I need to show a demo to people on a daily basis. But every demo is for a different 3D printed part.
Can I reuse the material? Is yes, what is the maximum number of times that the material can be reused?
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Hi user144627 and welcome at 3D Printing.SE! Please clarify your question; are you implying re-use of the filament spool, or re-using the printed parts themselves? – 0scar Sep 16 '18 at 05:34
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1As it is asked, I barely grasp what you want to ask for as you are missing on the description of the problem. The better you explain the question, the better the answer will be. – Trish Sep 16 '18 at 09:40
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I checked amazon , the price per lb is 20 usd – user144627 Sep 16 '18 at 23:35
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1@user144627 - The price per lb for *what*? Most new filament is not that expensive on Amazon (off-hand average being $15-20 per ***kg***). I'm *really* unclear about what you're asking now. Is there anything you could add to your question to clear things up for us? – Pᴀᴜʟsᴛᴇʀ2 Sep 17 '18 at 12:38
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1What good is a demonstration if you don't show the printer in action? – Carl Witthoft Sep 17 '18 at 17:29
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2@user144627 I meant that the cost for raw plastic, that is, plastic pellets from which filament is made, is around \$2/kg in bulk. The main cost of filament isn't the cost of the plastic, it's the cost of turning the plastic into filament. So my point is that when you discard 1kg of printed parts, you're not throwing away \$20 worth of filament, you're throwing away \$2 worth of scrap plastic. – Tom van der Zanden Sep 17 '18 at 19:12
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I ground up some prints and extruded them into new filament. The quality of recycled filament is not very high so I would not recommend it.
As pointed out earlier, the shredded bulk material you would create from your old prints would cost more in time and energy to produce than buying new raw material (pellets, not filament), and you still need to extrude it into filament to be able to use it in a printer.
