PLASTIC LIQUIFIER TEAM

My team aimed to develop a device that allows ground plastic water bottles to be converted into 3D printer filament for use in Malawi. An on-site filament production method was needed in the Malawi Polytechnic facility because there was no infrastructure for effective and timely 3D printer filament delivery. Ultimately, through our portion of the process, we aimed to contribute to a cost-effective project that is designed to provide students in Malawi an opportunity to enhance their engineering skills through interaction with 3D printers.

 As lead machine technician, I lathed, milled, and welded the overall structure of the device, tested and troubleshot the design after each iteration, and performed finite element analysis in SolidWorks to see the impacts of 500°F temperatures.