#HTE

Desktop-Sized Machine Allows You to Create Your Own 3D Printing Filament

For those of you that do FDM 3D printing: Wouldn’t it be awesome if you could recycle your mis-prints, old prints and discarded designs into new filament? Well, now you can. Dutch company 3devo Technology has developed not one, but two industrial-grade filament extruders in a nifty desktop size.

At roughly 20" square by 8.5" wide, the machines aren’t much bigger than a PC tower. Both models allow you to start with raw pellets of ABS, PLA, PET, PVA and other types of plastics and turn them into filament yourself. You can also use the machines to help save the environment by recycling existing plastic, provided you have a way to grind it—drop the ground material into the hopper, and the machine does the rest.

The machines can create 0.7kg (about 1.5 pounds) of filament per hour. The company reckons using one will “lower the cost of 3D printing by a factor of 7 by using regrind or virgin pellets to make filament.”

As mentioned, they come in two flavors. The Next 1.0 is aimed at “makers, 3D printing shops and universities” and runs €3,100.00 (roughly USD $3,400). The Advanced model is for high-temperature engineering plastics, making it suitable for “compounders, extrusion companies, researchers, [and] plastics companies” and costs a bit more at €3,950 (roughly USD $4,350). You can learn more here.