I don’t like to waste things; waste not, want not, as the saying goes. Unfortunately, 3D prints has its fair share of waste. So many things can go wrong during printing, resulting in a product that does not meet standards to sell. Some times the misprint isn’t a huge thing—maybe one small section didn’t stick to the plate and shifted or the top of a fin or tail move around and mess up—and other times its a mess of spaghetti noddles akin to a toddler in a past factory. I hate throwing away the mostly good items. They’re still toys, they still want to fulfill their purpose of being played with. A three-legged gecko is just as good of a friend as one with four good legs. Ask any misfit toy.
To give these toys a chance at happiness, we made the Misprint bin. I can’t ask full price for them, so items in the Misprint bin are for sale by donation. Those misfits bring double the smiles because all proceeds from the Misprint bin are given to the Colfax Fireman’s Toybox which provides toys to kids in our county. Any family with children that receives any assistance like WIC or EBT, or even just professes a need, can pick out a few gifts before Christmas to help supplement Santa’s haul. I utilized the Toybox when our children were young and know it brings joy. We are all about smiles, so it’s a natural fit. It’s great to see someone find something they love in the Misprint bin. We don’t set a minimum on the donation, but people are so generous. I’ve sold misprints for as much or more than their full price brethren, just because people want to support the Toybox. And I’ve seen kids who may not have enough money for the items they want find as good or better in the Misprint bin, which is another shot of joy.
Another 3D printing waste stream we’re trying to minimize is the poop. Filament poop, that is. Before starting an item, the printer purges a bit of filament which drops down a shoot and out the back. A single filament item only produces the one poop. A multiple filament print can create a big pile. When switching between colors, the printer purges the first color so it doesn’t taint the second. It does this for every color change on every layer.
The poops add up. Imagine a preschool collection of crayons, but each shaped like a curly fry. What you end up with is a box of colorful confetti that is destined for disposal.
Unless, you can find a way to reuse it. Which we are exploring. One thought has been recycling it back into filament, which comes with its own trials and processes. Melting it down to make filament would result in some abomination of diarrhea colors that may not make for appealing toys.
Another thought is melting them just enough to pour into silicon molds for dice and such. It’s a simpler process, so that’s where we’ll start. We have the molds, just need to start playing melting process. Fingers crossed, we can reduce our waste steam and add a new product in the same stroke.