Printing on a modern 3D-printer is made with the use of a plastic filament, produced from various materials. Quality filament for 3D printer is created from such supplies and materials as ABS, PLA, and HIPS. The use of high quality raw materials allows manufacturers to create unique operational and technical properties of the materials which can be used to make a variety of things.
Liz Havlin, the businesswoman from the American city of Seattle is known for working on launching the project for the new extruder that produces filament for 3D printer out of recycled plastic granules.
According to Havlin, the new device, which is called Legacy will help to reduce plastic waste, contaminating the environment and may become a new source of income for poor residents of developing countries. The device itself was developed by 83-year-old Seattle inventor Hugh Lyman and originally was called the Lyman Filament Extruder II. It is a small platform, which has a nozzle of the automatic wind-up mechanism and a pin with the coil wrapping the ready yarn. Thus, once the coil is filled, the user simply cuts the thread and sets the spool on his 3D printer. The thickness of the finished yarn depends on the diameter of the nozzle, installed on the extruder. According to the inventor, by using the device, the user can save up to 80 percent of the material for 3D printer. Thus, the coil of plastic filament costs about $50 per kilogram, while the acquisition of kilo of plastic granules and independent manufacturing of these threads will cost just $10.
The inventor built the extruder from parts with a total value of $250. In fact, this device with open source code can be built by anyone. But Havlin proposed to run on the Kickstarter a project to raise funds in the amount of 30 thousand dollars to release fully ready-to-use extruders, also with open source codes. The participants of the project, investing $499, could receive the Legacy basic kit that includes everything required for the manufacture of filaments for a 3D printer.
