When the pandemic beaten, broken supply chain. Not only is it difficult to transport ordinary goods, but the global shipping network is also unable to equip workers. personal protective equipment to reduce logjam. Around that time, the 3D printing company re: 3D Start planning, not just how to deliver face shields and other PPEs, but how to bypass some of those shipping issues altogether.
Gigalab is the culmination of that project. With Gigalab, re:3D aims to provide everything needed to turn recyclable materials, like water bottles or plastic cups, into useful goods. The setup consists of three main components. A used plastic shredder granulator. Next, the dryer removes excess moisture. Finally, the Gigabot X 3D printer… well, it prints objects. You also need some desk space to work, such as cutting plastic bottles.
Photo: Eric Ravenscraft
All of this fits in a single shipping container that can be sent anywhere in the world. To put it more simply: It’s a mobile lab where trash goes in and treasure comes out.
Pellet Play
The key to making the lab work is a major innovation in one small part of the 3D printing process: the extruder. Most 3D printers create objects using an extrusion system – i.e. by heating the plastic and then extruding it through a nozzle onto the print bed. If you’ve ever seen a consumer-grade 3D printer, you’ve certainly seen the plastic come in filament form, but some printers use pellets instead. These small processed spheres or cylinders can flow smoothly into the extrusion system, but they are easier to pack and can be fed seamlessly into some 3D printers.
Turning recyclable materials, like used plastic bottles, into pellets often means transporting that material to a processing center. There, they are melted down, molded into pellets, and transported where they are needed (which can sometimes lead to pelleting). lost in transit and pollute the environment).
The Gigabot X, however, it is possible to skip the pelletization process altogether. Unlike most 3D printers, it can pick up scrap plastic — which is irregular in shape and doesn’t flow like pellets — without jamming and causing the print to fail. This means that used plastic can be shredded directly in Gigalab’s granulator. After a brief stop in the dryer to remove excess moisture, they can be poured directly into the Gigabot X feeder.
Plastic bottles and cups are the most obvious raw materials, but Gigalab can handle much more than that. At a meetup in Austin during SXSW, re:3D showed me the remains of plastic sheets that were used to print driver’s licenses. Re:3D Ambassador Charlotte Craff told WIRED these can be fed into the granulator. Even supporting structures that a 3D print that needs to work properly can be broken down and moderated for use in the next print.
