Simplify3D User Forum

I am a high school teacher that uses 3D printers for educational use as well as general fun to get students interested in STEM fields. Because I have a strong educational discovery approach, we also have a lot of failed prints. Thus, I was considering investing in a filament spooler that will recycle old prints into new filament. Does anyone have any advice/experience with these devices that could point me in the right direction? Anything helps. Thanks.

If not, does anyone have any interesting, cool uses for failed prints?

This looks promising - http://www.redetec.com/product/ . Its only available for preorder, so you can't really go be anybody's real world experience with it.

This is just like replacing you central heating system to get a 15% reduction in your energy bills....it'll take years to break even!!

One of these machines costs $700...which lets say is the cost of 15kg of filament. I'd say I probably waste 10% of the filament I use...about 0.5Kg a year...so after about 25 - 30 years I'd break even on an investment in a recycler!

And as for a funky use for printing waste......mine goes towards filler for fake sandbags for use at WW2 reenactment events at the Tramway Museum I volunteer at.

dkightley wrote: And as for a funky use for printing waste......mine goes towards filler for fake sandbags for use at WW2 reenactment events at the Tramway Museum I volunteer at.

Wow, that is truly a unique use of scrap prints! Thanks for sharing.

As for the spooler, you make a good point.