03 Sep How Felfil is Born..

Hi makers,

like mentioned in the last article, the Felfil project has start when we had appoach the maker’s movement, the DIY and the 3D printing world.

We think it’s clear that the present period represents a time of experimentation rather than spread of 3D printers; it will occur when applications correllate to 3D printing quality and quantity will be a real advantage for the average consumer. Currently we are a bit far from that goal, but every day in the world a small step is made ​​in this direction, so no mistake that sooner or later we’ll get there.

Now , for those not expert in the field, the 3D printers that use FDM (fused deposition modeling) technology are the most commons. In simple terms, the material with which it will be composed of the object to be printed is taken from a spool of plastic, that is dissolved during the printing process progresses. The materials most used for what concerns this technology are PLA and ABS.

These two materials are a low cost products on an industrial level (about 3 €/kg), yet having to buy a filament for 3D printing you perceive at once that the price for users is not cheap, we are in fact among the 25 and 45 € / kg. Is a nice mark-up, really?

In addition, the testing phase current, implies a considerable waste of material. The printers technology still imperfect, means that defective prints are an high percentage to which must be added all those objects printed for fun, that remains on a shelf gathering dust.

When we looked at these critical issues for the first time we were already committed to understanding what we would do our thesis. So, accepting the challenge, we decided to imagine concretes and possible solutions.

Felfil, which saw the light almost a year later is “our ” solution to the problem.

It is a plastic extruder for domestic use, able to create printing filament, starting from waste or virgin material. In this way we can reduce the cost of purchase of the spools, getting the filament from industrial pellets or using the old or defective models, mentioned earlier.

And the great thing is that everyone gains: the user save and find a proper relocation for all the material already printed, and the environment thanks to an ethical gesture. Also the maker more “fundamentalists” can finally experience with various print materials, finding new combinations of composition and colors, all independently from the contemporary production systems, in line with the underlying philosophy of 3D printers.

To Realize Felfil it was a challenge… a double challenge. While we decided to take care of the technical-functional hand we decided to embrace the open phylosophy system as the aggregation of users, culture sharing and dissemination of the project.

For these reasons Felfil was designed as a DIY product, with the typical tools of a Fablab.

So what are you waiting for? Download the instructions and technical drawings and try to build one! But above all share the project!

An open embrace to all.

C.C.