This glossy black 3D printing filament is made from 3D prints and prints like regular PLA pro/rPLA pro! Yes, you heard that correctly! 100% post-consumer, recycled 3D prints returned by our fabulous customers. Broken Baby Yodas, supports, failed dinosaurs, and even AMS purge ("plastic poop") - you will find them all reincarnated and ready for a new life. Sorted, shredded, melted, filtered, and extruded into high quality filament. If you love recycling, this is for you.
Bundle of four (4) 1kg spools, 1.75mm (±0.05 mm tolerance). Packed in a heavy-duty zipper bag with desiccant. Delivered on refilled spools. The exact spool design may vary. The spools will likely cardboard, but may also be refilled plastic spools depending on availability. If you want your filament on AMS-friendly plastic spools, please also add this product to your order: https://www.kiwifil.shop/products/want-your-filament-on-refilled-plastic-spools-choose-it-here
What on Earth is “UFO” filament??
This "UFO" filament is made from 100% mixed recycled 3D prints, statistically mostly PLA because it is the most popular 3D printing material. We have a neat little machine (a "Near Infrared Spectrometer") that tells us what plastic something is made from, but it doesn’t work on black 3D prints. The carbon black in the pigment absorbs all light and nothing comes back to the sensor. We add a UV-only visible pigment to the KiwiFil black filament (green in PLA and blue in PETG) that allows us to identify prints made from KiwiFil filament, but all other black prints cannot be identified.
We take all these unknown black prints and grind them up and then homogenize them in our twin-screw extruder. We heat it up to 265°C for a few seconds, making sure any high temperature material such as nylon or ABS is properly melted and mixed with the rest. We are basically turning all these unknown prints to a smoothie and turning it into pellets. We then turn the pellets into filament. And so far, all our test prints have come out great!
We knew that it would theoretically be possible to do this, but we are pleasantly surprised that it seems to work in practice as well. The name "UFO" was suggested by our fabulous warehouse manager Alice, and we quickly determined that it clearly means "Unknown Filament Origin". J
Give it a try and tell us what you think. We would suggest you print it at least 220°C.
Recommended settings: Nozzle: 220-240°C. Bed: 50-60°C.
Price is in New Zealand Dollars (NZD) and includes 15 % GST (Goods and Services Tax).
>> Money back guarantee <<
Because this filament is made from 100 % recycled plastics, the properties can vary slightly from batch to batch. The filament diameter is controlled twice - both in the extruding process and in the re-spooling process. We are also doing extensive test printing and mechanical testing to ensure this recycled plastic filament is as good as the virgin material.
However, if this filament doesn't work well in your printer, let us know and we will refund you, no matter how little is left on your spool.
>> Recycled plastic FAQ <<<
Why is the recycled PLA filament more expensive than regular PLA filament?
Recycling of plastic is very labour intensive. The material has to be sourced, picked up, sorted, cleaned, shredded, and remelted. Products made from virgin material tend not to include these "end of life costs." However, closing the loop and minimizing our use of resources is important for a future on this planet, so we hope you are OK with paying a bit more for this recycled filament.
Can I send my discarded 3D prints back for recycling? How about the spools, do you take those backs as well?
Yes, absolutely! We currently recycle prints made from KiwiFil PLA pro, KiwiFil rPLA pro and KiwiFil PETG. It is important that PLA and PETG is separated and labelled. You can find the detailed sorting instructions here: https://www.kiwifil.shop/pages/recycling
We take back all the KiwiFil packaging for re-use: boxes, spools, bags, desiccant packages, instruction cards, and any other packing material. The packing material will be re-used for new products, or recycled if the condition doesn't allow for re-use. We also happily take empty 1 kg plastic and fibreboard/cardboard spools from other brands for re-use.