Climbing The Summit Of 3D Printing From Plastic Waste - We’re Almost At The Top 🖨️ I’ve managed to figure out how to: (1) Melt the texture off the plastic bottles. (2) Cut them into fine strips. (3) Extrude the strips into the nozzle of my self built machine (that I drilled a 1.5mm bit out of). The only thing left to figure out was: (1) Getting the temperature settings right so I could pull the plastic bottle filament out of the other side of the nozzle with pliers. But I was able to figure this out by joining the Petamentor Facebook group, where I connected with some amazing knowledgeable individuals who helped me solve that issue. This machine I’ve build is called the ‘Petamentor’ and other people are also attempting to build it. But on Thursday, my machine wouldn’t heat the nozzle up. So I spent 8 straight hours trying to find the problem through process of elimination. That turned into 3 full days of trying to find the root of the issue so it would heat up. I re-wired the entire thing. Diodes, heat wires, power supply, thermometer, controller board. I believe I narrowed down the issue to the heat hotend red wire that fits into my square element and sends heat signals to it - it must have gotten fried because the temp was too high (evidently based on how much our plastic melted the first try). If not that, then it must be the controller board connector wire to the heat thermistor sensors that needs changing. Special thanks to Guillaume from the UK and Bernard from Montreal, Canada for playing a crucial role in helping me solve the issues we’re running into. They’ve also helped introduce me to a new thermometer reader that will help me read the temp more accurately once we get it back up and running. So not only am I becoming an electrician, but this really does feel like a huge mountain that I am struggling to climb, but learning how to actually climb it properly along the way. Life never comes without trials and tribulations, and it’s about finding the proper solution that will get ya kickstarted and back up and running. I know the summit is RIGHT. THERE. I can feel it. And I am so damn excited to produce filament and actually print something for the garden. Or maybe a water bottle (LOL). I am currently waiting by my front door for the mailman to bring me my new hotend heat wires so I can see if we solved the problem, and finally create our filament. See, I do these things so that when you go to try them, you know exactly how to succeed the first time. And I’m excited to see if you’ll try this once we figure it out. Thanks for your time in following along this amazing journey. I love you so much. 💚🙏 #howtowithjessie #3dprinting #plasticwaste #sustainability