UNPRINT
Fall 2025
3D printed this lamp using failed or discarded 3D prints. The lamp was assembled using plastic welding methods to make sure that it can be broken down and reprinted into something else in the future.
The Printer
This project stemmed from an idea my colleague Luke Dunn and I had to restore a broken-down large format 3D printer and create a custom hopper fed extruder to print plastic pellets or in this case, ground down, discarded PLA 3D prints.
Technical drawings
3D model made in Fusion 360
Early light diffusion test
Failed 3D prints
Processing 3D prints
Using grinder to turn plastic into smaller pieces
Final PLA mix
Printing base of lamp
Lamp base components
Welding plastic together
Lamp printing
This process took a total of 8 hours of continuously feeding the printer
The color and transparency variation depended on the random plastic being added to the hopper
Testing lamp shade difussion
Final lamp