I have to warn you about this option!
I think it will take forever to melt such I big lump of plastic because of the low heat conductivity of plastics. Probably the outer layers will burn begore the inside will melt.
Ofcourse you could ad a stirring device, but this will mostlikely be a troublesome device because of the viscosity of the plastic and the rotor will get very messy.
But it would be great to explore if all of this is really true 
Thanks for sharing all this!
Version E is exactly what I was planning to do – i think a large vat would allow for faster production and likely more energy efficient. Could even use various heat sources – rocket stove to incinerate other garbage, for instance. Would take some effort to fine tune the temperature though – may a liquid heat exchanger or something.
I’ll definitely take some inspiration for the press from you though!
At the moment I’m finalising my graduation documentation including such an estimation. I’ll post it in the first week of August. If I forget, please remind me 
Awesome work @markbertbach !
I was wondering a couple of things:
– Do you have an estimate total cost for the finished build?
– Do you have any estimation on the cost of each sheet based on the energy required to make it e.g. in shredding, melting and then pressing?
Yes, @markbertbach, you’re absolutely right. It was explained to me that the MIG / MAG welding was quite easy to learn … For the hack of TRad4u it is only practical if the format is suitable, which was not your case!
Hacking tools is of course really nice, but in this case, I think it would make the machine more complicated and more expensive. If the welding is a problem, then with some small adaptations, the machine can also be bolted together, that would even be better for critical load safety. But I limited the number of bolts because of their expensiveness and sourcing difficulties in low-resource areas. Welding gear is found almost anywhere.
And thx for the compliments on my welding, but this was actually only my second big welding project, and at the start of the project I couldn’t weld that well. So I guess anyone can learn by doing!! Just make sure to save the critical welds for last, then you have a lot of practice time 
Superb work !
Congratulations for all the work and for the video !
For the design, did you consider the use of the hydraulic tools from Trad4u, @olce had mentioned ?
I like hacking tools. Doing everything from A to Z is interesting, but we have to be really good at welding as you are !
@imuh
Thx Nick!
It was a very hot day so I thought, why not go full commando 
I’ll definitely improve the things you mentioned and I’m also adding shots in between to point out what parts are going to be made and what is important to know about the function. And I’ll add a part about the Hydraulics and Pneumatics and also the Mould Lid.
Comming up in the next weeks!
Thx for taking the time to give me some feedback!
Hey @markbertbach !
Love how you timelapsed the whole process, also good choice of music, and the output you show is so nice ! Congratz !
I have to say you are sexy at 8:40 (are you naked under that pretty dress? 
)
If i can make some constructive advice, you should raise the sound of the voice when you speak or lower the music at that moment because it is a bit difficult to understand
At around 7:30ish it is hard to read white text on white background 
Very nice work !
Nick
Hi I made another video of the machine building process
Would be nice If some of you could take a look at it and give me some feedback, just imagine that you also have the technical drawings. 
@richardtim & @imuh & @andyn
The result has a nominal thickness of 12mm, but there is variance between 11.8 and 12.8mm
The mould material is sheet metal 1.5mm cold rolled steel, and the frame with the cutoff edge is made from 10x10mm hot rolled steel with a 13 mm strip of cold rolled steel sheet 2mm thick welded to it
Grinding with 300gk sanding disk makes the sheet metal very shiny and smooth. Finishing it with PTFE spray or Vaseline spray helps with the release but for the lid ‘ilI need to improve this, I guess the release agent just drips off during melting.
So for the top side, I’ll try PTFE sheets
Plates are 770 x 1080 x ~12 mm = 10.4 kg HDPE or 9.7 kg PPPower consumption data WIll follow, but I have to figure that out, which I’ll try when I’m happy with the mould. Hopefully next week.
The ventilator makes a huge difference!! I think the cooling time is cut in half or even better. The rectangular steel tubes have a lot of surface area and work like a heat sink!
awesome work !!!
love the heating down system with the little ventilator 
what thickness is your output product? veryyy nice coulouuuurs !!
peace
nick
Yes, very impressive !
What plastic do you recycle?
What is the material of your molds?Do you use a separator?
We did some tests with PET – the most difficult to recycle, but the most interesting for its UV transparency – with aluminum molds, we had to use teflon!
I quickly made a small movie for you guys:
I’ll make a better movie in the coming weeks
Very impressive! Looks like a nice consistent result, and also a very useful size plate.
I’d be interested know how many kWh of energy in total it takes to produce one plate of this size, even a rough guess. I imagine the oven will use the most, but there’s also shredding of the plastic, the fan to cool it down, and even a small amount for the air compressor.
Sorry, this was a double post.
That looks like a proper machine! I like the use of air/hydraudlic jacks.
Wonderful ! Bravo !!
Hi, @markbertbach, we follow with interest this thread in our FabLab because we are also looking to make plastic sheets. Thank you so much for sharing.
Have you made progress in your project ?
Fantastic work brother! This was a stellar read, looking forward to seeing your final solution.