Proceedings of Mechanical Engineering Research Day 2020, pp.

293-294, December 2020

Design and development of 3D printer filament extruder

Muhamad Aminur ‘Ilman Zainal Aris1, Shafizal Mat1,2,*, Muhammad Syazwan Sam1, Faiz Redza Ramli1,2,
Mohd Rizal Alkahari1,2, Syahibudil Ikhwan Abdul Kudus2,3
1)
Fakulti Kejuruteraan Mekanikal, Universiti Teknikal Malaysia Melaka,
Hang Tuah Jaya, 76100 Durian Tunggal, Melaka, Malaysia.
2)
Centre for Advanced Research on Energy, Universiti Teknikal Malaysia Melaka,
Hang Tuah Jaya, 76100 Durian Tunggal, Melaka, Malaysia.
3)
Fakulti Teknologi Kejuruteraan Mekanikal & Pembuatan, Universiti Teknikal Malaysia Melaka,
Hang Tuah Jaya, 76100 Durian Tunggal, Melaka, Malaysia.

Keywords: Filament extruder; recycle filament; recycle machine

ABSTRACT – The purpose of this project is to recycle 2. METHODOLOGY

the 3D printing waste material into a useful filament by In order to accomplish the goal of this project, the
using an extruder machine. The study focuses on forming hand- build filament extruder was fabricated which is
a new filament by using recycled Acrylonitrile butadiene called Filastruder. After analyzing and studying the
styrene (ABS) from product waste. The recycled filament previous studies that related to the filament recycle
is then utilized to an open-source 3D printing to create a machine was completed, the concept of injection molding
specimen. The investigation of its mechanical properties was chosen as a Filastruder system which used a single
is done by comparing the tensile strength, tensile strain, rotating screw that attached to the motor intending to
maximum load, and modulus young to pure ABS material push the waste 3D printed parts through the nozzle as
data. The result shows the original ABS specimen can shown in Figure 1. Besides, the speed of the rotating
withstand a 724N maximum load while recycled ABS screw can be adjusted by tuning the Pulse-width
specimen can accept 713N. modulation (PWM) controller. The heater and
thermocouple were also installed to the Filastruder with
1. INTRODUCTION the purpose of making sure the waste is completely
One of the technologies that have been increasing melted during the process.
significantly and known as an excellent example of a
machine is 3D printing. 3D printing is recognized to cost-
efficiently lesser the production process in markets which
provided less volume, custom-made, and great-value
production group as aerospace and medical unit
manufacturing [1]. 3D printing is a method in which
products are made, such as plastic or metal, are placed
onto each other in layers to construct a desired 3D object,
an example a match of eyeglasses or more 3D shapes [2].
The low cost of 3D printers allow user to make useful
things even at home. The low cost of 3D printers are Fuse
Deposition Modelling (FDM), Stereolithography (SLA),
and Digital Light Processing (DLP). In 3D printing, there Figure 1 Recycled ABS filament produced.
are 2 types of popular filament that widely used which
are, Polylactide acid (PLA) and Acrylonitrile butadiene The waste ABS printed parts and excessive 3D
styrene (ABS). Both mentioned filaments have its own printed parts went through two main procedures which
mechanical and physical characteristics [3]. are crushing and extruding process. Firstly, the waste was
However, before a zero-defect product 3D printed separated according to their size, hardness, and colors.
object can be successfully manufactured, finished Then, it was rinsed through the water to get rid of dirt.
products are always refused because of human error and Next, the waste was crushed into flakes by using a
technical error. The higher the number of rejection crusher machine. The intention of this crushing process
printed 3D products resulting in the 3D printing waste to is to ensure that the waste can be easily melted in the
drastically increase. The rise of 3D desktop printers barrel. The flakes were then processed using Filastruder
creates interest in recycled 3-D printer filaments to to produce the same diameter from one end to another of
reduce distributed production costs [4]. Recycling 3D the recycling filament.
printed waste and 3D components is important issue to After successfully producing the recycled filament,
be addressed at the end of their lives. In consequence, the an open-source 3D printer was used to print a dog-bone
goal for this project is to design a low cost recycle shape. The purpose of this object is to determine the
filament extruder machine which could significantly effectiveness and behavior of the material by testing the
produce ABS waste filament and to discover its object with Instron Material Testing machine. Last but
mechanical properties. not least, the result obtained from recycled ABS
specimen was then compared to the result of the original
ABS specimen in an effort to validate this project.
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© Centre for Advanced Research on Energy
 Zainal Aris et al., 2020

3. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION comparison data of each variable showed only slight
3.1 Percentage error of recycled filament differences in mechanical properties for both materials.
Figure 2 and Figure 3 show the diameter for every
300 mm long of recycled filament and the percentage
error results for each diameter, respectively. According to
the data, the percentage error for each diameter does not
exceed more than 5%. Nevertheless, the diameter of
recycled filament did not follow to the size of standard
diameter filament which is 1.75 mm.

Figure 4 Results comparison between original and

recycled ABS.

Figure 2 Diameter for every 300mm recycled filament.

Figure 5 Tensile strain for original and recycled ABS.

4. CONCLUSION
The study has shown that it is possible to recycle the
waste part of ABS material and convert it into a filament
by using the Filastruder machine. The results showed that
the original ABS obtained a higher value of maximum
load and tensile stress value which is 724N and 24MPa
respectively. Besides, the original ABS filament is a bit
Figure 3 Percentage of errors for each diameter. flexible compared to recycled ABS filament. However,
the recycled ABS filament is a 4.53% greater strain rate
than the original ABS filament. Overall, the recycled
3.2 Data of tensile strength test
ABS filament is compatible to be a new filament for any
The dog-boned shape specimens were then utilized
kind of 3D printing machine. With this, pollution from
using Instron Material Testing machine to compare the
ABS waste can be reduced.
mechanical properties for both materials. A few
specifications such as the thickness and length of the
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
specimen including the pulling force speed of the
Universiti Teknikal Malaysia Melaka (Grant no.:
mentioned machine was set first before running the test.
PJP/2019/FKM(6A)/S01677).
The comparison of mechanical properties between
original ABS material and recycled ABS material is
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