Integrated Open-Source 3D Printer for Sustainable Future

The integrated 3D printer aims to achieve the goal of taking recyclable plastics, shredding and extruding plastics into filament, and printing with a 3D printer for a variety of applications, from disaster relief to replacement medical device parts in impoverished areas. Another main goal is to have this printer have completely open-sourced parts and hardware.

This project will create the system level detailed design including the manufacturing plan for the proposed integrated 3D printer. More specifically, the system level design will involve fully designing all relevant subsystems, namely the waste processing subsystem, the printer subsystem, and the library subsystem. To maximize acceptability of this product by different communities around the world, a simple HMI design will be implemented to make it easier to use by the end user. By designing a system that successfully integrates all three subsystems (recycling, printer, print library) into one start-to-finish process that takes a certain plastic waste and creates a printed part, this project will uniquely serve needy communities in managing waste and gaining access to useful products that they might not have access to. The system level design choice will aim for innovative designs whilst reducing cost as much as possible. Cost considerations will be taken during research and design.

The overall project goals include researching waste, prototyping, and testing sub-systems and then integrating sub-systems to build the integrated 3D-printer. Three sub-teams will ensure the project goals are met. An electrical sub-team aspires to develop an open-source, temperature monitoring system that interacts with a simple HMI platform. This sub-team also aspires to install sensors to regulate extruding temperatures and printing temperatures. Power supplies for the printer will be researched and designed on this team. The waste processing sub-team aspires to take certain plastic wastes and process them to extrudable printing material using an integrated system. Finally, the printer sub-team aspires to research open-source 3D printers and design additional components that accept printing material from the waste processing components.