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my PET machine spooler and extruder
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close up view of plastic extruder
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filament produced from machine
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bottle spiralizer
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another view of my PET machine in action

my PET machine

There is so much plastic waste in the world, why not try and do something with it? According to the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE's) National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), “more than 82 million metric tons of polyethylene terephthalate (PET) is produced globally each year to make single-use beverage bottles, packaging, clothing, and carpets, and it is one of the largest sources of plastic waste.”


"my PET machine" spiralizes, reshapes, and respools plastic from PET based bottles. Though we are surrounded by millions and millions of metric tons of plastic waste, the 3D printing industry is still primarily using single-use plastics that are manufactured solely for the intent of 3D printing. With this machine, I hope to contribute to a community of 3D printing enthusiasts who are working towards developing and improving on machines that make it commonplace to use recycled bottles as a primary source of 3D printer filament.

"my PET machine" recycles plastic bottles and converts them into 3D printer filament. This project uses pultrusion to pull and reshape stripped, polyethylene terephthalate (PET) based plastic bottles through a hot extruder. This machine is meant to encourage the use of recycled filament over newly produced plastic filament like PLA, PETG, ABS, and PP. 

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