The Stooder is a desktop machine that melts down plastic pellets so that you can create -- or recycle -- your own filament for 3D printing.
3D printing has such a wide range of applications, and it's certainly becoming more accessible, but there's one thing it has in common with its inkjet sibling: print material ain't exactly cheap. So wouldn't it be great if you could make your own?(waploft)
There are solutions out there for the home use, but they are few and far between, like Reprap's instructions for building your own, or the Filabot, which costs at least $649 for an assemble-your-own kit. Enter Strooder -- a much more affordable option.
Created by a team in the UK called OmniDynamics, the Strooder is able to convert cheap plastic pellets into PLA and ABS filament for your 3D printer. In fact, the team is working on support for other kinds of household plastics -- meaning that you could even melt down, say, plastic bottles. As the device currently stands, you could use it to recycle your failed print jobs (so long as you cut it into chunks that can fit into the feed hole).
It works in a very simple fashion. Plastic pieces are poured into the hopper, which has a capacity of about a litre. The hopper feeds the plastic into the machine. Inside, a heating element will melt the plastic, and a simple screw conveyer mechanism smooths it out into an even filament, which is extruded from the machine in one of three different thickness gauges, where it cools and hardens.
OmniDynamics
The potential benefits are fantastic. You can mix pellets for your own custom colours, and even mix various types of plastic for different degrees of hardness. And, to take the hard work out of chopping up your own plastic, the team is also working on a grinder that you could simply pop your pieces into on one end and get pellets out the other.
And the team has worked hard to make sure anyone can use it.
"The overall aim for Strooder was to create a high performing product, that also has a design which fits in a multitude of environments, ranging from workshops, to home offices, and even schools. A key difference of Strooder in comparison to other filament extruders, apart from its stunning looks, is its user friendliness," OmniDynamics wrote.
"Strooder has a 2.4-inch colour touch display preloaded with all the relevant extrusion settings for ABS and PLA plastic. This enables even the most novice of users to extrude to their hearts content! For the more experienced user, all of these preloaded settings can be edited, and there is also a manual setting for extruding with non-preloaded materials."
In an ideal world, people would instinctively get your Facebook comments. Second best, your words would at least be interpreted in the manner in which you wrote them.
One woman, however, must have been aghast after she posted on the private Facebook group of the Whalon Lake Dog Park in Bolingbrook, Ill., and was then served a citation carrying a $50 fine by the Will County Forest Preserve District.
As the Chicago Tribune reported Thursday, her post was scarcely the stuff of controversy: "I was feeling bad that I haven't bought a pass and been bringing Ginger there but I'm pretty glad I haven't. So not going to worry about it until later. I hope all the doggies get better soon."
The dog park had been enduring a bout of kennel cough. While the comment might have been read as a message of sympathy, a forest preserve district employee saw the comment and sent it to a boss. Before hiss came to bark, the woman was issued a citation on May 20 for knowingly using a dog park without a valid 2014 permit.
It doesn't appear that any questions were asked of the woman first. Instead, authority smacked her wrist and told her not to be a naughty girl.
The only slight kink was, after receiving the citation, the woman said that she hasn't actually been to the dog park since 2013, according to the Tribune. One might argue that her phrasing had been imperfect. But to reward her with a $50 fine for a Facebook comment without even hearing her side seems a touch officious.
(Freshmaza)
The fine and citation have now been rescinded, said the report. However, the Forest Preserve District's Executive Director Marcy DeMauro told the Tribune: "We treat any information like that as a tip and that has to be verified before any action is taken on our part. We would go to the dog park to see if that individual is actually there and using the dog park without a permit."
Somehow, though, a enthusiast in uniform seems to have obviated such practicalities and simply issued a sanction.
Somewhere in our heads, we know that everything we post on Facebook carries with it the potential of public exposure and complete misinterpretation -- never mind the potential of envy, scorn, trolling, rebuttal, and mocking.
But when the forces of law decide that its interpretation is fact, there's a rum spectacle in the making.
So next time you decide to post: "I could strangle half of Congress for their arrogance," please be prepared to call your
