Wall Chair Out of Plastic Waste

This project is a small initiative to get our environment clean from plastic waste and converting it into something useful. For the past few months, I have been working on plastic waste and found one community name Precious Plastic working towards the same. They have developed some small-scale machinery that can be made locally and can help to recycle plastic waste. In this project, I have used similar machines.

I have a small workspace and need a chair for it but due to lack of space, I needed to make something modular. As I have been working on plastic waste, I decided to make it with the same. I found one method through which waste plastic can be converted into beams and it's quite strong as well. So, I started working on the design that could be made with beams and found one design that fits my expectation

During this project, I have used a Shredding and an Extrusion Machine to make beams. Here is a link through which you'll get a better understanding of it.

Shredder>> https://www.instructables.com/Plastic-Shredder/

Extrusion Machine >> https://cutt.ly/kfsZlks

You can also make this chair with wood square sticks as well.

• Shredder and Extrusion Machine
• Wall screw and plug
• 3mm MS Strip
• 10mm Silver Steel Rod
• 50mm and 25mm Wooden screw
• 6 x 16mm Nuts and bolts
• Steel plate
• 1.25" X 1.25" Stainless Steel Pipe
• Plastic Waste

To start with the process I started making a mold for the beam. To make a mold cut a 1.25" square pipe of 13" length. From past experiments, I came to know that plastic shrinks once it cools down so I was expecting a 1" thick square beam from the mold.

I cut a steel plate and welded a nozzle in the center to connect it with the extrusion machine. I also welded a steel plate on one end of the pipe which will act as a mount and drilled holes in each corner. I followed the same technique on the other end of the pipe. With this, all beams will be of the same size and reduce after work.

I have a used 6mm bolts to assemble it all together.

Please refer to the image for a better understanding.

To make a beam I started with preheating the extrusion machine and set the temperature at 210Celcius for HDPE type of plastic. It is required for the smooth flow of plastic in the barrel.

Once extrusion reaches the desired temperature I connected the mould to it and feed it with shredded milk pouches. I shredded some milk pouches in the past using the shredder that I have made earlier and you can also refer to this link for that>> https://www.instructables.com/Plastic-Shredder/

I started the motor of the extrusion machine and feeding and it started flowing in the mould. I made a small hole on the steel plate attached on the other end of the pipe which acts as an indicator to know if the mould is filled.

With the same technique, I also precessed some bottle caps of blue colour.

I made 13 beams of the same size with a combination of white and blue.

Please refer to the images for the same.

Once all beams are ready, I started working on the assembly process.

I drilled a 10.5 mm hole at one end of the beam and followed the same for all. 10mm Steel rod is threaded on both ends to insert 6 mm bolts in it.

The steel rod is inserted through the beams and two CSK bolts are used to hold it.

6 holes are drilled on a white beam to screw it with the blue beams to make the base of the chair. 50mm wooden screws are used to hold it all together.

A different mold is made to make longer beams for the legs. I made two beams of 20" length and drilled a hole of 8 mm on one end.

Two pins of 8mm are made using a Lathe machine. The pin is marked with a punch after adjusting it at the side of the chair and drilled a hole to fit in everything together.

A supporting beam is also added in between the legs for better stability of the structure.

Please refer to the image for the same.

Two 3mm strips are cut off 9" long and drilled some holes in to attach it with white beams using a 25mm wood screw.

After adjusting its height I marked the holes on the wall using the strip as a stencil and mounted it on the wall.