Low fidelity 3D printer for plastic waste

Question

Is there such thing as a 3D printer with a very large diameter nozzle, that can make low fidelity, large and fast prints? I'm picturing a soft serve ice-cream machine on a gantry, with a hopper. You feed it shredded plastic, and it prints bricks, or boards.

Answer 1

Yes these exist. 3D printers using pellets is not uncommon for industry, but for the user at home this might be a different question. Pellets are the pre-fabricate before it is extruded into filament (small balls/cylinders of plastic).

Random image showing a variety of pellets in different colors

There are even processes to turn used plastic into pellets, so if you combine it all this should be very doable. The problem is to get a consistent type of waste plastic to feed your machine. The size of the nozzle doesn't matter, as long as your shredding, compressing and heating process can keep up with the flow you need. It would be an excellent idea to get rid of plastic waste and turning these into building bricks e.g. for insulation of heat.

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I've seen prototype printers printing PEEK from pallets having a nozzle (slot) diameter of several millimeters.

Answer 2

You can certainly get large nozzles, but the material for extrusion still needs to be consistent. So any chunked plastic would have to be melted and that will produce an erratic flow at the extruder.

By reforming your shredded plastic into a consistent string of filament, then the printer has a steady supply of material to use. There are already filament extruders for the small shop, but they're still expensive for the home user. The main problems are getting consistent thickness of filament, and minimising contaminants. Also colours tend to be lost and muddied. These might be economical if you have a print farm and are consuming a spool a day on average.

On a large scale, there are "3d printers" that can place a special quick-drying concrete and produce small buildings as homes in a matter of days. However they're fed a special mixture of smooth cement and accelerators to set the concrete ready for the next layer.