I have been attempting to extrude PET water bottles. I have been shredding them with a cross cut paper shredder. I find I have to put it through a few times tho. Then I have to dehydrate the moisture out (I use a food dehydrator) And yes the first step is to clean them. I am still testing but it is hard to get all the same plastic as some bottles melt at different temps

Then keeping the types of plastics separate and then colors.

Ralph

The only shredder I know of that exists is Marcus Thymark's, but I think he's stopped selling them.

Finally, HDPE/PET (milk jugs/soda bottles) doesn't print great. Many useful threads on RepRap forums.

So if this grinder by Filabot produced sizes good enough for the Filasturder, the Price Point has me sold, not to mention the much lower power draw by the Filastruder but what is anyone's experience using soda bottles and milk jugs to create a viable filament for 3D printing purposes using the Filasttruder or being able to with additives?  Any good ratios of something to add to restrengthen and still use a high percentage of recyclables???

Any help would be awesome!  I just quit my job recently due to bad conditions and the rise of 3D printing and its markets can revolutionize the world overnight, ready to get started!  Thanks in advance!

Once that accomplished, whack it in the ole Filachopper and turn it into second grade/try out/draft printing stock or injection molding fodder...

It's getting it from jug to feed stock with no mess, no fuss that is the main speed bump at the moment.

I ran some HDPE dust and bits through the Filastruder and it came out looking comparable to ABS but a little darker (could have been running temp too high).

The "bits" wouldn't have been any greater than 6-7mm on a side.

I have some pigment still in the barrel from running some stuff through so I'll see how much is left after I run some HDPE through the barrel.

I should probably record temps, measurements and weights this time around for surer results.

Could HDPE be utilized (as a low cost alternative) for a purging compound changing between colours or materials?

Instead of cutting though it seemed to stretch and tear slightly which wasn't what I had in mind for putting through the Filastruder.

I haven't tried a crosscut shredder yet but I'm holding high hopes.

The first one I tried was a "normal" office shredder but I don't think it was a cross cut model.

I've found that shredders go up a class/price point for every security level they do. ie. thin strips/ short length thin strips / "confetti " / grinder / spaghetti pasta maker.

I'll get the make and model details of the one I used so you can avoid that in your search.

Other than that I've used the perforated product from my first experiment (ripped/cut up the lengths) with a hand blender and a fairly thick, tall tuperware container but it seems to turn into particulate matter which is what the MSDS says is the only real problem working with HDPE. (HDPE dust in the air can cause irritation in the lungs)

I have almost resigned to finding the closest plastic recycle station and asking for a kilo of their end product... almost.