Company/Client
ReCoop
Role
Project Manager
Timeline
Spring 2023
Skills
Sustainable Design 3D Printing Heat Transfer
Tools
Laser Cutter Water Jet Cutter
Problem Statement
As 3D printing continues to rise in popularity, inevitably so will the amount of plastic waste from failed prints and supports. PLA, the most commonly used filament, is extremely difficult to decompose, taking nearly 100 years despite being marketed as a biodegradable, eco-friendly material. At that rate, it will only continue to contribute to environmental pollution and microplastics, which is where a recycling solution can help recycle it into newly reusable filament or plastic sheets.
At The Cooper Union alone, over 100kg of PLA waste was produced, equivalent to the weight of 160 basketballs.
Solution Approach
In order to address this issue, the plan was to create an in-house recycling center at The Cooper Union for students to recycle their 3D-printing plastics in the future. At its simplest, this would require:
A shredder to break down PLA scraps into smaller pieces
A sheet press to melt the scraps into reusable plastic sheets
For the sheet press, I water jet cut and welded a mold using stainless steel to achieve a uniform sheet thickness.
Results & Applications
I created a consistent workflow to produce plastic sheets by pressing the PLA shreds with a t-shirt press. Taking a DOE methodology, I explored temperatures, timing, and material properties to perfect a glossy finish with a uniform thickness. These sheets can directly be lasercut for a variety of applications, for example, I lasercut them into landing gear for a VTOL drone. Check out more info on the project website here.
