Plastic Extrusion Machine

Extrusion is a continuous process where plastic flakes are inserted in the hopper and extruded into a line of plastic. These lines can be used to make new raw material (3d printing filament), granulate, spinned around a mold or up to you to find new creative ways.

Author Precious Plastic | Last edit 9/12/2019 by Clementflipo

Difficulty

Hard

Duration

5 day(s)

Introduction

The extrusion machine has quite a specific output, a line. This is well suited to make new granulate and 3D printer filament. However use your creativity and you will find other applications for it as well. Change the nozzle for different shapes and sizes, turn it around a mold to make lamps or a handle for a knife.

The extrusion machine consists in 6 different elements: the hopper, the barrel, the nozzle, the barrel holder, the framework and the electronics.

Materials

Metal sheet plates
Metal tubes

Tools

Angle grinder
Protective glasses
Milling machine
Arc welding machine

http://preciousplastic.com/videos/download/

Step 1 - Hopper: cutting metal plates

Get the metal sheet plates. Take measurements following the blue prints and cut the sheets with a grinding machine and sand metal edges.

Step 2 - Hopper: drilling metal plates

Prick the plate with a hammer and drill the metal plates on the milling machine

Step 3 - Hopper: welding metal plates

Make a pyramid with the plates and weld them together

Step 4 - Hopper finishes

Step 5 - Barrel

Step 6 - Barrel

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Step 12 - Nozzle

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Step 18 - Barrel holder

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Step 23 - Framework

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Step 33 - Attach it to the frame

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Step 36 - Engine

Step 37 - Improvements and learn

Suggestion: Currently, the nose decided the amount of plastic that comes out.

However, a better way to do this is by adding a controllable engine. There are different ways to control the speed of an engine by using different controllers or regulators.

How to use the machine

Clic here to watch our online video (starting from 15:09) to learn how to use the machine.

Thanks!