Group MT0A-3 – PLA-Makers™

The focus of PLA-Makers™ was to push 3-D printing sustainability to its limits by creating an accessible and intuitive filament grinder and pelletizer system. By making our product cheaper than competitors on the market, the PLA-Makers™ grinder/pelletizer is suitable for a wide variety of customer applications. We took into consideration the customer needs of sizing and convenience by constraining the system to a table-top size and keeping the entire assembly run by separate power and control systems Additionally, each subsystem is independent of each other, allowing for easy use of singular features at a time. The design of each subsystem was modeled in a fashion that idealized product output. The grinder uses 21 A36 Steel blades to crush inserted 3-D printed material, ensuring enough strength from high-torque motors to grind up to 100% infill material. The flakes produced are confirmed to be of the desired size by implementing a mesh beneath by continuing to grind the material until the 5 mm long flakes can fall through. The pelletizer subsystem uses a high-speed steel router bit to cut filament as it is transported into the blade. The filament is transported into the cutting mechanism using an OTS 3-D printer extruder ran by a stepper motor and aligning the output with a tube directly into the cutting mechanism. The assembly of the overall system is unique to PLA-Makers™ and provides a variety of customers with the ability have a reliable and cost-effective means to recycle 3-D printed material.