Hot on the heels of printing with recycled toothbrush handles, we're tackling our most practical material yet - used CDs and DVDs. While some of our materials have been tests simply because we wanted to try, this week's material is much more relatable.
I imagine most of you, at one point or another, had stacks of used CDs and wondered what to do with them? Maybe they were music CDs, or movie DVDs. Maybe you remember the early days of making your own CDs and wondering what to do with the failed ones? Whatever you do, do NOT put them in the Microfridge in your dorm room. ;)
Right off the bat, we had to sort the discs. Some had a printed label, most likely from a factory that printed the discs. Others had labels that were stuck on. While we didn't use the discs with labels stuck on, we don't believe the actual discs were any different. Nor would using them, if you took the time to remove the labels, cause any problems.
Grinding was simple due to the rigidity of the discs, and the root plastic they're made of - Polycarbonate (PC).
As with all of our tests, we printed using the Filabot EX6, Filabot Airpath, and Filabot Spooler. After working with the material we do believe the Filabot EX2 would also extrude the CD/DVD filament.
Printing went well, with one difference from our typical prints. Since we didn't filter out the metal flakes (Intentionally. The filament looked really cool with them in there) we needed a wider print nozzle for printing. We went with a .75mm nozzle and didn't see any problems with the nozzle clogging.
If you'd like to get your own sample of CD/DVD filament for free, head on over to our store to grab yours. Supplies are limited, though. Yes, we'll ask you to pay to ship.
And if you want to dig a bit deeper into the nitty-gritty of our research with this material, including temperature settings and a lot more, you can download our full recycling study whitepaper here.
As always, you can check out our live video announcement as we discuss the release of this information. Find us on YouTube, and watch live every Thursday at 3 PM Eastern time.
We'd love to see what you print with this, or any other filament. Make sure to tag us with @filabot in your social media posts.
