Although last week we were able to successfully control the speed of the spooler, problems rose with the different types of plastic being extruded out of the extruder. By running tests at 60 seconds and 120 seconds, we were able to find the rate at which plastic was extruded in grams/seconds. We found out that virgin pellets were extruding at …

This week we received feedback from our peer review. We received 3rd place out of all the senior design projects and we will be presenting on March 17! In preparation for the presentation, we began creating drafts of our poster. We received feedback from Terry and decided we will go through more re-branding. Rather than being called Specialists in Plastic …

This week we focused entirely on the Peer Review Presentation. To focus on the presentation and to make sure the appropriate information carried over, we had to reschedule our meeting with Tucker Paris. Overall, the presentation went well and everyone seem more interested in our project. This upcoming week we are going to start working on the poster for the …

Last week we successfully accomplished another milestone! We accomplished getting a consistent grind through the installment of a mesh. Next the Grinder team will continue on designing a new handle for the grinder. With the advice from Professor Walter, we are going to schedule a meeting with Tucker Paris in hopes of getting a better understanding of how to get …

This week the DIY micro controller came in, however the design did not come out the way we want it to be. The filament does not feed into the encasing correctly, nor does the cap completely cover the sensor. We designed and 3D printed a new encasing and we are running tests next week. We are currently designed new wheels, …

This week we did more testing! When testing the spooler, we realized that the plastic is not hot enough to extrude. Any temperature at which the plastic melted showed that the PLA was stretching and thinning out. Tried to add a base between extruder and spooler, but plastic would stick to surface. We also tested different types of shreds: finer …

Over the weekend prior to week 3 the S.P.A.M. team came back from retreat in Carlsbad. The team definitely knew each other on a personal level and became ready to tackle the rest of the quarter! Coming back to UCI, the team designed, 3D printed, and tested a new mesh that will be installed to the bottom of the grinder. …

The outcomes and objectives from our team’s Week 2 workshops revolved around performing some trial tests with our current plastic grinder setup as well as benchmarking different laser diameter controllers for the extruding process and spooling process. The first grinder tests were done as the baseline tests to see how well the grinder would perform as is. For the first …

Hello everyone! We are excited to be a part of the MAE 189 community. We are a team of environmental, mechanical, computer, and electrical engineers as well as art students that have been working for almost two years on developing a system to recycle plastic waste into useable filament. Our external website can be found at: http://bit.ly/ucispam Know more about …