Recyclebot

Last updated

A recyclebot (or RecycleBot) is an open-source hardware device for converting waste plastic into filament for open-source 3D printers like the RepRap. [1] Making DIY 3D printer filament at home is both less costly and better for the environment than purchasing conventional 3D printer filament. [2] [3] [4] In following the RepRap tradition there are recyclebot designs that use mostly 3-D printable parts. [5]

Contents

Motivation and benefits

RepRap 3D printers have been shown to reduce costs for consumers by offsetting purchases that can be printed. [6] [7] [8] [9] The RepRap's plastic feedstock is one area where cost can still be reduced. In 2014, professor Joshua Pearce pointed out that "Filament is retailing for between $36 and $50 a kilogram and you can produce your own filament for 10 cents a kilogram if you use recycled plastic" [10] The device can thus further enhance RepRap affordability by reducing operating costs. [11] In addition, by reducing prosumers' reliance on purchased products, the RepRap and the recyclebot have made it feasible for 3D printing to be used for small-scale manufacturing to aid sustainable development. [12] [13] It has been postulated that recycled filament production could also offer an alternative income source by the Ethical Filament Foundation [14] [15] or as a form of "fair trade filament". [16] It has also been shown to improve the energy payback time of even known green energy technologies like solar photovoltaics. [17]

Technology

The RecycleBot is an open-source hardware project – thus its plans are freely available on the Internet.

History

The history of the RecycleBot was largely derived from the work on the RepRap Wiki under GNU Free Documentation License1.2. [20]

The first recyclebot was developed by students at Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand. [21] [22] [23] This design was a proof of concept and was hand-powered, and so had a small ecological footprint, but did not create filament of high enough quality to be useful for 3D printers. The design for the waste plastic extruder (Recyclebot v2.0 and v2.1) developed at Queen's University Canada and Michigan Tech was heavily influenced by the Web4Deb extruder, which extrudes HDPE for use as a growth medium in aquaponics. [24] This design for the recyclebot was developed, tested and published in the peer-reviewed rapid prototyping literature. [25] This device proved viable for producing 3D printing filament. The Recyclebot v2.2 is being developed by the Michigan Tech in Open Sustainability Technology Research Group. [26]

Many makers or DIY enthusiasts have made various versions of RecycleBots. The most notable is the Lyman filament extruder. Lyman, a retired engineer, won a design contest to make a low-cost 3D filament fabrication system. [27] As of 2014, there were many types of recyclebots, many of which are at the early stages of commercialization. Recyclebot technology has been applied to hangprinters to allow for fused particle fabrication of large prints without first having to form filament. [28]

Futurist speculation

Jeremy Rifkin has hypothesized that such recycling with recyclebots and distributed production with 3D printing will lead to a zero marginal cost society. [29] The science-fiction author, Bruce Sterling wondered in Wired if recyclebots and 3D printers might be used to turn waste into guns. [30] Recyclebots can provide a new method of recycling. [31]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Acrylonitrile butadiene styrene</span> Thermoplastic polymer

Acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS) (chemical formula (C8H8)x·​(C4H6)y·​(C3H3N)z ) is a common thermoplastic polymer. Its glass transition temperature is approximately 105 °C (221 °F). ABS is amorphous and therefore has no true melting point.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">3D printing</span> Additive process used to make a three-dimensional object

3D printing or additive manufacturing is the construction of a three-dimensional object from a CAD model or a digital 3D model. It can be done in a variety of processes in which material is deposited, joined or solidified under computer control, with the material being added together, typically layer by layer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">RepRap</span> Self-replicating 3D printer initiative

RepRap is a project to develop low-cost 3D printers that can print most of their own components. As open designs, all of the designs produced by the project are released under a free software license, the GNU General Public License.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Recycling codes</span> Code identifying material, for recycling

Recycling codes are used to identify the materials out of which the item is made, to facilitate easier recycling process. The presence on an item of a recycling code, a chasing arrows logo, or a resin code, is not an automatic indicator that a material is recyclable; it is an explanation of what the item is made of. Codes have been developed for batteries, biomatter/organic material, glass, metals, paper, and plastics. Various countries have adopted different codes. For example, the table below shows the polymer resin (plastic) codes. In the United States there are fewer, because ABS is placed with "others" in group 7.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">MakerBot</span> American desktop 3D printer manufacturer company

MakerBot Industries, LLC was an American desktop 3D printer manufacturer company headquartered in New York City. It was founded in January 2009 by Bre Pettis, Adam Mayer, and Zach "Hoeken" Smith to build on the early progress of the RepRap Project. It was acquired by Stratasys in June 2013. As of April 2016, MakerBot had sold over 100,000 desktop 3D printers worldwide. Between 2009 and 2019, the company released 7 generations of 3D printers, ending with the METHOD and METHOD X. It was at one point the leader of the desktop market with an important presence in the media, but its market share declined over the late 2010s. MakerBot also founded and operated Thingiverse, the largest online 3D printing community and file repository. In August 2022, the company completed a merger with its long-time competitor Ultimaker. The combined company is known as UltiMaker, but retains the MakerBot name for its Sketch line of education-focused 3D printers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Thingiverse</span> Design-sharing website

Thingiverse is a website dedicated to the sharing of user-created digital design files. Providing primarily free, open-source hardware designs licensed under the GNU General Public License or Creative Commons licenses, the site allows contributors to select a user license type for the designs that they share. 3D printers, laser cutters, milling machines and many other technologies can be used to physically create the files shared by the users on Thingiverse.

Printrbot is a 3D printer company created by Brook Drumm in 2011 and originally funded through Kickstarter. Printrbot printers use fused deposition modelling to manufacture 3-dimensional artifacts.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lyman filament extruder</span>

The Lyman filament extruder is a device for making 3-D printer filament suitable for use in 3-D printers like the RepRap. It is named after its developer Hugh Lyman and was the winner of the Desktop Factory Competition.

Distributed manufacturing also known as distributed production, cloud producing, distributed digital manufacturing, and local manufacturing is a form of decentralized manufacturing practiced by enterprises using a network of geographically dispersed manufacturing facilities that are coordinated using information technology. It can also refer to local manufacture via the historic cottage industry model, or manufacturing that takes place in the homes of consumers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Joshua Pearce</span> American engineer

Joshua M. Pearce is an academic engineer at Western University known for his work on protocrystallinity, photovoltaic technology, agrivoltaics, open-source-appropriate technology, and open-source hardware including RepRap 3D printers and recyclebots.

A 3D printing marketplace is a website where users buy, sell and freely share digital 3D printable files for use on 3D printers. They sometimes also offer the ability to print the models and ship them to customers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fused filament fabrication</span> 3D printing process

Fused filament fabrication (FFF), also known as fused deposition modeling, or filament freeform fabrication, is a 3D printing process that uses a continuous filament of a thermoplastic material. Filament is fed from a large spool through a moving, heated printer extruder head, and is deposited on the growing work. The print head is moved under computer control to define the printed shape. Usually the head moves in two dimensions to deposit one horizontal plane, or layer, at a time; the work or the print head is then moved vertically by a small amount to begin a new layer. The speed of the extruder head may also be controlled to stop and start deposition and form an interrupted plane without stringing or dribbling between sections. "Fused filament fabrication" was coined by the members of the RepRap project to give an acronym (FFF) that would be legally unconstrained in its use.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Aleph Objects</span>

Aleph Objects, Inc. was a small manufacturing company based in Loveland, Colorado. Their business model focused around the development of Open-source hardware for 3D printing with full support for Free and open-source software.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Prusa i3</span> 3D printer product line and related designs

The Prusa i3 is a family of fused deposition modeling 3D printers, manufactured by Czech company Prusa Research under the trademarked name Original Prusa i3. Part of the RepRap project, Prusa i3 printers were called the most used 3D printer in the world in 2016. The first Prusa i3 was designed by Josef Průša in 2012, and was released as a commercial kit product in 2015. The latest model is available in both kit and factory assembled versions. The Prusa i3's comparable low cost and ease of construction and modification made it popular in education and with hobbyists and professionals, with the Prusa i3 model MK2 printer receiving several awards in 2016.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Applications of 3D printing</span>

In recent years, 3D printing has developed significantly and can now perform crucial roles in many applications, with the most common applications being manufacturing, medicine, architecture, custom art and design, and can vary from fully functional to purely aesthetic applications.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">3D printing processes</span> List of 3D printing processes

A variety of processes, equipment, and materials are used in the production of a three-dimensional object via additive manufacturing. 3D printing is also known as additive manufacturing, because the numerous available 3D printing process tend to be additive in nature, with a few key differences in the technologies and the materials used in this process.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hangprinter</span> 3D printer

Hangprinter is an open-source fused deposition modeling delta 3D printer notable for its unique frameless design. It was created by Torbjørn Ludvigsen. The Hangprinter uses relatively low cost parts and can be constructed for around US$250. The printer is part of the RepRap project, meaning many of the parts of the printer are able to be produced on the printer itself. The design files for the printer are available on GitHub for download, modification and redistribution.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">3D printing filament</span> Thermoplastic feedstock for 3D printers

3D printing filament is the thermoplastic feedstock for fused deposition modeling 3D printers. There are many types of filament available with different properties.

Material extrusion-based additive manufacturing (EAM) represents one of the seven categories of 3d printing processes, defined by the ISO international standard 17296-2. While it is mostly used for plastics, under the name of FDM or FFF, it can also be used for metals and ceramics. In this AM process category, the feedstock materials are mixtures of a polymeric binder and a fine grain solid powder of metal or ceramic materials. Similar type of feedstock is also used in the Metal Injection Molding (MIM) and in the Ceramic Injection Molding (CIM) processes. The extruder pushes the material towards a heated nozzle thanks to

References

  1. ↑ Baechler, Christian; DeVuono, Matthew; Pearce, Joshua M. (2013). "Distributed Recycling of Waste Polymer into RepRap Feedstock". Rapid Prototyping Journal. 19 (2): 118–125. doi:10.1108/13552541311302978. S2CID   15980607.
  2. ↑ Kreiger, M.A.; Mulder, M.L.; Glover, A.G.; Pearce, J. M. (2014). "Life Cycle Analysis of Distributed Recycling of Post-consumer High Density Polyethylene for 3-D Printing Filament". Journal of Cleaner Production. 70: 90–96. Bibcode:2014JCPro..70...90K. doi:10.1016/j.jclepro.2014.02.009.
  3. ↑ The importance of the Lyman Extruder, Filamaker, Recyclebot and Filabot to 3D printing Archived 18 March 2014 at the Wayback Machine – VoxelFab, 2013.
  4. ↑ Kreiger, M.; Anzalone, G. C.; Mulder, M. L.; Glover, A.; Pearce, J. M (2013). "Distributed Recycling of Post-Consumer Plastic Waste in Rural Areas". MRS Proceedings. 1492: 91–96. doi:10.1557/opl.2013.258. S2CID   18303920.
  5. ↑ Woern, Aubrey L.; et al. (October 2018). "RepRapable Recyclebot: Open source 3-D printable extruder for converting plastic to 3-D printing filament". HardwareX. 4: e00026. doi: 10.1016/j.ohx.2018.e00026 . ISSN   2468-0672.
  6. ↑ B.T. Wittbrodt, A.G. Glover, J. Laureto, G.C. Anzalone, D. Oppliger, J.L. Irwin, J.M. Pearce (2013), Life-cycle economic analysis of distributed manufacturing with open-source 3-D printers, Mechatronics, 23 (2013), pp. 713–726. open access
  7. ↑ Study: At-home 3-D printing could save consumers 'thousands' – CNN, 2013
  8. ↑ Printing Keychains and Shower Heads: 3-D Printing Goes Beyond the Lab – ABC News
  9. ↑ A 3-D Printer Can Pay For Itself In Less Than A Year – Popular Science, 2013
  10. ↑ Turning old plastic into 3D printer filament is greener than conventional recycling – 3Ders, 2014
  11. ↑ Study: At-home 3-D printing could save consumers 'thousands' – CNN, 2013
  12. ↑ 3-D Printing of Open Source Appropriate Technologies for Self-Directed Sustainable Development
  13. ↑ DJ Pangburn. 2014.How 3D Printers Are Boosting Off-The-Grid, Underdeveloped Communities - MotherBoard
  14. ↑ http://techfortrade.org/our-initiatives/3d4d-challenge/the-ethical-filament-foundation/ Tech for Trade – Ethical Filament Foundation
  15. ↑ Charity Targets 3D Printing’s Plastic Waste Problem With Standards For An Ethical Alternative 7 November 2013 by Natasha Lomas, Tech Crunch, https://techcrunch.com/2013/11/07/ethical-additive-manufacturing/
  16. ↑ Feeley, S. R.; Wijnen, B.; Pearce, J. M. (2014). "Evaluation of Potential Fair Trade Standards for an Ethical 3-D Printing Filament". Journal of Sustainable Development. 7 (5): 1–12. doi: 10.5539/jsd.v7n5p1 .
  17. ↑ Shan Zhong, S. et al. Energy Payback Time of a Solar Photovoltaic Powered Waste Plastic Recyclebot System. Recycling 2017, 2(2), 10; doi: 10.3390/recycling2020010
  18. ↑ "RecycleBot v2.2 by jpearce".
  19. ↑ "RecycleBot v2.3 Controls by jpearce".
  20. ↑ "Recyclebot - RepRap".
  21. ↑ Burgess, Phil (5 August 2010). "Recyclebot digests milk jugs to feed MakerBot". hackaday.com/. hackaday.
  22. ↑ Duann (3 August 2010). "RecycleBot: Greening the MakerBot". The Shapeways Blog. shapeways.
  23. ↑ Pettis, Bre (3 August 2010). "Recyclebot makes HDPE for your MakerBot from Milk Jugs!". makerbot.com blog. makerbot.
  24. ↑ Web4Deb's blog.
  25. ↑ Baechler, Christian; DeVuono, Matthew; Pearce, Joshua M. (2013). "Distributed Recycling of Waste Polymer into RepRap Feedstock". Rapid Prototyping Journal. 19 (2): 118–125. doi:10.1108/13552541311302978. S2CID   15980607.
  26. ↑ "Category:MOST - Appropedia: The sustainability wiki".
  27. ↑ Harry McCracken (4 March 2013). "How an 83-Year-Old Inventor Beat the High Cost of 3D Printing". Time.
  28. ↑ Rattan, Ravneet S.; Nauta, Nathan; Romani, Alessia; Pearce, Joshua M. (1 March 2023). "Hangprinter for large scale additive manufacturing using fused particle fabrication with recycled plastic and continuous feeding". HardwareX. 13: e00401. doi:10.1016/j.ohx.2023.e00401. ISSN   2468-0672. PMC   9930197 . PMID   36818952.
  29. ↑ Jeremy Rifkin, Zero Marginal Cost Society, Palgrave Macmillan, 2014.
  30. ↑ 3D Printed gun moving from sinister joke to sinister business model By Bruce Sterling – Wired – Beyond the Beyond
  31. ↑ Baltodano, S. (2013). RISE. http://www.mme.fiu.edu/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/F13-OR-T-4.pdf
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.