Sir Cular
It is impossible to imagine our everyday life without plastic. However, the way we deal with it is more than questionable. The material exists for hundreds of years, but we use it for only a few minutes – and then it pollutes our ecosystems.
In my internship at Precious Plastic Portugal, I made it my mission to transform recycled plastic into a versatile resource – 3D filament. This way plastic can be melted and 3D printed into various new products infinitely. That’s the principle of circularity.
The 3D filament machine is placed behind an ordinary extruder (from Precious Plastic). Sir Cular has a cooling system, two pullers, a sensor, and a winding system. Various parameters can be adjusted manually via a control panel.
The fans cool the filament after it leaves the extruder and harden it slightly (1). Two pullers with automatic speed regulation adjust the filament to the desired diameter (2). This is controlled by the sensor (3). In the winding system, the finished filament is finally wound neatly onto the spool (4).
The fans cool the filament after it leaves the extruder and harden it slightly (1). Two pullers with automatic speed regulation adjust the filament to the desired diameter (2). This is controlled by the sensor (3). In the winding system, the finished filament is finally wound neatly onto the spool (4).
Cooling
Puller
Sensor
Filament Guide
I did a lot of research, planned the system, took some ideas from existing machines, recombined them and optimized others. The 3D model contains all the components for the prototype, the first version of Sir Cular.
The idea is that the filament machine can always be optimized. Therefore, all individual parts are customizable. All components are mostly 3D printed and screwed together with some additional material on an acrylic plate.
