YOU CAN BUILD A CEILING-HUNG LARGE-FORMAT 3D PRINTER THAT PRINTS PLASTIC PELLETS AND REGRIND FOR ABOUT 1,638 DOLLARS
A large-format 3D printer that hangs from your ceiling and prints from plastic pellets or ground particles instead of filament, designed with recycled waste plastic in mind.
by Ravneet S. Rattan, Joshua M. Pearce, Alessia Romani, Nathan Nauta
WorkshopOpen-hardware
Built with3D printing
- difficulty
- ●●●●●
- time
- several weekends
- license
- GPL-3.0 (software), CERN-OHL-2.0 (hardware)
- repo
- repo FINISHED0 stars
●●●●● · several weekends · GPL-3.0 (software), CERN-OHL-2.0 (hardware) · 0 stars · repo FINISHED
WHAT YOU’LL NEED
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COMPAREE VERDICT
This is a serious build. You are constructing a frameless 3D printer that hangs from the ceiling and feeding it plastic pellets or ground particles instead of filament. The appeal is genuine: 2,125 Canadian dollars (about 1,638 US dollars) for a machine whose build volume scales with your room, and the ability to print granular feedstock, including recycled plastic, without making filament first. The paper contrasts this with The BOX Large by BLB Industries at 298,000 dollars and the open-source Gigabot XLT at 17,000 dollars. The documentation is extensive — over 200 figures — but this is a research publication, not a consumer product, and the extruder tests were done with virgin PLA pellets. You will be calibrating line lengths, tuning the feed rate and extrusion steps, and debugging extrusion issues that do not exist with filament. The most likely failure point is the particle extruder: granular feedstock behaves nothing like filament, and getting consistent flow requires trial, error, and patience. If you have experience building RepRaps or custom CNC machines and want to print large objects from waste plastic, this is a documented path. If you want a printer that works out of the box, buy one.
IN THE REPO
GOOD TO KNOW
- —Complete build documented across more than 200 figures in the HardwareX paper, from cutting anchor beams to firmware configuration.
- —Files hosted on Open Science Framework at doi.org/10.17605/OSF.IO/NDWS6.
- —Software licensed GPL-3, hardware CERN OHL v2 — both permit commercial use.
- —This is a research paper build, not a kit or pre-tested consumer product.
- —No GitHub repository; files are in OSF.
- —The particle extruder is custom — you will be fabricating parts and tuning extrusion parameters yourself.
Parts to buy
8 itemsFrom our check of the build. Exact quantities and part numbers are in the creator’s BOM.
Can I build this?
This build involves mains voltage — for adults comfortable with electrical work only.
Build at your own risk. Projects involve tools, electronics and sometimes mains voltage — follow the creator’s safety notes.
More builds like this
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Start here
Navigation into the creator’s own docs — we don’t rewrite the guide, we route you to the source.
- 1.Read the HardwareX paper (The paper is the build guide — more than 200 figures walk through the entire assembly)
- 2.Download files from Open Science Framework(CAD, firmware, and build files at doi.org/10.17605/OSF.IO/NDWS6)
- 3.Source or shred plastic feedstock(You need a plastic shredder or a supplier of pre-shredded flakes — particle size consistency matters for extrusion)
- 4.Fabricate the extruder barrel assembly(304 steel barrel, aluminium heatsink, feeding gear — this is custom machining, not off-the-shelf)
KNOWN ISSUES
- This is a research build, not a tested kit. Expect calibration, debugging, and iteration.
- Particle extrusion is fundamentally harder than filament — shred size variation will cause clogs and inconsistent flow.
- The frameless design means you are calibrating line tensions by hand; misalignment compounds quickly.
- You need ceiling height and load-rated anchor points — if you rent or have a low ceiling, this is not feasible.
- No commercial support — but the Hangprinter community on Discord and the Duet3D forums are where the authors themselves got help, so ask there alongside the paper and OSF files.
- The paper does not cover making feedstock: you need pellets, or a way to grind your own waste plastic into particles small enough to feed, and a grinder is a separate purchase.
Can I print normal filament with this?
The design is for a particle extruder. You would need to replace the entire hotend assembly to run filament.
What plastic types work?
The paper's extruder tests used virgin PLA pellets, with the best results between 180 and 190 °C; it notes that ABS granules could theoretically be extruded at 220-240 °C. Recycled or other plastics will need your own tuning of temperature, feed and flow.
How big can I actually print?
Limited by your room dimensions and the length of line you install. The paper does not give a maximum tested print volume.
Is there a kit available?
No. This is a research publication with files for self-sourcing and fabrication.
Community builds
No community builds yet — be the first, we feature the best ones.
Discussion1
FROM THE COMPAREE TEAM
About 2,125 Canadian dollars for a printer whose build volume scales with your room, and it takes shredded plastic instead of filament. What would you print first if extrusion calibration took a month?
Ravneet S. Rattan, Joshua M. Pearce, Alessia Romani, Nathan Nauta
Researchers at Western University in London, Ontario, and Politecnico di Milano published this build in HardwareX to address plastic waste — global production has quadrupled in 40 years while only about 9 percent has been recycled.
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DISCLAIMER
- Comparee is not the author of the projects featured here. All rights to each project belong to its creator — every page links to the original source, and we never host creators’ files.
- Information is provided without warranty and may become outdated as projects evolve. Prices are indicative bands only — always check the creator’s parts list for current costs.
- Building and operating any project is at your own responsibility. Protective equipment, safe workshop practice and compliance with local regulations are the builder’s responsibility.
CompareeTEAM18d agoedited
Practical notes from our verification: this is a published research build from Western University, not a community-maintained repository, so there is no GitHub issue tracker. The files live on the Open Science Framework under doi.org/10.17605/OSF.IO/NDWS6, and the open-access HardwareX paper itself is the assembly manual, with around 200 figures. Help is available: the paper recommends the very active Hangprinter Discord community as the first troubleshooting stop, and the Duet3D forums cover the DUET3 controller. The axes run on four NEMA 23 motors, with a geared NEMA 17 on the pellet extruder. The paper notes that consistent extrusion depends on a steady feed from the pellet feeding system, and the feed settings were determined experimentally, so expect your own tuning. If you have built a RepRap or tuned a pellet extruder before, you know what you are in for. If this is your first printer, start with filament. Correction (4 October 2026): we re-checked this page line by line against the project's own repository, documentation and videos, and fixed errors in earlier versions.