There are only a few truly ancient engineered materials, and among the oldest is paper. Traditionally, paper is flat and can be bent into shapes. However, paper can be molded into for example packing material or egg cartons. [XYZAidan] has a process that can recycle paper into 3D cardboard-like objects. You need a 3D printer, but it doesn’t actually print the paper. Instead, you use the printer to create a mold that can form paper pulp you make out of recycled paper and a blender.
[Aidan] provides seven different molds ranging from a desk tray and a dish to simple cubes and coasters. The molds are made in three parts to assist in removing the finished product.
The 3D printed molds have to be very strong because you’ll use a vise to squeeze the water out of the pulp. You can use almost any kind of paper unless it is glossy or has a plastic coating. You can tear up pieces by hand or use a shredder. A blender will create the pulp but you’ll also have to add water and a binder. [Aidan] shows that you can use PVA glue, rice paste, or cornstarch. You can make rice paste easily from ordinary rice by cooking it until it becomes paste-like.
There are some downsides. You have to let the paper dry for hours or even a day or two. In addition, the pulp shrinks as it dries, so getting exact dimensions could be a problem. The material is very wood-like but it doesn’t do well when wet.
Most of the papercraft we see here is more akin to origami. We’ve seen cloth used in papercrafts and we wondered if adding cloth fibers to the pulp might work out in some strange way.
woah, really neat!
That gunk looks like the stuff McDonald’s cupholder trays are made of. Ew.
Isnt that the same as the burger patties?
No… the fries. I don’t *want* to know what goes into the burgers themselves… although if I had to guess I’d say the remains of North Koreans who had (at the least) a slight momentary doubt of exactly how deistic the Kim family really is.
OK, that was wrong, but I don’t care… offensiveness is a valid and important part of humor. If you don’t agree, go watch George Carlin on YouTube until you change your mind.
Funniness is also a valid and important part of humor, so don’t go putting all your eggs in the “edgy” basket.
Pretty sure it is a home-made duplicate of the stuff McDonald’s cupholder trays are made of.
been researching this for like a week after seeing this video. trying to figure out how to get this working at large scale. glad to see it here.
Same way they press metal? i.e. you prepare the material in bulk, pour into moulds. Press. and wait….. and wait….. and wait…. yes – drying it out is going to be annoying.
“adding cloth fibers”?
Do some research on the phrase “rag content”.
Well, that’s why I said we’ve seen cloth used in paper before — I’m aware of cotton paper (even though most of it doesn’t contain real cotton now) although that’s usually the province of specialty paper. I don’t think the cardboard getting torn up here has any rag content on purpose. But I wondered if you could add certain kinds of fibers to get certain results.
Okay, I probably misread the article, sorry about that!
The industrial version has the same idea, but they spray the cardboard into the mold to form thin shells. It dries faster
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CA9xBSb9NZI
This truly looks like a solution looking for a problem. Not that there’s anything wrong with that…
I’m thinkgen of customized packaging for small companies.
If you’re a paper wasp, you now have the option to rapid prototype dwellings. Of, course you eventually find yourself on the side of a mountain harvesting wasp saliva.
I already have the problem: recycling based business needs good packing materials but isn’t satisfied just giving the old bubble wrap a second trip before the inevitable landfill.
During The Great Bubble Wrap Shortage of 2019, my workgroup was known to re-use the bubble wrap of items that arrived to pack the items shipping out.
I bet wax infiltration could make the objects water resistant.
Maybe also spray varnish in some cases.
This hack have some potential.
The results get much better, when you let the paper in water for two days before shredding.
or boil it
XyzAiden has a few interesting bits of research – check out his youtube.
Wondering if this process could make for cheaper sound absorbers https://github.com/juliendorra/3D-printable-sound-absorbers?files=1
This is called MDF.
Termite barf?
Moonshine from toilet paper, maple syrup, cup from leftover solids. All tree cocktails
Another binder could be Hide Glue.
Tung Oil for some water resistance.
Would vacuum bagging be a potential way to infuse a part with resin?
Here’s a thought: add concrete to the mix before you mould it to make something *really* rigid and useful.
Huh. That may not be a bad idea. I’d like to know if anybody has a good reason why it wouldn’t be. Is wood fiber useful at all as a reinforcement for concrete? And really I’m talking about mortar, not concrete, since gravel isn’t going to be a good fit for this method, I’m thinking.
But even if paper isn’t particularly good for this, maybe randomly oriented cut strands of glass fiber would be. According to the Wikipedia article on fiber-reinforced concrete, glass, polypropylene, nylon, PET, and steel fibers have been used, and i can’t help but wonder if hemp would also work. Any of these can be made into a thick mush that can be pressed between two mold halves, as described in the article.
Which leaves me searching for an application that might be useful for me, but that’s where I was with the article, as it was.
:facepalm: I meant cement, not concrete. I know better, but wrote concrete anyway. :sigh:
…and I just meant to add a little cement to the mix to increase its stiffness. Adding tough fibres would increase its strength, to be sure.