller one with a cylindrical shape. It has a mesh above it, to allow only fine particles less than 3*3mm in size. This will make it easier to melt the particles, as bigger particles do not easily melt and this can hamper the quality of the extrusion. After that, the extrusion process will start, and the filament will start to melt by the heat from heating coils present outside the barrel. The extrusion screw, with the help of an electric motor attached to it, will push the filament forward with applying pressure. At the end of the barrel, the extrusion will come out from the nozzle. The nozzle has a hole of 1.75mm diameter, which is the standard diameter of the 3d printing filaments.
The extrusion will then be cooled down with the help of the cooling fan, and finally, the filament will be wound on a filament spool used for 3d printing, by constantly rotating the spool with a stepper motor.
This process will go on slowly for some time, and when the spool becomes full, take it out and use it for 3d printing!
The sheet metal covering of the machine is designed in such a way, that it will be easy to remove it from the top and reassemble it. Proper air circulation for cooling of the inner components is provided on the covering, by designing vents.
The bottom portion of the skeleton of the machine will be utilized to store all the electric components, display, and switchboard, wires, etc. All of this portion will be covered by the outer sheet metal covering.
The spool can be easily removed and replaced by just fitting it on a spool holder, which will then wind up the spool.
With the help of the display and switchboard, we will have control of various settings in the machine. The displays will display the temperature of the extruder and the extrusion speed. We can adjust the temp, extrusion speed, the winding rate of the filament with the help of knobs and switches. There are also 2 power switches, for the shredder and the extruder assembly power supply.
Lastly, this design of the 3D printing waste recycling machine had applications of various designing types like weldments for the designing of the skeleton, sheet metal for designing of the machine cover, and the cooling fan holder, part designing for a number of components, etc. The animations, simulations, and Photoview 360 rendered images were also used for making this project. This project design was made, utilizing most of the functionalities that Solidworks provide.
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POTY 2021 POTY 2021-Project Edu
