reprap-granule-extruder-tudelft1

Abstract
The main theme of this paper is using domestic waste plastic to create new plastic products. A brief research is
conducted in the granule-making field. This research functions as the foundation in selecting the right domestic
appliance for creating granule of the right size for a small extruder. This had to be done in a way that regular
people must be able to copy this process, so this should be as easy as possible.
Parallel to this a literature review was conducted to find the right extruder principle for the creation of a
mini extruder. A principle was selected and with the help of experts in the field of 3D printing and extruding this
principle was evolved to a design. After lots of trial and error this design has been transformed into a working
prototype.
With this prototype five tests were conducted. These tests proved to be very valuable in obtaining new
insight in problems that still have to be overcome. The most important problems that were faced are getting the
right accuracy in the tolerances, heat development in the granule making process and creating a good granule
feed flow for the extruder. While trying to solve these problems other point of interest came along. This research
can be seen as the starting point of the development of a new kind of domestic extruder.
Keywords,
Extrusion, granule extruder, mini extrusion, RepRap, 3d printing, domestic, plastics, recycling
2 | Prototyping Lab (IO3028) - RepRap Recycle Add-on