If you want to expand your home manufacturing arsenal, here is a very useful machine that will enable you to make hollow objects from various types of resin.
This machine is easy and cheap to make from 3d printed parts and 15mm MDF sheets cut on a CNC machine. It was published on Instructables by Jorge Dorantes.
It is hand cranked, but it could probably be easy modified to run with a simple electrical motor.
If you are not sure how this machine works, here is a demonstration video of a different rotational casting machine by TGS Props where they use two piece silicone mold and Smoothcast 65D resin to make, well ... raptor / alien eggs!
DajoM from Instructables published all the files and instructions needed to make a low cost DIY vacuumformer / thermoformer that fits on your desktop. You can use it to make plastic molds or patterns for production of larger series of objects.
It is made from laser cut plywood and uses ceramic plate for heating. Several parts are 3d printed.
Devon shows hot to recycle failed prints in an easy and cheap way using your oven only. Basically you just melt them to get a flat thick sheet of plastic and use it in molds to get something useful.
Even if you keep it in the brick or sheet form it is easier to store, transport or build with.
Dave Hakkens developed a great set of open sourced DIY machines for recycling plastic. There are several machines including a 3d printing filament extruder. Every device is well documented with manuals, open sourced and uses simple and easy to find components. There is a shredder, extruder, injection molding machine and compression forming chamber.
here is the promotional video:
You can learn something about many types of plastics, which are everywhere! Like difference between thermoplastics and thermoset plastics:
3D printing filament extruder demo:
Here is a video explaining how you build it:
Here are some things you can make with recycled plastic, ranging from lamp shades to building blocs:
Project homepage where you can learn how to build each machine and about the plastics as a material:
Now, recycling plastics is great idea and useful skill to have, but will it decrease the usage of plastics in general? I do not have the data, but i have strong doubts that it will not. There is a something called Jevons paradox that notes that the more efficiently we use a resource, the rate of a consumption of that resource will increase. Think about it ....
While this is not exactly a 3d printer but a sort of plastic vacuum molding machine it shows that there is a long history of using heated plastic to reproduce 3d objects for everyday usage.
This is a photo of a Mattel Electric VAC-U-FORM children toy maker. Today would be probably prohibited due to dangers of letting kids play with molten plastics and very hot elements.
It is probably a grand grand granddaddy of modern home 3d printers. Maybe. Or a strange elderly and distant uncle ... still interesting ...
Source or copyright of the picture is unknown ... age also ... anyone knows more?
Update: It is form the early sixties and here is video of the TV commercial:
For other posts on the subject and curiosities for the paste start here:
Blow molding is process mostly used for manufacturing of various containers such as bottles. With the help of 3d printers the time of mold production is reduced by 90% and cost are cut by 94%.
Blow molding is a manufacturing process used to produce hollow plastic parts, such as bottles and other containers. Blow mold design and the specification of process parameters require skill and precision. A small change in the pinch--off or vent design, die temperature or blow pressure can dramatically affect the molding results.
Prototyping enables designers to validate these parameters and accelerate design approval. But up till now, high costs and long lead times have deterred blow mold prototyping.
Additive manufacturing, or 3D printing, makes prototyping a viable option. In this brief video you will learn how to produce cost-effective blow molds using PolyJet-based 3D printing from Stratasys.
Desktop spin casting machine would enable you to make series of objects with rapid molding process. This could develop into very interesting sector of machines and products.
Co-Founder of TeMAAK and Inventor of the RotoMAAK, Mark VanDiepenbos presents the RotoMAAK desktop rotational molding machine and demonstrates its use.
The RotoMAAK evenly distributes 2 part epoxies, as well as other rotational mold materials, to make parts out of 3d printed molds, silicon molds, or other types of molds in as little as 5 to 10 minutes. More details and specs coming soon, including the date for the Kickstarter campaign. Sign up on their website www.rotomaak.com to receive email notifications about its development and Kickstarter Launch.
Mark VanDiepenbos is a part of Makerspace Goshen, the same group that John Oly and Steve Wygant of www.seemecnc.com (Rostock Max and Orion 3D printers) are a part of.
Bismuth alloy casting a metal model in 3d printed plastic mold and then dissolving the mold in acetone. There are some safety issues, so check guidelines before doing it yourself. http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:26500
