How to Reuse Waste From 3D Printing

If you have a 3D printer it is very likely that in some time you will have quite enough plastic waste. It may be damaged prints, supports and all the skirts. Because I am little bit lazy, I was putting all this waste to a small box, and one day it was totally full. So I decided not to just throw it away, I remelted it and cast it. I had no idea what should I cast, so I used my hand as a form. As you can see, I did't estimate the volume of plastic waste very good, so my cast is not perfect (just to make this clear, I do have all 5 fingers on both of my hands).

Step 1: Things You Will Need

You will need:

• some plastic waste
• enough sand to make simple casting form
• pot and cooking spoon. Just for your information: use some old stuff, because you won't be able to remove that melted plastic off the pot and stirring
• some fire. I suggest using some smaller fire, so you can easily manipulate with the pot and mix it.

When you gather all the stuff, just put it on fire and from time to time mix the plastics until it's liquid enough.

Step 2: Casting

It is very simple. Once you find the plastic liquid enough you can pour it into the sand form. I had this idea of adding pieces of white filament while the cast was cooling down. You can basically add anything you like.

I hope that I gave you an inspiring idea about reusing the plastic waste from your 3D printer. I will be very happy to see some of your creations.

Good luck ;)