1 Topic by bec3779

  • bec3779
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  • Registered: 2016-04-30
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Topic: Filament from PET

Hi All,

I have done a lot of research and have tried to make filament out of plastic bottles. Our plastic bottle in Australia are HDPE PET 2. I ground the plastic down to small particles. I then dehydrated it. then I fed it into the Filastruder at 210 Celsius. All that happened was it clogged up in the end of the auger and did not extrude out the end.

Does anyone have any advise for me

Thanks
Bec

2 Reply by genesat1

  • genesat1
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  • Registered: 2015-04-26
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Re: Filament from PET

You could try higher temperatures if nothing is coming out at all.  You might also try checking your melt filter to see if maybe there was something in your bottles that was instantly clogging your nozzle.  I've seen a lot of posts where people try this, but none where it worked for them and they came back to explain how they did it - so if you do get it working be sure to let everybody know how you did it.

3 Reply by pricecg44 (edited by pricecg44 2016-06-10 10:56:15)

  • pricecg44
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  • Registered: 2014-12-20
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Re: Filament from PET

Yes I tried melting ground up PET, but it just turns to ash.  Research the PET recycling industry and you see they can remelt, they do a 'relaxation' process so the expanded plastic goes back close to it's original form. In the blown bottle the sides are physically altered, their tensile strength increases a lot, and is surprisingly in the same ballpark as structural metals.
So I plan to restart PET processing melting experimentation once I motorise the mini shreader ( previously I hand operated it in a fitness workout).