Project Name

Perpetual Use Plastics
Case Study

Challenge

Can 100% recycled filament produce buoyant hand planes for bodysurfing?

Solution

CLP U-HIPS material with Ender 5+ 3D printer and On-Shape CAD software.

U-HIPS filament is a reliable, sturdy recycled material that’s functional for various types of 3D printing projects. Perpetual Use Plastics founder, Bill Raymont designed, printed and tested hand planes using our U-HIPS filament.

Perpetual Use Plastics Handplane

Hand plane designed by Bill Raymont and printed with U-HIPS Nebula Black Filament

Experience

Bill really liked how the hand planes using U-HIPS nebula black filament came out. There’s no paint on his hand planes. Bill’s process is taking his 3D prints, placing it in a big tamale pot, hanging it from some wires inside the pot, and vapor treating it, which melts the surface and seals it.

 

Finally, Bill uses a couple layers of clear coat enamel just to make it extra waterproof. There are a couple of spots on the hand plane that are prone to take water in, and after going out in the ocean for 1-2 hours, the hand plane took in a little bit of water, verified by the little bit of salt that seeped out a couple of days later. After this discovery, however Bill just put a little super glue on it to prevent this.