Design And Fabrication of Plastic Recycling Machine

Project Title

Design And Fabrication of Plastic Recycling Machine

Project Area of Specialization 3D/4D PrintingProject Summary

The title of our project is "Design and Fabrication of Plastic Recycling Machine" . Given that we live in a world where industrialization is at its peak. Advancements are being made at such a rapid pace that everything is being done to figure out the best possible way to manufacture things that are reliable, strong and easily manufactured. As a result, plastic has emerged to be the cheapest and highly reliable. Its properties can be altered according to one's needs. Unfortunately, the safety of our planet is not the prime concern of our industries. Companies have become so focused on beating their rivals by producing better and more; that they have completely ignored the negative effects caused by making plastic. Plastic itself has a shelf life of more than 500 years whereas it is used on average for just a few days. That means that the plastic that is being made today will be here well after several generations will have passed. We know that companies will not stop producing plastic given all the financial benefits and profits that are associated with it. So, how do we protect our environment from the excessive production of plastic which ultimately ends up at sea shores and destroys aquatic life? The answer is "Recycling". The only way that we can stop the influx of plastic is to use the already present plastic waste and putting this waste plastic to good use by recycling it. So, this is why we have decided to get this project underway. The plastic recycling machine we are manufacturing converts used plastic bottles into usable 3D printer filament. Our machine consists of a shredder and an extruder. The shredder takes the waste plastic bottles and miscellaneous household items as input; and converts them into very tiny pieces of plastic. These are then fed into the extruder through the hopper. The extruder has several band heaters in place to heat and melt the plastic. It also has an extrusion screw which is basically a mechanism to push the molten plastic forward. All of the motivation for this project comes from the fact that we want a clean and green environment.

Project Objectives

The objectives of our project are as follows:

• To reduce plastic waste in our environment.
• To inspire the people around us to create more machines like these.
• To create the machine through the cheapest means possible.
• To design the machine in a way such that it is attractive to the human eye and can be marketed properly.

Project Implementation Method

A lot of planning has been done in order to complete this project. We have compiled a series of tasks that we shall accomplish in order to complete the project:

1. Using principles of engineering and statistics to figure out the best dimensions that result in the cheapest and highly durable machine. This is a very important first step because every other step will be influenced by the nature of the dimensions of our project.
2. Model the project in a 3D modeling software such as Solidworks. This will give us an idea of what the final product will look like.
3. Doing a market survey to purchase the parts and components required for our two machines.
4. Figuring out which of the manufacturing processes can be done in our own university's workshop and which ones we will need to have manufactured from an outside source such as a manufacturer at our local market.
5. Giving the job of manufacturing to the engineer that takes the least amount of money. 
6. Doing the final assembly of the two machines and applying spray paint to make them more attractive and appealing.
7. Compiling a report that thoroughly encompasses every aspect of our project.

Benefits of the Project

As our Project deals with the Recyling of Plastic and then utlizing this Plastic to manufacture 3D printing filament,which then later can be used for 3D printing, so by recyling plastics the first and foremost benfit is reduction in plastic waste which is a blessing in disguise for the environment. As we know that shelf life of plastic is numerous years and most of the Plastics, like Plastic Bags and plastic botlles are used for couple of hours and then thrown away,hence adding to the environment pollution.

Another benefit of recycling the Plastic is that if we recycle plastic then there would be less demand ,need of virgin plaatic and there would be less plastic production and hence less natural resources would be consumed for the producton of Plastic.

So all in all we can say that, our Project will have an positive impact on the enviroment, there would be a bit less plastic waste and then we can have our own local 3D printing Filament for 3D printing

Technical Details of Final Deliverable

So our final delieverable ,our final project would have two major parts;

1. Shredder
2. Extruder

So it would be combination of two sub machines, shredder machine and extrusion machine.

Shredder would use plastic bottles ,or an other plastic recycle materials,and as the name suggest it will shredd plastic into smaller pieces. After the plastic is shredded,it will be fed into the extrusion machine, the shrdded plastic is fed into hopper ,from where it goes into the the barrel where plastic would be  melted by the aid of band heaters,and then molten plastic will come out of the nozzle of the extruder in the form of 3D printer Fialment.

Final Deliverable would be a plastic recycling Machine,converting plastic into 3D printer Filament.

Final Deliverable of the Project Hardware SystemCore Industry ManufacturingOther IndustriesCore Technology 3D/4D PrintingOther TechnologiesSustainable Development Goals Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure, Climate ActionRequired Resources

Item Name	Type	No. of Units	Per Unit Cost (in Rs)	Total (in Rs)
			Total in (Rs)	78000
Band Heaters	Equipment	4	2000	8000
Motor with Universal Gear System (2nd Hand)	Equipment	1	17000	17000
Extrusion Screw and Barrel	Equipment	1	10000	10000
Pid Temperature Controllers	Equipment	2	1500	3000
Shredder Blades, Shafts, Spacers, Barrings	Equipment	1	20000	20000
Frame Work (Angle Profiles,Sheet Metal,Hexagon Bar,Square Tubes,etc)	Equipment	1	7000	7000
Electronics (Thermocouples,SSR,Power Cords,Power Switches,etc)	Equipment	1	5000	5000
Manufacturing,Welding, Paint Job,Travelling Etc)	Miscellaneous	1	8000	8000