Treadmills tend to have up to 3kW motors, with controls to drive them very slowly, and can be had (used) for like $50. I use those a lot in various projects 👍
At 16:22, you mention a worm gear box, but visually, people will only see the rack and pinion transmission in front, creating potential confusion, especially for newcomers. I used to support Precious Plastic from the early years, but it faces a fundamental challenge: the economics of recycling. While the raw material may be nearly free - which is not : sorting, cleaning, shredding, stock, etc. - the operational side demands significant investments in facilities, skilled operators, and expensive machinery. This setup hinders fast production and, more critically, requires substantial energy to create parts that struggle to be sold at a reasonable price due to their higher production costs. Without government support or a viable funding mechanism, it becomes an elusive dream. Alas. From the beginning, I hoped that One Army would recognize this challenge and develop a sustainable business model with a product range that could surpass the profitability threshold. Unfortunately, my expectation persists, albeit with dwindling optimism. In my humble opinion, tackling this subject would make for quite an entertaining video, but I must confess, I harbor doubts about whether the hype surrounding a Precious Plastic setup is truly justified. Here's my take on welding: In this situation, insufficient power is causing the weld to stick. You'll need to increase the power, but be cautious not to go through the material by mistake. No worries here with the thick steel of the shredder. Simply put, only decrease the power when working with thin steel. Stick welders can be tricky for beginners. A flux-cored MIG welder, available at a similar price, provides a smoother experience and yields proper welds more rapidly. On the other hand, thickened epoxy offers a robust cold weld with a variety of materials, including mixed ones.
Sheet metal worker here, I would be using the 6013 rod too, so good start. Absolutely have to clean your metal down to bare shiny before welding. Cleaning the ground area always helps too. Rod angle is important, always should be dragging the rod not pushing when horizontal. About 80 degrees for butt welds, 45 degrees for T welds. Practice on some scrap!
Its mild steel with a stick just a quick hit with grinder disk or wire wheel is generally enough, you want to get rid of paint and corrosion, push or pull isnt as important you can get good welds either way.. there are a bout 1000 different techniques. but "clean" surfaces and having the settings on the welder somewhat in the correct place will get him 90% there. @thenextlayer setup a some long butt weelds and pritice for a few hours, play with the welder
What BALLS you have to show us your actual process! Well done! The only way to learn is to make lots and lots of mistakes as quickly as you possibly can. You're doing life right.
I'm looking forward to seeing the rest of this video series. A collaboration with CNC Kitchen might be a good idea so you get the best possible filament out after the whole process.
With a VFD, the frequency of AC supplied to the motor can be varied which changes its RPM. Changing the sequence of the 3 phases changes the direction of the motor's rotation. Though, you can run the motor much slower with a VFD, you won't be able to get a high enough torque to crush plastic reliably. I will highly recommend adding a gearbox.
@@thenextlayer you shouldn’t need anything super fancy from the gearbox. You could probably get by with even something like 2 gears with a high enough gear ratio, you could probably get the cut relatively cheaply from a laser cutting / water jet company. Alternatively looking into a planetary gearbox as those can get higher reductions and are typically enclosed. Maybe you could look into gearboxes for car winches, they look to be similarly sized for the motor you have. Those are meant to get cars unstuck so they have a boat load of torque at a low rpm output, and I’m sure you can find ones with burnt out motors and functional gear boxes on the used market.
@@thenextlayer a filament extruder usually has about 17:1 - 32:1 gear box the screw and barrel sise is for any size extruder line the same should be fine for the shredder maybe stay closer to the upper range for touque over RPM
Use a grinder and clean the metal around where you are going to weld and where you put your ground. This will help get a clean contact. Also take some scrap and play with your settings on the welder. That is the main reason you are sticking at the beginning of the weld.
I am an engineer, welder, tool and die maker, etc with 50+ years experience. And I have actually built shredders such as you are doing though larger and intended to shred metal. I love the project (am also hording plastic waste) and am very impressed by your "just do it" approach. Lots of people talk and day dream about such things but you are actually doing it. So great respect to you. Good that you are using salvaged materials and trying to reduce cost. Purchasing the kit is a good start. However, the welded frame is, as others have mentioned, totally inadequate for the intense vibrations such a machine will produce, even if you could align the motor with the shredder (which is unlikely without precise machining tools and skills). As others suggest, a MIG welder is much easier to learn and grinding the weld area to shiny metal before welding is essential. The frame needs triangulated bracing and adequate welds as many others have said. The motor must have a substantial mechanical speed reduction (and torque multiplication) system by gears, chains/sprockets or belts and pulleys to drive the shredder. Some shredders actually run at high speed but that would just melt the plastic we want to shred. An appropriate gear reduction system that would couple to your motor and your shredder will be a challenge to find and likely quite expensive. A belt or chain speed reduction system will need pulleys or sprockets, bearings, keyed intermediate shafts and additional framework (and guards for safety) with provision for adjusting belt or chain tension. All a bit more complicated but still possible with your drive and ambition. I would be happy to help you with the design of such systems and might duplicate here for my own use. Another concern you havent mentioned is cleaning the plastic scrap before shredding. 3D printing needs filament that is very pure with nothing that will clog the nozzle. I know the stuff I collect is likely to have bits of debris included that will cause problems if it gets into the final product filament and I am not sure how to eliminate that problem. It may be that filtering the shredded material by melting it and extruding through a 0.4 or smaller "screen" will be required and that seems high maintenence at best.
I checked out precious plastics designs a couple years ago and the shredder was one step the next step was to clean and dry and they have plans up for s make shift washing machine with a pool sand filter for the microplastics, and then like a screened bag to put the shredds in to dry, which is another make shift dryer made from a drying machine
Yeah, you should definitely check out the Precious Plastic project and HUGE community. They have done this for ten years now, and have a set of D.I.Y. plans/parts/machines in project sites all over the world. Including shredders and extruders. This video is totally reinventing the wheel a decade too late.
Well I mean some things are a little out of date at this point there are other systems out there that can run longer and have a better accuracy then b4 but it is still a good reference or starting point
I'm glad I came across this video as I recently was visiting my best friend along with his 11-year old son and both of them had just recently dived into the 3D printing world. I was only a few months ahead of them myself and gladly helped get them all setup to go. During that time, his son proactively saved every single shred of waste filament, and when I asked him about that he said he wanted to save all of it so he could figure out a way to recycle it all at some point (even if he had no idea what that involved). I was impressed by his natural ambition to attempt something extremely useful and helpful on his own and promised to help him with that goal. I think this video series will be extremely helpful to anyone trying to get an affordable recycling solution off the ground, so thanks again for that. I am not a UA-camr by any means, but I do plan on taking video of my design, build, and testing process in order to help anyone else interested in recycling do the same as well, and it may also be a good test case for your overall goal of enabling the average follower to implement something like this!
Amazing video, can't wait to see the rest of the series! Some tips for the welding: - Be very careful welding any steel that is galvanized, it's fumes are uber bad for you. I'd do it outside if possible and grinding the area you're about to weld will reduce these fumes (though it's difficult to grind the inside of steel bar). - You appear to be using a 110v welder. To increase it's penetration in the material (and therefore strength), you can pre-heat the metal with something like a propane or map gas torch. Other than that you're doing great! Keep up the good work :)
Awesome project! Welding tips: Only weld on clean metal (grind or wire brush to bare metal and de-grease with acetone). Wire brush the flux off your previous welds before welding over or next to them (a wire brush and chipping hammer are essential tools, stick welding leaves a flux coating that you do not want to weld over). In the U.S. many steel supplies sell remnant and scrap cuts to the public if you're having trouble finding steel. When beginning to learn welding, practice on flat steel plates to learn how to tack pieces together and lay slow and steady beads in straight lines. Before welding a new project, practice on scrap steel of the same thickness in the same kind of joints, trying different welder settings to see what works best. Beginner stick welding videos on UA-cam are a massive help getting your welding hobby off the ground.
cleaning to that level is overkill unless its stainless, ms with stick with literally burn though anything if the arc is started, a decent clean surface should be used though, if your welds are good you don't need a hammer at all the slag peels off and you will finish the surface later.
Wonderful project you have taken on. I surely shall be following along. As for the welding. It helps a lot to have a scrap piece of grounded metal beside or near where you are welding. Strike your rod on this scrap piece to heat the rod, like to red hot. Then move to your work piece with a hot rod to start. Another thing do NOT be afraid to hold the welding rod with your other dry gloved hand near the end of the rod. I mean hold the rod with your hand to guide you as you start. Once started you can let go of the rod as it gets pretty hot with you hand that close to the weld. But now running the weld is much easier. Thank you for the series.
Stick welders are not good for beginners. You should look into getting a Flux Core MIG welder. These are the type that use a spool of wire. You will get much better welds from this. No rod sticking here. Stick welders are also more used for heavy thick metal where as a MIG can be dialed in to better match thinner metal welding. They also use a wand with a trigger that allows for more precise control of your weld. They are comparable in price to any stick welder. Good luck!
Kudos for actually making a video about a topic where you do not excel to perfection and showing the shortcomings. I will be following this series with great interest.
As someone who works with VFDs everyday, I'm excited to see this series. It's not often I hear about them outside of work. Your explanation of them was funny, but pretty much right. I encourage everyone to watch a video on how VFDs work, interesting stuff.
This video earned a subscription from me. Enthusiasts that ignore the fact we're giving this planet away when we die are people I refuse to associate with.
I am happy to see someone trying to make recycling 3D filament affordable. I recently looked into pellet 3D printing and wondered if pellet 3D printing could take the "turn shredded plastic into filament" step out. Sadly pellet 3D printers are not common.
Yes and no. They take the step out of producing expensive filament in the first place. Everybody with a print farm should be looking for pellet printing since the raw material is by a factor of 5-10 less expensive. But for home use, filament is just convenient. You get tight tolerances, good material quality but much less control over color, material properties and price is way worse. My guess would be that pellet extruders will be the next hype after all the other issues like print quality and print speed and also price for FDM machines is basically already solved. Filament is just way way more expensive and thus nobody uses 3D printing for manufacturing unless it´s a very small part count. No automobile manufacturer would ever use FDM printing for mass priduction ever. But with a significant price reduction they may be willing to label their product "gree, recycled great for evirenment bla bla" and 3D print them is they are cheap enough.
I'm currently working on the big brother of this project, which wasn't initially big in my drafting phase, but I scored a retired industrial 40mmx1100mm injection machine screw and will be building my machine around it. Initially, I designed and resin printed an injection screw and was going to cast it, but the real screw was an absolute steal and I couldn't resist. The motor is something that is definitely an item that needs specificity. Single phase motors don't have the option of speed controllers if they are AC powered, so you'll need to use a reduction gearbox, which for the type of motor you'll need, can eclipse the budget of the entire project. I'm a notorious scrap rat, but all of the motors I have aren't anywhere near torquey enough to spin the 20lb chunk of steel screw even with a gearbox, or slow enough with pulleys. A 3-phase with VFD is ideal in both our cases, but as a cost-saving measure, I'm going to try an initial iteration with a pneumatic impact gun and see how it goes since I have it, and it will be amply powerful for the job. Frames are also a necessary evil, and steel prices have been skyrocketing into the ridiculous territory the last few years. One used to be able to go scrapping for usable steel, but anymore the good, usable stuff gets picked by the pros, and the junk goes straight to the smelters. I've ended up collecting free bed frames for the angle iron steel and welding up what I need. For injection/extrusion nozzles, you can pick them up extremely cheaply through industrial suppliers, or if you're relatively clever, drill out steel pipe caps. The industrial nozzles can be had as cheaply as $13, where you can thread and tap an insert for making other sizes when the use case comes up. I'm aiming for 10mm so I can use hydraulic lines and connectors, but I'm also aiming to do for injection mold use rather than running filament, but with a tapped insert, I may try my hand at doing custom composite filaments in the near future. Add: I'd nearly forgotten, but bulk shredders don't necessarily have to look like you might expect. I've had great luck with homebuilt crushers that were designed for rock (I use them for processing graphitized carbon for my graphene products), but you can change the screen size to adapt to the pellet or particle size you want and dump into a sack/bucket, feeding as fast as you want. While grinders and shredders work, they can take a long time to process any sizeable volume runs. With my crusher, it's almost instantaneous and you'd be surprised how little time it takes to have a constant stream shooting out the exit port. 😁
Massive respect for trying, and OWNING your own inadequacies when welding. It's not a particularly easy skill to master, but the fact that you want to learn, and aren't trying to show people how to weld; let alone are TRYING to humbly learn your own way makes me not even want to critique your work. I'm not a stick welder (I prefer TIG/MIG) but I've done some - I'll throw some tips though, you look like you'll take to it like a duck to water. - You have an angle grinder already, get a grinding wheel for it and grind the millscale (the grey dull coating) and paint off what you're trying to weld. The cleaner it is, the easier it is to weld. With stick welding, it's a bit more forgiving than MIG/TIG in my opinion for dirty joints but it's not infallible. Experienced guys can kinda weld through anything but they'd clean it if they can. - You've already got the idea down for starting your arc, drag the stick, don't poke it. I think part of your issue starting is the millscale, but I think you might be lifting the stick too high and too fast. They say it's like "striking a match" but I don't think it's quite that quick. Definitely get some scrap and practice laying a bead down. Once you can scratch start it reliably, it will be so much easier for you to weld. Keep up the good work, I'm deeply interested in this project myself!
Great job! I'll take ugly and functional over pretty and useless every single time. The alignment of the motor and cutter shafts looks like it's probably close enough that the coupler will be able to mate them. If not, that old crafting technique of "a shim" under the motor will get you through :) Looking forward to seeing the finished result!
Love the concept of this series and its got me thinking if i could do something similar. Love the fact your just going for it yourself chopping, welding sourcing and most importantly making mistakes, brilliant! keep including errors makes the whole series more real.
Because of the interest in recycling, I would note that a real easy place to get a warm drive gear reduction would be the steering box of an old vehicle that might also be destined for the scrap heap. If it does not have a rack and pinion then it will have a worm drive gear in a small metal box.
1. Clean your metal 2. Stick is overkill, flux-core is amazing for beginners and people who don't want to deal with gas containers 3. I'm going to recommend using new metal, it's always better to KNOW....TRULY KNOW....what you are welding with. For your success, your learning, and your confidence in your HIGH POWER FINGER SHREDDING MONSTER!!!!!! 4.Use you new flux-core welder to build a welding table. It's good practice and an important tool. 5. Get clamps. 6. Get right angle magnets. 7. Machinist squares are not good tools for welding. Get a larger square, one with no corner so it can accommodate a fillet weld. You need the length to sample a longer segment since a small measuring tool can only reference a small area.
not sure if it was just the camera angle but you need to make sure your shredder shaft center is as close to center of the motor shaft. this will help save your bearings on both sides.
Finally something education & entertaining on youtube. I feel like the whole of yt and the internet has been a hole but this is useful!!! Great work on the video and keep it up man ❤❤
Awesome video brother! I love seeing people try new things like you welding! It's both exciting and stressful in normal environments much less your current atmosphere. One of the best suggestions I can give you with the welding is getting all the paint off the steel first. This start and stop popping is because of that. Paint is effecting your ground. Clean metal always wells better. Keep up the great work sir! Jeremy
It won´t for a long time. There are all sorts of issues. Just the price will kill it for home use. I am still waiting for a good pellet extruder instead.
The day a filament-recycling product comes to the market that is affordable/idiot-proof will be one of the best days of my life. [not that I need an idiot-proof one, I just want something I don’t have to spend time tinkering with. I already tinker with enough things lol.]
A VFD takes ac power converts it to dc so you can control the speed then converts it back to ac. Most of those motors can also be wired for high speed and low speed. To make the motor reverse direction take any two of the three wires going from the vfd to the motor and swap them.
As a certified welder, you have a long way to go... However i can mention some things i saw. Your rods are either sticking because of too low of voltage, shakey hands, or improper striking Low voltage is easy to fix, just up it til things run smoothly Shakey hands are a bit harder to fix, but a little practice hack can help get you used to the stinger : dont be afraid to use your offhand to hold the rod when youre getting your arc started, dont hold it too close to the tip, but u can use your hand to hold the rod steady when starting your arc(please only do this with very thick gloves) The improper striking is another easy fix, generally with a new rod, you want to drag quickly from the middle of your future bead towards where you want your bead to start. If youre trying to start an arc after your rod has already stuck, be sure to cut off any exposed metal, you want to flux to cover the diameter around the tip of your rod. I saw that a lot of your welds were splattering a lit. You just have to clean your metal before welding (especially if theres oaint, you can harm your lungs by breathign funes generated by welding on paint or other chemical coatings) And of course watch some UA-cam videos on welding techniques, the technique can vary based on steel type and what rids your using, so be sure to check some lut and practice following guides. Oh and when making a weld, watch the brightest part, it should look like a little yellow or orange slime ball, that is your puddle and thats what you want to manipulate when tryign to get a good looking weld, try to make it dence back and forth between the two lines that will form the edge of your weld, and keep it moving. You dont want it to sit in one spot
@@TheSasquatchjones nah you had a good point, mig would probably be better for this. I also forgot to mention that he might not be giving enough space between his rod and material, which can cause it to stick.
On the welding bit, your electrode sticking is a normal phenomenon. The trick isnt maintaining contact, but maintaining the right gap. Adjusting your "heat" will help with penetration. Maintaining a steady arc is another crucial thing. Starting and stopping with something that contains flux like a welding rod or flux core wire, it melts the slag that covers your weld and mixes it in with the metal creating inclusions or porosity in the weld. One other thing, used upcycled repurposed etc is amazing, however, where you are making your weld MUST be cleaned. For one, it creates impurities or weak spots in the weld and it makes it harder to steike and maintain an arc. By no means am i saying dont use used or older materials, it just takes a few moments extra work. I love your content, im glad you and yours are doing alright there. I appreciate getting to see most of these projects
I like the term babysit the filament, I used the same term when I was talking to a friend about my anycubic Kobra 2 neo, I've since sorted the fault and have a lot less wasted prints , I don't have to babysit it anymore but I'm still new to printing
You didn't mention it in the video, but have you seen the new DIY filament extruder option that Stefan at CNC Kitchen tried? This might be an economical option for part 2 if you haven't already got something figured out. Also, a few of the other UA-cam channels that have tried this have noticed that if you use a filament cutter to shred your first round of extruded filament, the second time you run it through the extruder it yields a much more consistent diameter. Just some thoughts for part 2! Can't wait!!
I've been super interested in responding my scraps, especially since getting the x1c recently. Love what you're doing. Looking forward to the rest of this build.
Using a VFC for reducing the rotational speed while creating a 3-phase power signal from a 1-phase wall plug is nice. However, you don't gain any torque from using a VFC. In fact, you will be overloading the motor torque-wise. Also, because of the very low motor speed (est 1..2 rotations per second), the built-in fan inside the motorhead will hardly generate any cooling, overheating the motor even more. You really need to insert a gearbox between the motor and the shredder. Secondly, a remark on the frame. You use rectangular frame geometry without any shear supports/stiffeners. Without shears (creating a triangular frame geometry), you will be overloading the welds and creating a weak, feeble frame with lacking rigidity. I expect the frame to fail and crash within hours of operation. Thirdly, a remark on the shaft coupling between the motor and the shredder. You have chosen to use a rigid shaft coupling. This is an absolute no-go for this type of low-precision assembly. It causes a lot of friction inside the bearings, resulting in torque loss, excessive wear of the bearings, and long-term fatigue-based shaft failure. You need to use a flex coupling instead of a rigid coupling. There are many different types of flex coupling (with different degrees of freedom, different values for the allowable misalignment, and different torque capabilities).
I was just going to add a fan on the back… But ok, where can I source a gearbox like that in Israel, lol… Just saw the other comments, too. I always wondered why people do the triangular geometry. Ok… if it fails, I’ll redo it… can you link me to an example of what you mean!? Also, dang. Didn’t know about flex couplings. How do I find one with the right diameters? I’m starting to think that maybe I really do need a gear box.
@@thenextlayer Power (kW) = Torque (N.m) x Speed (RPM) / 9.5488. Your motor can deliver about 7 N.m. If you only run the motor at 50 RPM and not the 2900 RPM your motor can only deliver 0.04 KW. Its not going to work without a gearbox. So you can run the motor at 2900 RPM and get 2.2Kw out off the motor.
DUDE! I love this video idea! I have kept all my waste since I started 3D printing in the hopes of recycling it. I could really use and learn from your experiences before i spend thousands of dollars on machinery I don't know how to use
I tried something like this a a few years ago now. unfortunately it just tured in to a massive money pit. but i am excited to see what you come up with.
Should check places like automation direct for the motor, gearbox and VFD. Decent quality and prices. Also, as someone who works with motors, I would pick something with a 56C frame with a hollow shaft gearbox and probably wouldn't go above 1/2 horse for a shredder.
I love this! I've been eyeballing all the things required to start recycling my own filament and it's pretty overwhelming. This may actually be what it takes to get me to do it myself!
Basic breakdown for motor selection: AC motor rpms are determined by the frequency of the supply current. In the US that is 60 hertz. VFDs convert the AC into DC and then back into AC at whatever frequency is needed to get the motor speed that is required. They generally also have motor protections built into them as well. For phases one of the other ways to be sure with some of the crappier listings is that 3 phase is generally 480 volts (or 460 depending on the manufacturer). Look for something that is the same voltage as whatever you are plugging into your wall outlets to make things easy. Some motors have dual voltage ratings. These can be wired to run on 3 phase or single phase. It isn't difficult to change, but if you aren't comfortable with doing this and don't have a friend that can do it for you find something else. The frame tells you about the motor mount. The numbers basically tell you the spacing for the mounting holes and any letters after that will give information about the motor shaft. The letters shouldn't be a huge issue for this kind of thing. Frame usually doesn't change within a given horsepower, but it can. So you will need to know it if you ever change out the motor (this should be on the name plate of the motor).
Glad your taking this project on too I've been slowly working on it as well the past few years, I also bought a motor not realizing I needed a slow rpm motor, picked up a 1 hp motor that goes 1800 rpm....
Been looking into gear boxes have a line up on a couple but they can be expensive was looking into a vfd as well, but glad I also read about it not really giving you more torque, just less rpm, I would definetly look for the right gearbox for your motor would not like to get an underrated one as the gearbox or the motor will fry after awhile and have to replace it again I will try to find the video I was watching on this
ua-cam.com/video/LZA-kEpQgNM/v-deo.htmlsi=nbP0iSxp5OoOyuHn Another video of making a plastic shredder same idea but there's a spot in the video that talks about what too look for in a gearbox for your motor,
Hey Jonathan, totally dig this video moving towards recycle/repurposing resources. I may be repeating a few comments seeing 257 and counting hoping this comment brings it all together. Being a safety kinda guy I'm going to point out a few things that will be crunchy, but all in good intentions and care about your safety. AND I do have a suggestion on your gear reduction issue. Safety 1. The box tubing looks to be galvanized. IF so the off gassing is very dangerous. even so I highly recommend ventilating any off gassing created by welding. Even with a respirator, that gas has to be evacuated. A small hood set next to the work with a strong couple of fans with vent hose pulling the gasses out to a nearby window is better than nothing. 2. Using Galvanized metals, any metal needs to be ground clean for the welds to take, In the case of Galvy, I'd grind it a good 6~8" back from the area to be welded. or wrap a wet rag a ways back from the weld to contain the heat. 3. The area you're welding in looks very unsafe, your rug to the side could easily catch fire, not sure about. Welding will launch molten metal drops amazing distances. Also get a fire extinguisher, it's a must have. 4. Nicholas has a good advice on welding rod technique. If you're planning more welding get a MIG, much easier and they are so much more affordable these days. 5. If you're welding sheet or thin metal clamp a piece of Copper on the back side to help prevent blow through. Ok on the gear reduction. A. Not sure if you have access to this supplier but great resource for what you need for this project. www.mcmaster.com/ B. If you can't find a gear box consider a chain gear reduction. You can save yourself some space by having the motor offset from the grinder. Easy to figure out your gear reduction, using a chain is solid! just be sure to put a chain guard over that. eats fingers real fast, also helps keeping debris out of the chain. Best of all you get the motor back up into a better torque range. Stay safe over there. Best Jim
Oh I forgot to add, by using a sprocket and chain you'll solve your mounting and alignment issue. You can mount the motor to the 1/4" (6mm) plate, I'd suggest welding a bracket to the frame, bolt the bracket to the plate that holds the motor, The plate you'll need to stiffen on either side of the motor plate to stiffen it. PM me if you can I can do a sketch for ya. Shouldn't take any time to do it.
@@thenextlayer The Galvanizing has a grey finish, chalky to the touch feeling. The finish will chips off to reveal the metal below. Most chainlink fences and round piping have Galvanized finishes. So you could compare that.
If you could get your hands on a mig welder with gas of 75/25 argon mix it will make your life alot easier. No slag to knock off and can weld alot of different metal thicknesses with just messing with voltage over trying to have the right rods. Great video and channel! Don't let the uninformed get you down, what you are going through is terrible and then people act like youre the aggressor
Look up Precious Plastic. A community driven project that already id this an spread it world wide. This video is literally reinventing the wheel a decade later.
Cleaning a surface of grease and letting a good pool of heat gather with your welds can make them stronger, you can use the rod to guide the pool slowly and that pool can then be guided by walking the weld. If you aren't comfortable walking the weld then vertical down or downhill welding can give you a clean looking weld that's reasonably sturdy for that thickness of metal. Practice and experimentation can be rather rewarding.
As someone who went down the "self taught" road for welding I can recommend a few tips. 1 don't start with stick especially on thin ish material. Its very hard when learning to not either burn through or just have cold welds that are worthless. Starting with a flux core mig welder is by far your best bet in terms of getting good results without having someone more experienced standing over you telling you exactly whats wrong. Also as a hobbyist your not likely to be welding anything much over 3/8 thick but you are likely to be doing alot in the 1/8 or thiner range where mig shines over stick in alot of ways as stick tends to be better for thick not so clean material. 2 It doesn't matter what your welding the cleaner it is the better. If theres any rust or paint it will make your life hell and you'll never get good strong welds. 3 This kinda goes for learning anything but watch as many videos about welding as possible. People like welding tips and tricks or This old tony are amazing and you'll definitely improve by watching and learning as much as humanly possible on the subject. 4 If stick is all you have to work with get yourself a thick plate preferably 3/8 or 1/2 in and just run beads on it over and over again. Don't bother trying to stick two pieces together at first just practice making good looking consistent beads with no porosity. I found when learning cheating the settings up to the hotter end for the size rods and thickness of metal makes it alot easier to strike and maintain a good arc. Obviously this will generally cause a bit of under cutting and on thiner metal, burn throughs, but control comes with time and practice so its a worthy trade off while learning. Hope this helps!
You can't change the torque of a motor with only a VFD. The gearbox is the torque multiplier. You need to mechanically change speed to change torque. A 5kw motor at 50hz 1800rpm, being supplied 25hz makes it basically a 2.5kw motor 900rpm. The torque calculates out the same. Keeping it at 50hz, at 1800rpm, and using gearing, belts, chain to go to 900rpm doubles the torque. VFDs are great for controlling speed, and using it as a soft start. I sell bearings, motors, conveyors, etc.
With stick welding, you want to strike the stick to get it started, then put the tip where you want to start your weld. Hold it 1-2mm above the metal for a hair over half a second, then you want to move the tip of your stick away from the weld spot you just made (it should be a puddle of metal), but in the direction your weld will be going. Only need to move it about 1/2 an inch away from the existing weld for 1/2 a second then move it back to the bottom of the existing weld that you just did. Repeat this, you should see overlapping weld puddles CCCCCC, kinda like that, but obviously better overlapped than simply typing repeating C's.
From my experience working as a farmer before, you might pick up a mig machine It is much easier to mig than rod welding, don't worry about the mig setting just adjust it until it sounds like bacon in the pan
In a super basic way, you can think of VFD like a PWM fan/LED. It's in the name, Variable Frequency Drive, it's just making a modified sign wave/square wave to switch the polarity of the electromagnets to achieve the desired rotation speed. I am also going to take a stab in the dark and say that the slower longer and square pulses are going to generate more heat than a raw pure sign wave, so, add a k-type probe and a fan if it gets near its design max temp to keep it alive longer.
if your a hobbyist. While stick welding can get you allot of penetration and control. A cheap FCAW (flux core arc weld (sometimes called MIG (but its different)). Should be able to handle the metal thicknesses you are working with. Its also waaay easier to learn. If you have the money real MIG (metal inert gas) is even better for you as the lack of slag makes clean up and mess a lot less. you aren't gonna be welding over 1/2 plate with MIG. and you 10000% wont be welding anything that thick with 110/120v no matter what. Keep working on it for sure. Gotta suck until you get better at any skill. PS: Clean Work makes the Dream work... 90% prep 10% weld. Clean base metal makes it much easier to both control arc and get clean welds. But past that grinder and paint makes the welder what he aint.
Look for a star coupling for getting the drive shafts connected, normally you want in any mechanical joint a soft material that can wear before any of your mayor components, the coupling has a rubber section that is easily replaceable and helps with minor deviation and vibration.
As an ex sheet metal worker for welding I would suggest a MIG welder for beginners. You can get gasless and also gas MIG, easiest is gasless, but the welds aren't as good, as the gas acts as a flux enabling you to get a better weld. These machines are more expensive than an arc welder, but worth the extra cost. I have both and I rareley use the arc welder.
Just came across this video after slowly beginning my own journey to see how I could make a recycling solution. I am a hobbyist, but that doesn't mean not taking the generated waste seriously. I might just team up with a local makerspace to see if we can up a recycling center here (4th largest city in Denmark). Thanks for taking this problem serious.
I probably would just drill holes into steel and bolt everything together with 90 Degree steel angles instead of welding (it will go to the corner with between so probably doesn't matter if it's welded or not) And you can disassemble everything if needed
Armchair steelworker here: it kind of looks like the steel is zinc coated. I think the welding might work better if you grind the beams back a bit to expose the clean steel. But hey, I've never even held a welder so what do I know :D
Little tip: if you will add an angled (diagonal?) stiffener to every side, your frame will be a lot more stable. This strategy is quite common for woodworking workbenches.
Ok so there is few major issues with this setup, first while it’s true you can lower the motor speed with a VFD but that motor won’t be able to handle all the torque as that is limited by the motor physical design, second that poor base will break apart as soon as you turn on the motor 😅 you need frame between the motor and the shredder that can handle all this bending forces.
@@thenextlayer for every action there is a reaction, when the motor turns the shaft one of two things will happen, either the shredder will run or the frame will break and the motor will start to rotate around the shaft depending on what is weaker the shredder torque demand or your frame. What I would suggest is have maybe a plywood as common baseplate between the motor and shredder (maybe you will need more than one layer, I didn’t do the math on it 🙃) you can look up pump baseplates for some inspiration and further understanding. You will also find how they do shaft alignment that also is very important for your investments lifespan 😁.
I really think this is a gap in the market that all the big printer brands are missing. A prusa/Bambu style ease of use mass produced machine for this would be amazing.
Love your project! You spoke very well in the presentation. Couple of thoughts - you're going to want to make sure to line up the output of the motor to the shredder shaft as perfectly as you can. Try to fab some provisions to allow some adjustment for the shredder or the motor. Then use a flexing mechanical coupling. The VFD looks like it may be sized too small for single phase input to 3 phase output plus wanting high torque. Granted, you may be limited by amperage available at your studio so you may not be able to run a larger VFD. This project may end up needing a gearbox for a reduction to get the torque needed.
Bit late to this video, but I’ve been planning on choosing a filament recycling method to reuse expensive leftover plastics from various war games to print new models. For the shredding consistency, one very consistent tool for grinding is coffee grinders. A decent coffee grinder is very uniform is the grind size, and will last much longer than an old blender. Even cheap ones from Amazon are impressively good at grinding old printed parts, however they are usually fairly small, making it time consuming.
Word of caution, if you ever plan to weld galvanized steel in your projects, use a fine filtered mask in a well ventilated area. When you weld galvanized steel, the fumes are toxic and increases chances for cancer drasticly. I love this project and really hope it succeeds.
@@thenextlayer Very often the surface looks like this: eoncoat.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/shutterstock_101878708.jpg Also, when you weld it, it turns very white around the welding spot (like it rapidly grows a fungus) and makes a white smoke. Basically, galvanization is coating the surface of the metal with zinc and small amounts of lead.
DC motors may cost more depending on selection, but your options for reliable speed control and torque are going to be greater in a residential situation. 1ph to 3ph VFD's are usually very small and pretty expensive for being 2HP or below. Just some thoughts from someone who works in industrial automation and also does hobbyist electronics. Check places like mouser to narrow down your potential parts based on your physical requirements. Cross reference from there for domestic pricing if available where you live.
I recommend 3D printing parts and re enforcing them with the metal you are using. You could also use 3D printed parts to hold the parts together while you tack them into place to ensure a perfect square. They may melt as a result of the heat, but the point is to hold everything in place while making the welds.
22:10 were those square tubes zinc plated? That looks plated to me. For future knowledge grand all plating off an area before welding. Zinc plating is highly toxic when welding.
As a retired fabricator, my welding advice would be to try to get hold of a small MIG welder. If you can run a hot glue gun, you can mig or wire weld. Seriously a lot of people spend years learning to arc weld, if you are a DIY/hobby welder it's not worth it, try to get a MIG welder. Mig stands of Metal Inert Gas.
You need to clean and prep your welding surface with acetone and make sure it’s completely dry, you also need to adjust your output settings as this will drastically change your welds and how they come out. Also you want to start with a flick and once you’re going you need to keep it about 1/4 inch away from your material and I like to do cursive E patterns but you can figure out what works best for you. Thanks for this informational video I really appreciate it
Your ground has to be on a well cleaned and maybe hit it with the grinder so it’s nice and fresh metal. The best connection will give you the best results
When you’re using a stick welder, you want to strike the arc anywhere around the part and then run your bead go forward them back a little forward them back a little or you can use circular motions and just push down to fill it in
Pleeeeease buy a mig welder. You can get very small ones this days. I tested even the Lidl version and it welds so much better than electrode( for newbies like us). The welds look from another world on mig compared to electrode. It is much faster and neater. You can use flux so you do not need welding gas
@@thenextlayer i tested 80 dollars version and had very good results. You can find flux wire only that usually have only small wire spools and are very light. Of course you have to test first but the learning curve is way better than electrode
The number one thing that’s gonna help you out with welding is a clean the surfaces first that means take a grinder, grind everything off of them before you put them together
Great video, congrats on 100k btw. Also I just recently started posting my designs on printables and I want to ask how do you generate traffic to your printables profile?
Your approach is pretty much the same as everyone else does it. I cannot help but feel that there must be another option. Having to cut everything up in to tinny pieces is an expensive and time consuming process. Someone needs to research to see if it's possible to just dump all the material in to a metal vat with holes in the bottom, heat the vat up so the material becomes molten and then use hydraulic pressure to press down on the material. A spinning blade below the holes would then cut the extruded material up in to pellet sized pieces. I don't know if this process would work, but if it did it would cut out many stages, and at least someone would have tried something different. I would make for a great video, even if it fails.
I have been considering buying what is called an oil press. Its used to extract oils from nuts and things. It has an extruder screw and a heater and hopper to feed in the nuts. It seems like it would be a fairly cheap way to convert to an extruder. It has all the parts already for the most part and its between 100 and 300$. I have not seen anyone do this yet, but it seems like a straightforward way to get a very cheap exteuder to me.
Thanks for watching! I really appreciate your feedback on my videos and projects, and I read every comment… So… Like… Leave one!
Treadmills tend to have up to 3kW motors, with controls to drive them very slowly, and can be had (used) for like $50. I use those a lot in various projects 👍
@@timnoko3588 Wow, that's a really good idea, wish I'd thought of it.
the fumes are not the best
Never thought of that though Idk that it would withstand the torque for a long period of time.
At 16:22, you mention a worm gear box, but visually, people will only see the rack and pinion transmission in front, creating potential confusion, especially for newcomers.
I used to support Precious Plastic from the early years, but it faces a fundamental challenge: the economics of recycling. While the raw material may be nearly free - which is not : sorting, cleaning, shredding, stock, etc. - the operational side demands significant investments in facilities, skilled operators, and expensive machinery. This setup hinders fast production and, more critically, requires substantial energy to create parts that struggle to be sold at a reasonable price due to their higher production costs. Without government support or a viable funding mechanism, it becomes an elusive dream. Alas. From the beginning, I hoped that One Army would recognize this challenge and develop a sustainable business model with a product range that could surpass the profitability threshold. Unfortunately, my expectation persists, albeit with dwindling optimism. In my humble opinion, tackling this subject would make for quite an entertaining video, but I must confess, I harbor doubts about whether the hype surrounding a Precious Plastic setup is truly justified.
Here's my take on welding: In this situation, insufficient power is causing the weld to stick. You'll need to increase the power, but be cautious not to go through the material by mistake. No worries here with the thick steel of the shredder. Simply put, only decrease the power when working with thin steel. Stick welders can be tricky for beginners. A flux-cored MIG welder, available at a similar price, provides a smoother experience and yields proper welds more rapidly. On the other hand, thickened epoxy offers a robust cold weld with a variety of materials, including mixed ones.
Sheet metal worker here, I would be using the 6013 rod too, so good start. Absolutely have to clean your metal down to bare shiny before welding. Cleaning the ground area always helps too. Rod angle is important, always should be dragging the rod not pushing when horizontal. About 80 degrees for butt welds, 45 degrees for T welds. Practice on some scrap!
Thank you! This is helpful!!!
If there's slag, drag!
Its mild steel with a stick just a quick hit with grinder disk or wire wheel is generally enough, you want to get rid of paint and corrosion, push or pull isnt as important you can get good welds either way.. there are a bout 1000 different techniques. but "clean" surfaces and having the settings on the welder somewhat in the correct place will get him 90% there. @thenextlayer setup a some long butt weelds and pritice for a few hours, play with the welder
And you can get magnets to hold the pieces together at various angles like 90° or 45° so the stress of holding the materials is less
Great reply
What BALLS you have to show us your actual process! Well done! The only way to learn is to make lots and lots of mistakes as quickly as you possibly can. You're doing life right.
@@DigitalDoyle As a person with fairly large balls myself, I really appreciate this compliment to the creator.
I'm looking forward to seeing the rest of this video series. A collaboration with CNC Kitchen might be a good idea so you get the best possible filament out after the whole process.
With a VFD, the frequency of AC supplied to the motor can be varied which changes its RPM. Changing the sequence of the 3 phases changes the direction of the motor's rotation.
Though, you can run the motor much slower with a VFD, you won't be able to get a high enough torque to crush plastic reliably. I will highly recommend adding a gearbox.
Shoot… ok I’ll look into one, I guess :(
I don’t know where to source them here though.
I concur
@@thenextlayer you shouldn’t need anything super fancy from the gearbox. You could probably get by with even something like 2 gears with a high enough gear ratio, you could probably get the cut relatively cheaply from a laser cutting / water jet company. Alternatively looking into a planetary gearbox as those can get higher reductions and are typically enclosed.
Maybe you could look into gearboxes for car winches, they look to be similarly sized for the motor you have. Those are meant to get cars unstuck so they have a boat load of torque at a low rpm output, and I’m sure you can find ones with burnt out motors and functional gear boxes on the used market.
@@dpear3 Thankfully someone messaged me and has what I'm looking for - so grateful for viewers on UA-cam...
@@thenextlayer a filament extruder usually has about 17:1 - 32:1 gear box the screw and barrel sise is for any size extruder line the same should be fine for the shredder maybe stay closer to the upper range for touque over RPM
Use a grinder and clean the metal around where you are going to weld and where you put your ground. This will help get a clean contact. Also take some scrap and play with your settings on the welder. That is the main reason you are sticking at the beginning of the weld.
Thank you!!!
Jay is correct and for old box tubing 7018 or 6011 rod is a good all purpose rod more prep more results cheers @@thenextlayer
I am an engineer, welder, tool and die maker, etc with 50+ years experience. And I have actually built shredders such as you are doing though larger and intended to shred metal. I love the project (am also hording plastic waste) and am very impressed by your "just do it" approach. Lots of people talk and day dream about such things but you are actually doing it. So great respect to you. Good that you are using salvaged materials and trying to reduce cost. Purchasing the kit is a good start. However, the welded frame is, as others have mentioned, totally inadequate for the intense vibrations such a machine will produce, even if you could align the motor with the shredder (which is unlikely without precise machining tools and skills). As others suggest, a MIG welder is much easier to learn and grinding the weld area to shiny metal before welding is essential. The frame needs triangulated bracing and adequate welds as many others have said. The motor must have a substantial mechanical speed reduction (and torque multiplication) system by gears, chains/sprockets or belts and pulleys to drive the shredder. Some shredders actually run at high speed but that would just melt the plastic we want to shred. An appropriate gear reduction system that would couple to your motor and your shredder will be a challenge to find and likely quite expensive. A belt or chain speed reduction system will need pulleys or sprockets, bearings, keyed intermediate shafts and additional framework (and guards for safety) with provision for adjusting belt or chain tension. All a bit more complicated but still possible with your drive and ambition. I would be happy to help you with the design of such systems and might duplicate here for my own use.
Another concern you havent mentioned is cleaning the plastic scrap before shredding. 3D printing needs filament that is very pure with nothing that will clog the nozzle. I know the stuff I collect is likely to have bits of debris included that will cause problems if it gets into the final product filament and I am not sure how to eliminate that problem. It may be that filtering the shredded material by melting it and extruding through a 0.4 or smaller "screen" will be required and that seems high maintenence at best.
I checked out precious plastics designs a couple years ago and the shredder was one step the next step was to clean and dry and they have plans up for s make shift washing machine with a pool sand filter for the microplastics, and then like a screened bag to put the shredds in to dry, which is another make shift dryer made from a drying machine
Yeah, you should definitely check out the Precious Plastic project and HUGE community. They have done this for ten years now, and have a set of D.I.Y. plans/parts/machines in project sites all over the world. Including shredders and extruders. This video is totally reinventing the wheel a decade too late.
Well I mean some things are a little out of date at this point there are other systems out there that can run longer and have a better accuracy then b4 but it is still a good reference or starting point
But the process is the same
This comment helps a TON! Thank you! Can you message me on discord? @jonathanalevi
I'm glad I came across this video as I recently was visiting my best friend along with his 11-year old son and both of them had just recently dived into the 3D printing world. I was only a few months ahead of them myself and gladly helped get them all setup to go. During that time, his son proactively saved every single shred of waste filament, and when I asked him about that he said he wanted to save all of it so he could figure out a way to recycle it all at some point (even if he had no idea what that involved). I was impressed by his natural ambition to attempt something extremely useful and helpful on his own and promised to help him with that goal. I think this video series will be extremely helpful to anyone trying to get an affordable recycling solution off the ground, so thanks again for that. I am not a UA-camr by any means, but I do plan on taking video of my design, build, and testing process in order to help anyone else interested in recycling do the same as well, and it may also be a good test case for your overall goal of enabling the average follower to implement something like this!
Amazing video, can't wait to see the rest of the series! Some tips for the welding:
- Be very careful welding any steel that is galvanized, it's fumes are uber bad for you. I'd do it outside if possible and grinding the area you're about to weld will reduce these fumes (though it's difficult to grind the inside of steel bar).
- You appear to be using a 110v welder. To increase it's penetration in the material (and therefore strength), you can pre-heat the metal with something like a propane or map gas torch.
Other than that you're doing great! Keep up the good work :)
Awesome project! Welding tips: Only weld on clean metal (grind or wire brush to bare metal and de-grease with acetone). Wire brush the flux off your previous welds before welding over or next to them (a wire brush and chipping hammer are essential tools, stick welding leaves a flux coating that you do not want to weld over). In the U.S. many steel supplies sell remnant and scrap cuts to the public if you're having trouble finding steel. When beginning to learn welding, practice on flat steel plates to learn how to tack pieces together and lay slow and steady beads in straight lines. Before welding a new project, practice on scrap steel of the same thickness in the same kind of joints, trying different welder settings to see what works best. Beginner stick welding videos on UA-cam are a massive help getting your welding hobby off the ground.
Thank yoU! These are great tips, I'll do all this next time.
cleaning to that level is overkill unless its stainless, ms with stick with literally burn though anything if the arc is started, a decent clean surface should be used though, if your welds are good you don't need a hammer at all the slag peels off and you will finish the surface later.
@@AlexSzymanowski You're not wrong, but neither am I. Have a nice day.
Shalom! Watching you, all the way down from Brazil! Awesome content! Looking forward for new episodes! Thanks and keep it up 👍
Wonderful project you have taken on. I surely shall be following along. As for the welding. It helps a lot to have a scrap piece of grounded metal beside or near where you are welding. Strike your rod on this scrap piece to heat the rod, like to red hot. Then move to your work piece with a hot rod to start. Another thing do NOT be afraid to hold the welding rod with your other dry gloved hand near the end of the rod. I mean hold the rod with your hand to guide you as you start. Once started you can let go of the rod as it gets pretty hot with you hand that close to the weld. But now running the weld is much easier. Thank you for the series.
Stick welders are not good for beginners. You should look into getting a Flux Core MIG welder. These are the type that use a spool of wire. You will get much better welds from this. No rod sticking here. Stick welders are also more used for heavy thick metal where as a MIG can be dialed in to better match thinner metal welding. They also use a wand with a trigger that allows for more precise control of your weld. They are comparable in price to any stick welder. Good luck!
I'm tempted. I didn't wanna spend the money until I knew that I liked welding, but now that I know I do... I think I'll get one.
Good to know, thinking of buying a cheap welder soon myself to learn with.
Kudos for actually making a video about a topic where you do not excel to perfection and showing the shortcomings. I will be following this series with great interest.
As someone who works with VFDs everyday, I'm excited to see this series. It's not often I hear about them outside of work. Your explanation of them was funny, but pretty much right. I encourage everyone to watch a video on how VFDs work, interesting stuff.
This video earned a subscription from me. Enthusiasts that ignore the fact we're giving this planet away when we die are people I refuse to associate with.
I love how open you are about your skill level, the mistakes you made and how you got everything. Awesome video! Cant wait to see more.
Thanks so much!!
Italy mentioned we support and love you guys ❤️
I am happy to see someone trying to make recycling 3D filament affordable. I recently looked into pellet 3D printing and wondered if pellet 3D printing could take the "turn shredded plastic into filament" step out. Sadly pellet 3D printers are not common.
Yes and no. They take the step out of producing expensive filament in the first place. Everybody with a print farm should be looking for pellet printing since the raw material is by a factor of 5-10 less expensive. But for home use, filament is just convenient. You get tight tolerances, good material quality but much less control over color, material properties and price is way worse. My guess would be that pellet extruders will be the next hype after all the other issues like print quality and print speed and also price for FDM machines is basically already solved. Filament is just way way more expensive and thus nobody uses 3D printing for manufacturing unless it´s a very small part count. No automobile manufacturer would ever use FDM printing for mass priduction ever. But with a significant price reduction they may be willing to label their product "gree, recycled great for evirenment bla bla" and 3D print them is they are cheap enough.
This chap and the pellet extruder project may be something you want to keep an eye on
ua-cam.com/video/AS898H9F04s/v-deo.html
You might want to check out Greenboy3D and follow his attempts to create a universal pellet extruder. /watch?v=AS898H9F04s
I'm currently working on the big brother of this project, which wasn't initially big in my drafting phase, but I scored a retired industrial 40mmx1100mm injection machine screw and will be building my machine around it. Initially, I designed and resin printed an injection screw and was going to cast it, but the real screw was an absolute steal and I couldn't resist.
The motor is something that is definitely an item that needs specificity. Single phase motors don't have the option of speed controllers if they are AC powered, so you'll need to use a reduction gearbox, which for the type of motor you'll need, can eclipse the budget of the entire project. I'm a notorious scrap rat, but all of the motors I have aren't anywhere near torquey enough to spin the 20lb chunk of steel screw even with a gearbox, or slow enough with pulleys. A 3-phase with VFD is ideal in both our cases, but as a cost-saving measure, I'm going to try an initial iteration with a pneumatic impact gun and see how it goes since I have it, and it will be amply powerful for the job.
Frames are also a necessary evil, and steel prices have been skyrocketing into the ridiculous territory the last few years. One used to be able to go scrapping for usable steel, but anymore the good, usable stuff gets picked by the pros, and the junk goes straight to the smelters. I've ended up collecting free bed frames for the angle iron steel and welding up what I need.
For injection/extrusion nozzles, you can pick them up extremely cheaply through industrial suppliers, or if you're relatively clever, drill out steel pipe caps. The industrial nozzles can be had as cheaply as $13, where you can thread and tap an insert for making other sizes when the use case comes up. I'm aiming for 10mm so I can use hydraulic lines and connectors, but I'm also aiming to do for injection mold use rather than running filament, but with a tapped insert, I may try my hand at doing custom composite filaments in the near future.
Add: I'd nearly forgotten, but bulk shredders don't necessarily have to look like you might expect. I've had great luck with homebuilt crushers that were designed for rock (I use them for processing graphitized carbon for my graphene products), but you can change the screen size to adapt to the pellet or particle size you want and dump into a sack/bucket, feeding as fast as you want. While grinders and shredders work, they can take a long time to process any sizeable volume runs. With my crusher, it's almost instantaneous and you'd be surprised how little time it takes to have a constant stream shooting out the exit port. 😁
Cant wait for the next episode! I have been wanting to do this for ages...
Massive respect for trying, and OWNING your own inadequacies when welding. It's not a particularly easy skill to master, but the fact that you want to learn, and aren't trying to show people how to weld; let alone are TRYING to humbly learn your own way makes me not even want to critique your work. I'm not a stick welder (I prefer TIG/MIG) but I've done some - I'll throw some tips though, you look like you'll take to it like a duck to water.
- You have an angle grinder already, get a grinding wheel for it and grind the millscale (the grey dull coating) and paint off what you're trying to weld. The cleaner it is, the easier it is to weld. With stick welding, it's a bit more forgiving than MIG/TIG in my opinion for dirty joints but it's not infallible. Experienced guys can kinda weld through anything but they'd clean it if they can.
- You've already got the idea down for starting your arc, drag the stick, don't poke it. I think part of your issue starting is the millscale, but I think you might be lifting the stick too high and too fast. They say it's like "striking a match" but I don't think it's quite that quick. Definitely get some scrap and practice laying a bead down. Once you can scratch start it reliably, it will be so much easier for you to weld.
Keep up the good work, I'm deeply interested in this project myself!
Great job!
I'll take ugly and functional over pretty and useless every single time.
The alignment of the motor and cutter shafts looks like it's probably close enough that the coupler will be able to mate them. If not, that old crafting technique of "a shim" under the motor will get you through :)
Looking forward to seeing the finished result!
Biggest tip for improving your welding technique is set aside some time for practice. Nobody starts out with perfect technique. You got this 💪
Love the concept of this series and its got me thinking if i could do something similar. Love the fact your just going for it yourself chopping, welding sourcing and most importantly making mistakes, brilliant! keep including errors makes the whole series more real.
I've been on this road and after I wasted some money I ended up buying a plug and play extrusion line.
Because of the interest in recycling, I would note that a real easy place to get a warm drive gear reduction would be the steering box of an old vehicle that might also be destined for the scrap heap. If it does not have a rack and pinion then it will have a worm drive gear in a small metal box.
Thanks for this video, Jonathan! Filament recycling is something I've been actively researching for years now. Exciting stuff!
1. Clean your metal
2. Stick is overkill, flux-core is amazing for beginners and people who don't want to deal with gas containers
3. I'm going to recommend using new metal, it's always better to KNOW....TRULY KNOW....what you are welding with. For your success, your learning, and your confidence in your HIGH POWER FINGER SHREDDING MONSTER!!!!!!
4.Use you new flux-core welder to build a welding table. It's good practice and an important tool.
5. Get clamps.
6. Get right angle magnets.
7. Machinist squares are not good tools for welding. Get a larger square, one with no corner so it can accommodate a fillet weld. You need the length to sample a longer segment since a small measuring tool can only reference a small area.
Links to products? Thanks!!
If I post links, they'll e deleted, but I will try.
@@thenextlayer Yeah, the links got deleted.
@@coreyfro Can you message me on Discord? jonathanalevi
@@thenextlayer I am decept-qi-kons
not sure if it was just the camera angle but you need to make sure your shredder shaft center is as close to center of the motor shaft. this will help save your bearings on both sides.
Finally something education & entertaining on youtube. I feel like the whole of yt and the internet has been a hole but this is useful!!! Great work on the video and keep it up man ❤❤
Awesome video brother! I love seeing people try new things like you welding! It's both exciting and stressful in normal environments much less your current atmosphere.
One of the best suggestions I can give you with the welding is getting all the paint off the steel first. This start and stop popping is because of that. Paint is effecting your ground.
Clean metal always wells better. Keep up the great work sir!
Jeremy
Ever since I got into 3D printing, I've been hoping to recycle my prints. This definitely makes it seem attainable.
It won´t for a long time. There are all sorts of issues. Just the price will kill it for home use. I am still waiting for a good pellet extruder instead.
Awesome! Love the determination! Looking forward for the rest of the video series! Thanks Jonathan!
The day a filament-recycling product comes to the market that is affordable/idiot-proof will be one of the best days of my life.
[not that I need an idiot-proof one, I just want something I don’t have to spend time tinkering with. I already tinker with enough things lol.]
I commend you for taking on every aspect of this project and outsourcing as little as possible! I’m sure it will turn out great
Are you? You’re sure? That makes one of us…!
A VFD takes ac power converts it to dc so you can control the speed then converts it back to ac.
Most of those motors can also be wired for high speed and low speed.
To make the motor reverse direction take any two of the three wires going from the vfd to the motor and swap them.
As a certified welder, you have a long way to go... However i can mention some things i saw.
Your rods are either sticking because of too low of voltage, shakey hands, or improper striking
Low voltage is easy to fix, just up it til things run smoothly
Shakey hands are a bit harder to fix, but a little practice hack can help get you used to the stinger : dont be afraid to use your offhand to hold the rod when youre getting your arc started, dont hold it too close to the tip, but u can use your hand to hold the rod steady when starting your arc(please only do this with very thick gloves)
The improper striking is another easy fix, generally with a new rod, you want to drag quickly from the middle of your future bead towards where you want your bead to start. If youre trying to start an arc after your rod has already stuck, be sure to cut off any exposed metal, you want to flux to cover the diameter around the tip of your rod.
I saw that a lot of your welds were splattering a lit. You just have to clean your metal before welding (especially if theres oaint, you can harm your lungs by breathign funes generated by welding on paint or other chemical coatings)
And of course watch some UA-cam videos on welding techniques, the technique can vary based on steel type and what rids your using, so be sure to check some lut and practice following guides.
Oh and when making a weld, watch the brightest part, it should look like a little yellow or orange slime ball, that is your puddle and thats what you want to manipulate when tryign to get a good looking weld, try to make it dence back and forth between the two lines that will form the edge of your weld, and keep it moving. You dont want it to sit in one spot
Way better advice than I gave 👍
@@TheSasquatchjones nah you had a good point, mig would probably be better for this. I also forgot to mention that he might not be giving enough space between his rod and material, which can cause it to stick.
the guy from precious plastic (dave) now has another youtube channel : Project Kamp
Oh snap I’ll check it out thanks
On the welding bit, your electrode sticking is a normal phenomenon. The trick isnt maintaining contact, but maintaining the right gap. Adjusting your "heat" will help with penetration. Maintaining a steady arc is another crucial thing. Starting and stopping with something that contains flux like a welding rod or flux core wire, it melts the slag that covers your weld and mixes it in with the metal creating inclusions or porosity in the weld. One other thing, used upcycled repurposed etc is amazing, however, where you are making your weld MUST be cleaned. For one, it creates impurities or weak spots in the weld and it makes it harder to steike and maintain an arc. By no means am i saying dont use used or older materials, it just takes a few moments extra work. I love your content, im glad you and yours are doing alright there. I appreciate getting to see most of these projects
I like the term babysit the filament, I used the same term when I was talking to a friend about my anycubic Kobra 2 neo, I've since sorted the fault and have a lot less wasted prints , I don't have to babysit it anymore but I'm still new to printing
You didn't mention it in the video, but have you seen the new DIY filament extruder option that Stefan at CNC Kitchen tried? This might be an economical option for part 2 if you haven't already got something figured out. Also, a few of the other UA-cam channels that have tried this have noticed that if you use a filament cutter to shred your first round of extruded filament, the second time you run it through the extruder it yields a much more consistent diameter. Just some thoughts for part 2! Can't wait!!
Stay tuned! In the next video we deal with extrusion
I've been super interested in responding my scraps, especially since getting the x1c recently. Love what you're doing. Looking forward to the rest of this build.
Using a VFC for reducing the rotational speed while creating a 3-phase power signal from a 1-phase wall plug is nice. However, you don't gain any torque from using a VFC. In fact, you will be overloading the motor torque-wise. Also, because of the very low motor speed (est 1..2 rotations per second), the built-in fan inside the motorhead will hardly generate any cooling, overheating the motor even more.
You really need to insert a gearbox between the motor and the shredder.
Secondly, a remark on the frame. You use rectangular frame geometry without any shear supports/stiffeners. Without shears (creating a triangular frame geometry), you will be overloading the welds and creating a weak, feeble frame with lacking rigidity. I expect the frame to fail and crash within hours of operation.
Thirdly, a remark on the shaft coupling between the motor and the shredder. You have chosen to use a rigid shaft coupling. This is an absolute no-go for this type of low-precision assembly. It causes a lot of friction inside the bearings, resulting in torque loss, excessive wear of the bearings, and long-term fatigue-based shaft failure. You need to use a flex coupling instead of a rigid coupling. There are many different types of flex coupling (with different degrees of freedom, different values for the allowable misalignment, and different torque capabilities).
I was just going to add a fan on the back…
But ok, where can I source a gearbox like that in Israel, lol…
Just saw the other comments, too. I always wondered why people do the triangular geometry. Ok… if it fails, I’ll redo it… can you link me to an example of what you mean!?
Also, dang. Didn’t know about flex couplings. How do I find one with the right diameters? I’m starting to think that maybe I really do need a gear box.
@@thenextlayer Power (kW) = Torque (N.m) x Speed (RPM) / 9.5488. Your motor can deliver about 7 N.m. If you only run the motor at 50 RPM and not the 2900 RPM your motor can only deliver 0.04 KW. Its not going to work without a gearbox. So you can run the motor at 2900 RPM and get 2.2Kw out off the motor.
@@thenextlayer Google lovejoy coupling, it's what we use at my work
יא מלך, איזה מגניב לגלות שאתה ישראלי חחח קניתי מדפסת לפני כמה ימים ואני עף על התוכן שלך
DUDE! I love this video idea! I have kept all my waste since I started 3D printing in the hopes of recycling it. I could really use and learn from your experiences before i spend thousands of dollars on machinery I don't know how to use
Let’s do it!!!
I tried something like this a a few years ago now. unfortunately it just tured in to a massive money pit. but i am excited to see what you come up with.
Uh oh... lol I'll do my best
Should check places like automation direct for the motor, gearbox and VFD. Decent quality and prices. Also, as someone who works with motors, I would pick something with a 56C frame with a hollow shaft gearbox and probably wouldn't go above 1/2 horse for a shredder.
I’m based in Israel…
@@thenextlayer For some reason I thought they ship to Israel. Their website shows TOPCO Control & Automation LTD as a distributor in Israel.
I love this! I've been eyeballing all the things required to start recycling my own filament and it's pretty overwhelming. This may actually be what it takes to get me to do it myself!
You definitely need to look up the Precious Plastic community. They have everything you need.
Basic breakdown for motor selection:
AC motor rpms are determined by the frequency of the supply current. In the US that is 60 hertz. VFDs convert the AC into DC and then back into AC at whatever frequency is needed to get the motor speed that is required. They generally also have motor protections built into them as well.
For phases one of the other ways to be sure with some of the crappier listings is that 3 phase is generally 480 volts (or 460 depending on the manufacturer).
Look for something that is the same voltage as whatever you are plugging into your wall outlets to make things easy. Some motors have dual voltage ratings. These can be wired to run on 3 phase or single phase. It isn't difficult to change, but if you aren't comfortable with doing this and don't have a friend that can do it for you find something else.
The frame tells you about the motor mount. The numbers basically tell you the spacing for the mounting holes and any letters after that will give information about the motor shaft. The letters shouldn't be a huge issue for this kind of thing. Frame usually doesn't change within a given horsepower, but it can. So you will need to know it if you ever change out the motor (this should be on the name plate of the motor).
Glad your taking this project on too I've been slowly working on it as well the past few years, I also bought a motor not realizing I needed a slow rpm motor, picked up a 1 hp motor that goes 1800 rpm....
Been looking into gear boxes have a line up on a couple but they can be expensive was looking into a vfd as well, but glad I also read about it not really giving you more torque, just less rpm, I would definetly look for the right gearbox for your motor would not like to get an underrated one as the gearbox or the motor will fry after awhile and have to replace it again I will try to find the video I was watching on this
ua-cam.com/video/LZA-kEpQgNM/v-deo.htmlsi=nbP0iSxp5OoOyuHn
Another video of making a plastic shredder same idea but there's a spot in the video that talks about what too look for in a gearbox for your motor,
Hope that is helpful and wish you luck look forward to see the extrusion process you decide
Stay tuned for the next video, lots of hard-won lessons...
Gotta learn somehow
Hey Jonathan, totally dig this video moving towards recycle/repurposing resources. I may be repeating a few comments seeing 257 and counting hoping this comment brings it all together.
Being a safety kinda guy I'm going to point out a few things that will be crunchy, but all in good intentions and care about your safety. AND I do have a suggestion on your gear reduction issue.
Safety
1. The box tubing looks to be galvanized. IF so the off gassing is very dangerous. even so I highly recommend ventilating any off gassing created by welding. Even with a respirator, that gas has to be evacuated. A small hood set next to the work with a strong couple of fans with vent hose pulling the gasses out to a nearby window is better than nothing.
2. Using Galvanized metals, any metal needs to be ground clean for the welds to take, In the case of Galvy, I'd grind it a good 6~8" back from the area to be welded. or wrap a wet rag a ways back from the weld to contain the heat.
3. The area you're welding in looks very unsafe, your rug to the side could easily catch fire, not sure about. Welding will launch molten metal drops amazing distances. Also get a fire extinguisher, it's a must have.
4. Nicholas has a good advice on welding rod technique. If you're planning more welding get a MIG, much easier and they are so much more affordable these days.
5. If you're welding sheet or thin metal clamp a piece of Copper on the back side to help prevent blow through.
Ok on the gear reduction.
A. Not sure if you have access to this supplier but great resource for what you need for this project. www.mcmaster.com/
B. If you can't find a gear box consider a chain gear reduction. You can save yourself some space by having the motor offset from the grinder. Easy to figure out your gear reduction, using a chain is solid! just be sure to put a chain guard over that. eats fingers real fast, also helps keeping debris out of the chain. Best of all you get the motor back up into a better torque range.
Stay safe over there.
Best
Jim
Oh I forgot to add, by using a sprocket and chain you'll solve your mounting and alignment issue. You can mount the motor to the 1/4" (6mm) plate, I'd suggest welding a bracket to the frame, bolt the bracket to the plate that holds the motor, The plate you'll need to stiffen on either side of the motor plate to stiffen it. PM me if you can I can do a sketch for ya. Shouldn't take any time to do it.
GREAT tips. How do I know if metal is galvanized? I turned on fans opened windows, as well as a vent... but I do want to be safe.
Enjoy your permanent ban, Prints of Darkness!
@@thenextlayer The Galvanizing has a grey finish, chalky to the touch feeling. The finish will chips off to reveal the metal below. Most chainlink fences and round piping have Galvanized finishes. So you could compare that.
@@thenextlayer banned?
If you could get your hands on a mig welder with gas of 75/25 argon mix it will make your life alot easier. No slag to knock off and can weld alot of different metal thicknesses with just messing with voltage over trying to have the right rods. Great video and channel! Don't let the uninformed get you down, what you are going through is terrible and then people act like youre the aggressor
YEAH! Let’s make this a social movement!! I love thé idea of small scale and community recycling
This is something I have been keeping tabs on for a while, an easy way to process the various plastics
Look up Precious Plastic. A community driven project that already id this an spread it world wide. This video is literally reinventing the wheel a decade later.
Cleaning a surface of grease and letting a good pool of heat gather with your welds can make them stronger, you can use the rod to guide the pool slowly and that pool can then be guided by walking the weld. If you aren't comfortable walking the weld then vertical down or downhill welding can give you a clean looking weld that's reasonably sturdy for that thickness of metal. Practice and experimentation can be rather rewarding.
Can’t wait to see the next video in the series! Keep up the good work man
I love what your doing. Keep up the great content. I can't wait to see the end results
Hi there, I totally forgot where is your video where you show the purge line bin, can't find it anymore, thank you
As someone who went down the "self taught" road for welding I can recommend a few tips. 1 don't start with stick especially on thin ish material. Its very hard when learning to not either burn through or just have cold welds that are worthless. Starting with a flux core mig welder is by far your best bet in terms of getting good results without having someone more experienced standing over you telling you exactly whats wrong. Also as a hobbyist your not likely to be welding anything much over 3/8 thick but you are likely to be doing alot in the 1/8 or thiner range where mig shines over stick in alot of ways as stick tends to be better for thick not so clean material. 2 It doesn't matter what your welding the cleaner it is the better. If theres any rust or paint it will make your life hell and you'll never get good strong welds. 3 This kinda goes for learning anything but watch as many videos about welding as possible. People like welding tips and tricks or This old tony are amazing and you'll definitely improve by watching and learning as much as humanly possible on the subject. 4 If stick is all you have to work with get yourself a thick plate preferably 3/8 or 1/2 in and just run beads on it over and over again. Don't bother trying to stick two pieces together at first just practice making good looking consistent beads with no porosity. I found when learning cheating the settings up to the hotter end for the size rods and thickness of metal makes it alot easier to strike and maintain a good arc. Obviously this will generally cause a bit of under cutting and on thiner metal, burn throughs, but control comes with time and practice so its a worthy trade off while learning. Hope this helps!
You can't change the torque of a motor with only a VFD. The gearbox is the torque multiplier. You need to mechanically change speed to change torque. A 5kw motor at 50hz 1800rpm, being supplied 25hz makes it basically a 2.5kw motor 900rpm. The torque calculates out the same. Keeping it at 50hz, at 1800rpm, and using gearing, belts, chain to go to 900rpm doubles the torque. VFDs are great for controlling speed, and using it as a soft start.
I sell bearings, motors, conveyors, etc.
With stick welding, you want to strike the stick to get it started, then put the tip where you want to start your weld. Hold it 1-2mm above the metal for a hair over half a second, then you want to move the tip of your stick away from the weld spot you just made (it should be a puddle of metal), but in the direction your weld will be going. Only need to move it about 1/2 an inch away from the existing weld for 1/2 a second then move it back to the bottom of the existing weld that you just did. Repeat this, you should see overlapping weld puddles CCCCCC, kinda like that, but obviously better overlapped than simply typing repeating C's.
From my experience working as a farmer before, you might pick up a mig machine It is much easier to mig than rod welding, don't worry about the mig setting just adjust it until it sounds like bacon in the pan
If you pull this off where all other youtubers have failed it'd be a bloody miracle .... I shall hold my breath! :D
Failed? Like this UA-camr you seems to be unaware of the Precious Plastic project. They have hundreds of places world wide.
In a super basic way, you can think of VFD like a PWM fan/LED. It's in the name, Variable Frequency Drive, it's just making a modified sign wave/square wave to switch the polarity of the electromagnets to achieve the desired rotation speed. I am also going to take a stab in the dark and say that the slower longer and square pulses are going to generate more heat than a raw pure sign wave, so, add a k-type probe and a fan if it gets near its design max temp to keep it alive longer.
if your a hobbyist. While stick welding can get you allot of penetration and control. A cheap FCAW (flux core arc weld (sometimes called MIG (but its different)). Should be able to handle the metal thicknesses you are working with. Its also waaay easier to learn. If you have the money real MIG (metal inert gas) is even better for you as the lack of slag makes clean up and mess a lot less. you aren't gonna be welding over 1/2 plate with MIG. and you 10000% wont be welding anything that thick with 110/120v no matter what. Keep working on it for sure. Gotta suck until you get better at any skill.
PS: Clean Work makes the Dream work... 90% prep 10% weld. Clean base metal makes it much easier to both control arc and get clean welds. But past that grinder and paint makes the welder what he aint.
Look for a star coupling for getting the drive shafts connected, normally you want in any mechanical joint a soft material that can wear before any of your mayor components, the coupling has a rubber section that is easily replaceable and helps with minor deviation and vibration.
Lol, that 2:5 split on the 2 shredders.
As an ex sheet metal worker for welding I would suggest a MIG welder for beginners. You can get gasless and also gas MIG, easiest is gasless, but the welds aren't as good, as the gas acts as a flux enabling you to get a better weld. These machines are more expensive than an arc welder, but worth the extra cost. I have both and I rareley use the arc welder.
Awesome. Literally talking to my friend today about inventing one of these!
Just came across this video after slowly beginning my own journey to see how I could make a recycling solution. I am a hobbyist, but that doesn't mean not taking the generated waste seriously. I might just team up with a local makerspace to see if we can up a recycling center here (4th largest city in Denmark). Thanks for taking this problem serious.
Can’t wait for next weeks episode!
I probably would just drill holes into steel and bolt everything together with 90 Degree steel angles instead of welding (it will go to the corner with between so probably doesn't matter if it's welded or not)
And you can disassemble everything if needed
Armchair steelworker here: it kind of looks like the steel is zinc coated. I think the welding might work better if you grind the beams back a bit to expose the clean steel. But hey, I've never even held a welder so what do I know :D
Yes. And in addition the fumes from the zinc are pretty toxic.
Good call
Little tip: if you will add an angled (diagonal?) stiffener to every side, your frame will be a lot more stable.
This strategy is quite common for woodworking workbenches.
Thanks I might do that
Ok so there is few major issues with this setup, first while it’s true you can lower the motor speed with a VFD but that motor won’t be able to handle all the torque as that is limited by the motor physical design, second that poor base will break apart as soon as you turn on the motor 😅 you need frame between the motor and the shredder that can handle all this bending forces.
Can you elaborate? A lot of people have said the frame will break... Do you mean I need to add a cross-bar in the middle, or what?
@@thenextlayer
for every action there is a reaction, when the motor turns the shaft one of two things will happen, either the shredder will run or the frame will break and the motor will start to rotate around the shaft depending on what is weaker the shredder torque demand or your frame. What I would suggest is have maybe a plywood as common baseplate between the motor and shredder (maybe you will need more than one layer, I didn’t do the math on it 🙃) you can look up pump baseplates for some inspiration and further understanding. You will also find how they do shaft alignment that also is very important for your investments lifespan 😁.
I really think this is a gap in the market that all the big printer brands are missing. A prusa/Bambu style ease of use mass produced machine for this would be amazing.
Magnetic squares that you can turn on and off make set up a lot easier and they're not very expensive
Thanks I’m on it!
Love your project! You spoke very well in the presentation. Couple of thoughts - you're going to want to make sure to line up the output of the motor to the shredder shaft as perfectly as you can. Try to fab some provisions to allow some adjustment for the shredder or the motor. Then use a flexing mechanical coupling. The VFD looks like it may be sized too small for single phase input to 3 phase output plus wanting high torque. Granted, you may be limited by amperage available at your studio so you may not be able to run a larger VFD. This project may end up needing a gearbox for a reduction to get the torque needed.
Bit late to this video, but I’ve been planning on choosing a filament recycling method to reuse expensive leftover plastics from various war games to print new models.
For the shredding consistency, one very consistent tool for grinding is coffee grinders. A decent coffee grinder is very uniform is the grind size, and will last much longer than an old blender. Even cheap ones from Amazon are impressively good at grinding old printed parts, however they are usually fairly small, making it time consuming.
Just came across your channel through this video and I really like your videostyle.
You just earned my sub 👍
Love from Türkiye❤
We are going to need a video about welding, what you've learned and your journey :)
Good idea!
Word of caution, if you ever plan to weld galvanized steel in your projects, use a fine filtered mask in a well ventilated area.
When you weld galvanized steel, the fumes are toxic and increases chances for cancer drasticly.
I love this project and really hope it succeeds.
How do I know if it’s galvanized?
@@thenextlayer Very often the surface looks like this:
eoncoat.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/shutterstock_101878708.jpg
Also, when you weld it, it turns very white around the welding spot (like it rapidly grows a fungus) and makes a white smoke.
Basically, galvanization is coating the surface of the metal with zinc and small amounts of lead.
DC motors may cost more depending on selection, but your options for reliable speed control and torque are going to be greater in a residential situation. 1ph to 3ph VFD's are usually very small and pretty expensive for being 2HP or below. Just some thoughts from someone who works in industrial automation and also does hobbyist electronics. Check places like mouser to narrow down your potential parts based on your physical requirements. Cross reference from there for domestic pricing if available where you live.
I recommend 3D printing parts and re enforcing them with the metal you are using.
You could also use 3D printed parts to hold the parts together while you tack them into place to ensure a perfect square. They may melt as a result of the heat, but the point is to hold everything in place while making the welds.
Damn, that's a really smart idea.
22:10 were those square tubes zinc plated? That looks plated to me. For future knowledge grand all plating off an area before welding. Zinc plating is highly toxic when welding.
As a retired fabricator, my welding advice would be to try to get hold of a small MIG welder. If you can run a hot glue gun, you can mig or wire weld. Seriously a lot of people spend years learning to arc weld, if you are a DIY/hobby welder it's not worth it, try to get a MIG welder. Mig stands of Metal Inert Gas.
You need to clean and prep your welding surface with acetone and make sure it’s completely dry, you also need to adjust your output settings as this will drastically change your welds and how they come out. Also you want to start with a flick and once you’re going you need to keep it about 1/4 inch away from your material and I like to do cursive E patterns but you can figure out what works best for you. Thanks for this informational video I really appreciate it
Your ground has to be on a well cleaned and maybe hit it with the grinder so it’s nice and fresh metal. The best connection will give you the best results
When you’re using a stick welder, you want to strike the arc anywhere around the part and then run your bead go forward them back a little forward them back a little or you can use circular motions and just push down to fill it in
Pleeeeease buy a mig welder. You can get very small ones this days. I tested even the Lidl version and it welds so much better than electrode( for newbies like us). The welds look from another world on mig compared to electrode. It is much faster and neater.
You can use flux so you do not need welding gas
I’m gonna order one today thanks
@@thenextlayer i tested 80 dollars version and had very good results. You can find flux wire only that usually have only small wire spools and are very light. Of course you have to test first but the learning curve is way better than electrode
The number one thing that’s gonna help you out with welding is a clean the surfaces first that means take a grinder, grind everything off of them before you put them together
Great video, congrats on 100k btw. Also I just recently started posting my designs on printables and I want to ask how do you generate traffic to your printables profile?
Thanks x2!!
Your approach is pretty much the same as everyone else does it. I cannot help but feel that there must be another option. Having to cut everything up in to tinny pieces is an expensive and time consuming process. Someone needs to research to see if it's possible to just dump all the material in to a metal vat with holes in the bottom, heat the vat up so the material becomes molten and then use hydraulic pressure to press down on the material. A spinning blade below the holes would then cut the extruded material up in to pellet sized pieces. I don't know if this process would work, but if it did it would cut out many stages, and at least someone would have tried something different. I would make for a great video, even if it fails.
excited to see this series thru.
Brilliant video, thanks. It's all coming together baby!
Bro! Guerrilla-Recycling is not a combination of words I ever thought would go together... dude, that's hardcore.
LOL I love this term. Nice one
I have been considering buying what is called an oil press. Its used to extract oils from nuts and things. It has an extruder screw and a heater and hopper to feed in the nuts. It seems like it would be a fairly cheap way to convert to an extruder. It has all the parts already for the most part and its between 100 and 300$. I have not seen anyone do this yet, but it seems like a straightforward way to get a very cheap exteuder to me.
Living in the Netherlands myself (and have some friends that also have 3d printers) this might actually be interesting!
Great video! I live close to tel aviv, how can I join the weekend recycling program?
great project, im keeping all my wasted 3d prints for the day i could afford a recycling machine.
Go to Precious Plastic and find a collection center near you on their world map.
Welding inside on what looks like a wood floor is pretty neat to see...
😁