Extruder
The extruder (shroody) takes the shredded plastic, heats it and presses it with a screw through a long barrel. When plastic is extruded it nicely blends different colors and produces a homogenous and clean color.
Operate and Maintain
1) Heat the machine to the desired temperature.
Recommended Temperature:
2) Wait 20 minutes for the machine to heat
3) Add desired plastic in the hopper.
The hopper is attached to the top of the shredder and helps materials into the blades. Please use the hand-held plunger to assist the material feed.
4) Turn on the motor.
5) For the first two minutes, the material that comes out of the machine is old plastics from previous sessions.
6) The machine is now ready for production.
Learn from Precious Plastic founder, Dave Hakkens on how a extruder is built
Safety Tips
Photo of shredded plastic
The most common problem with extrusion is having an output that is not uniform. There are a few reasons why this could happen:
The plastic can be dirty, clogging the nozzle and making it difficult for the plastic to get out.
Two different types of plastic are mixed; common causes for this can be contamination in the sorting stage or plastic left in the barrel from previous activity. In this case, one plastic type melts while the other doesn’t obstruct the plastic flowing through the nozzle.
The temperature is not high enough and the plastic in the barrel does not manage to fully melt. 🫠
You can solve the above problems by checking the integrity and purity of the raw material or by raising the temperature. Upon adjusting your process, make sure to empty the entire barrel before attempting to make a new product
Input and Output
Plastic Types: HDPE, LDPE, PP, PS
Max thickness:
Size of hopper input: Depends on nozzle
Click on the image for a 3D demonstration!
CT River Valley Extruder Prototype
Our extruder is being built from the open source Lyman Muller extruder V5 found on Thingiverse. This extruder is modular and repairable given its 3D modeled and printed design. We may make some changes to parts, materials, and layouts for our final product to line up with our communities needs. The PDF manual and the STL files can be found here.