The ‘Polyformer’ presents a modular and vertical, L-shaped design that allows users to easily swap out parts and modify to their liking; it also facilitates interaction with the machine and minimizes the amount of space that it takes.
Cheng (see more here) built a slicing tool with stacked bearings that cut the water bottle into a long and consistent ribbon. The user can then feed the ribbon into the repurposed 3D printer hotend to turn it into a 1.75mm filament as it passes through the brass nozzle. One end of the filament can later be mounted on the red motorized spool to complete the reshaping process.
bottle transformed into a ribbon, a filament, and then a 3D-printed part
The spool can be easily taken off to be mounted and used on a 3D printer, while the outer shell can be easily opened thanks to a geared mechanism; it can be closed the same way to keep users from touching the hotend. The entire machine was printed using recycled PET bottles, giving it a pleasant, translucent look.
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