techfortrade’s Thunderhead PET Filament Extruder Technical Feasibility Study

techfortrade has written a Technical Feasibility Study about their work designing the Thunderhead PET filament extruder for the ReFab Dar experiment.

Work on the Thunderhead Filament Extruder originally started in 2014 when techfortrade contracted Matt Rogge to further develop work that he had started in 2012, to design and build a low cost ‘appropriate technology’ filament extruder that could be used in community settings in low income countries to produce 3D printer filament for local use from waste plastic collected by the community.

Are 3D printed products feasible in Tanzania?

The ReFab Dar experiment has explored the possibilities for creating 3D products in Tanzania. there were focus on 4 product categories: jewelry, medical, spare parts, and consumer goods “hacks”. In each of these four verticals a number of prototypes were created and then shared for feedback with interested stakeholders. Medical Tools Feasibility Study 3D printing in the medical space in […]

A print a day: 30 prints in 30 days

For 30 days, ReFab Dar printed a prototype each day and shared photos on Facebook and Twitter to gauge the interest in response in creating 3D printed products. The prototypes were from 5 categories: education, medical, jewelry, consumer products, and spare parts/ hydroponics. The results were fantastic. The most “liked” products were the medical products and jewelry. With more than 25,000 digital impressions in one month, the experiment was considered success.