Hi, it’s been way too long of a time. It’s time for an update.

After the pandemic hit, the machine-making process has stalled. We’re storing the gearbox and motor at my place and I’ve worked on pieces to put the machine together, but the lack of a workplace and tools has made it difficult to coordinate the construction process. As if that was not enough, being students, our schoolwork has kept us from putting more effort into our project.

But we have made progress. We realized that a shredder blade-box may be more cheaper to order than build ourselves, and the entire process would also take work that we can’t do. We ended up ordering a shredder box from the precious plastic bazaar.

The shaft of the motor and gearbox are already compatible, but the gearbox and the blade box are not. Currently, I’m working on 3D-printing a part to adapt the shaft from the motor to the blade-box so that we can properly order a piece that would properly withstand the axel’s spin. If the piece somehow actually withstands this spin, we’ll continue using it until it breaks.

The machine-making process will be an especially difficult one, but we’ll be doing our best to make progress. The sooner we get to school, the faster this project will approach completion.

-Michael

We ordered the motor and its gearbox!

After some consideration, we decided to use a single phase 1 HP motor with a 20:1 worm gear reducer. We decided to order these first so we can get an idea of how we want our frame for the shredder.

Originally, we wanted to make it a higher horsepower so we can shred harder plastic, but since we’re making this for our school, the main plastic waste will come from bottles from beverages, so we decided on a 1 HP motor.

Here are some photos:

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-Michael

Hello, and welcome to the PLSTC Project website! We’ll be posting updates on our progress here. Check out our about us page or the about the machines page. We’re so happy that we can finally start progressing in building the machines. A special thank you to all our donors, this wouldn’t happen without all of you!

We recently visited Richard Wilks’s workshop and gathered some information on the different parts we’re going to buy. We learned about some tips, including ways to operate the shredder, a few design choices for safety, and a few recommendations on where to order parts.

Thank you!

Richard Wilks: http://www.richardwilksartist.com/