Have a standard Filabot setup with an EX6. Used an industrial granulator with a 4mmx4mm screen to process soda bottles (PET). Goal is to make 1.75 mm filament. Having a hard time producing filament thick enough to use in the Filabot pelletizer. Best I’ve been able to achieve is 1.3mm…
Has anyone had success in making usable filament using granulated PET (from plastic bottles), the 2.85 mm nozzle, and the standard screw? Getting ready to throw in the towel on the setup and buying the higher compression screw (and a 1.75mm 3x longer nozzle).
The granulator is creating a flake? I had to add new pellets during the first processing of the flake to get better feed characteristic, but I still had to sometimes cram a broom handle down the feed throat. To process flake properly, you need a grooved barrel to increase friction with the flake, so it doesn’t spin with the screw (fail to advance forward) or use a twin screw. The EX6 is not ideal for flake.
No, in my experience extruding the flake is a feed issue (i.e., the material would rather stick to the screw and spin around instead of advancing forward). You need to increase the lubricity of your screw (make sure you are using a chrome screw and perhaps teflon coat it) or the roughness of the barrel.
Have you tried mixing in new material as previously mentioned? It is very unlikely that you will get 100% regrind to work. I discuss this here in my video: https://youtu.be/jXY1EygE4R8?si=P9-YlMACJBy_ZzXb
ok! We’ll be more consistent with agitating the feed material. If we can get it thick enough, perhaps we can generate some pellets and then add those pellets back into the granulated plastic.