How to make PET filament for 3d printing from plastic bottles I PET filament making machine

3,975
0
Published 2024-05-10
Creating 3D printer filament from waste plastic bottles is an innovative
and eco-friendly approach to recycling. By converting discarded plastic
bottles into filament, you can reduce plastic waste and contribute to a
more sustainable 3D printing process.
In this video i have shown how to make 3d printer filament from used plastic bottle
Here are the major components used for building the machine
1.REX-C100 Digital Thermostat Temperature Controller
Regulator SSR 12V Output
robu.in/product/rex-c100-digital-thermostat-tempea…
2. 12V-40V10A DC Motor PWM Speed Control Switch Governor
www.google.com/aclk?sa=l&ai=DChcSEwj4ps2g4ISGAxVjV…
3. 5-200V SSR-25DD Solid State Relay
robu.in/product/5-200v-ssr-25dd-solid-state-relay/
4. Orange MG555 12V 10RPM Square Gearbox DC motor Encoder Compatible
robu.in/product/orange-mg555-12v-10rpm-square-gear…
5. K type thermocouple temperature controller sensor probe 1M
www.electronicscomp.com/k-type-thermocouple?gad_so…
6. 12V - 10Amp - 120Watt DC Switching Power Supply
techtonics.in/product/12v-10a-120w-industrial-powe…
7. Mk8 Extruder Hot End Kit
8. Wooden board 12 x 24 inches
9. 3d printed structural components
www.thingiverse.com/thing:6617287
The parts needed for extruding pet filament
can be made from any spare or used extruder nozzle assembly set.
I have removed heating block and made additional hole for holding k type thermocouple
The nozzle used are normal used or spare nozzle
I have made two version of nozzle one with hole of 2mm diameter & one with 1.5mm dia. at the bottom side of the nozzle

You can also drill 3-4 mm hole on the other side from where the strip enters the nozzle as shown in the video up to half length of nozzle

This machine is inspired by @Creative3dp

It is necessary prepare the bottle by heating slightly to make the surface smooth and even
So that strips made are of uniform length
At first I made 20 mm calibration cube without changing any settings
Except for nozzle and bed temperature on my ender 3 v2 with dual gear extruder
The 3d printed cube was less dense as compared to what it should be.
This is due to under extrusion and i approximately assumed it to be 50%

The transparent filament I used was extruded from 1.5 mm nozzle
And as you can see the pet filament made this way are slightly hollow inside this must be compensated by increasing flow rate.
We made another strip from bottle marked with black marker pen to see some colorful print.
I used Prusa slicer
I have selected generic pet bottle profile which I have used earlier
Then Go to filament settings and under extrusion multiplier I have selected 2 to double the flowrate.
This value can vary from machine to machine try testing 1 0r 2 components to make sure you find correct flowrate settings
And I had set nozzle temperature to 250 degrees Celsius
And bed temperature is 70 degree Celsius

The cube after modifying extrusion rate and nozzle temperature
The print came out very nice
A lot better than I expected
I was really surprised with the result.
While I was watching others video on pet machine i didn't believed prints can be of such a good quality.
Then I again printed our famous 3Dbency
the print quality This seemed better than PLA i suppose
Then I made other pet filament
Marked with red marker pen
And printed this awesome articulated shark.
This seems orange in the video due to lighting and camera
But its slightly pinkish in color actually.
Music by [a href="pixabay.com/users/alex_kizenkov-33612407/?utm_sour…"]Alex_Kizenkov[/a] from [a href="pixabay.com//?utm_source=link-attribution&utm_medi…"]Pixabay[/a]

All Comments (8)
  • Really nice video ❤❤ Print quality is excellent 👌👌 Thank you for showing complete process and providing all the stl files😊👍🏻👍🏻🙏🙏
  • @ReyDominicano
    How did you make the plastic cutter, do you have a video explaining that ?
  • @meisievannancy
    Really excellent. I was wondering, since you extrude the PET twice, if you could make flat PET and print that directly. The retraction and feed would maybe be a bit tricky as I guess retraction would need to enter a preheated chamber that accepted the flat
  • May I see your wiring? I have exactly the same electronics, but I can't seem to get the temperature to go up 😢