3D Printed Recycling Bin (For Me to Learn the Basic Process of 3D Printing)

In this project I 3D printed a recycling bin. In my Makerspace class for the whole year there have been 3D printers around the room, but I never got to try them out. So for our passion project at the end of the year, I just wanted to keep things simple and learn the process of 3D printing, since I think it would be useful to have in the back of my head.

For the whole project, I said I would make 3-5 small objects in the 3D printer, but for this Instructable, I'll focus on this object specifically. It's a tall rectangular box with a rim on the top edge, the recycling logo on the front, and the word "Recycle" on the back.

The tools and materials are simple, I used a school chromebook, a memory card and a USB card reader, a roll of PLA filament, and a 3D printer (an Ender 3, though the recycling bin in the picture was printed by a Prusa). The websites I used were Tinkercad and Kiri Moto.

First, on Tinkercad I searched for boxes in the shapes section, and selected the one called "Adjustable Box and Lid", since it was the only one I could find. I left the box as a "Box Bottom" on the options that pop up, and adjusted the height, length, and width to look like a recycling bin. It ended up being 40 millimeters left to right, 28 millimeters front to back, and 50.80 millimeters tall, though it's fine to eyeball it as long as it'll fit on the 3D printer.

Then, to make the rim I put 4 rectangles (or stretched squares) in the indent on the top of the box, and adjusted their height, length, and width so it went over the edge to be a rim, and shorter than the top edge so it is a little more complex. The long sides ended up having 40 x 3 x 3 mm rectangles, and the short sides ended up having 22 x 3 x 3 mm rectangles, but again you can eyeball it to what looks good to you. I did this for all four sides, with the rectangles meeting at the corners, then grouping all 4 of them to the box by highlighting them together and clicking the group button.

Last, I took a PNG image of a recycle logo from a website*, and put it in a file converter website to turn it into an SVG. It can then be put into Tinkercad, and you can shrink it, rotate it, and put it on the front of the bin with the work-plane tool. The word "Recycle" can be put on the back with the text shape (in basic shapes) and work-plane tool again, and once you group both of these to the bin, it's done.

*The website I used is here (You can also use google images, just make sure the image is plain): https://www.recycling.com/downloads/recycling-symbol/

Next, from the finished model on Tinkercad, click Export and download the 3D model as an STL file. On Kiri Moto, upload the downloaded file and select the printer Ender 3, from clicking Machine under Setup. I kept the default settings that came from selecting the Ender 3 the same, though I changed the Nozzle Temperature and Bed Temperature to 205 and 60 degrees Celsius, as that was what I was told were the right temperatures. I then added supports (to the areas with nothing under them), by going to Supports, and then Detect. Make sure to add the supports before clicking Slice so the supports get sliced too. For this design specifically, you could still try to print it without supports since there isn't much hanging over.

I then went to Start, and then Slice, which sliced the 3D blocks into layers for the 3D printer to carry out. Then I clicked Export (also under Start), and downloaded the new file as a G-code. After that, I put the G-code file on the memory card, which was in a USB card reader, by moving it in my computer's files.

Finally, with the memory card ready, I attached a clean 3D printing board to the bed of the 3D printer with binder clips, but didn't put one in the bottom left corner. To load the filament, I heated up the nozzle to 205 degrees, and put in the filament end through the squeezable clip in the back. I pushed it through the nozzle so that some of it came out of the nozzle, and then cut the excess off (make sure the nozzle is raised by increasing the Z axis).

To level the bed, you press Auto Home to bring the nozzle down, then Disable Steppers to move the motors. In each corner, turn the knobs at the bottom to raise or lower the bed, so that a piece of paper can easily move in between the nozzle and the bed, but still have friction. Move the nozzle and bed around for all 4 corners. There are good videos on Youtube that can explain this better if needed. Keep in mind that sometimes the bed won't be perfectly flat, so you can level it completely. This can be seen if there are gaps when you put a straight edge over the bed.

There are other things you can do to further set up the 3D printer, but I'm fairly certain these are the basics and will make at least a decent print. After you level the bed, you then press Auto Home again, and with the memory card inserted, find the G-code file that has the recycling bin. Select it, and the 3D printer will start preparing and then printing, and after some time it will be done. It is helpful to watch the first layer to make sure it sticks to the bed well.