Sheetpress
The purpose of this article is to explain how a Sheetpress works and to describe the work that Tri-Haut has carried out on this machine over the last few years.
Machine presentation
The Sheetpress is a machine developed by Prescious Plastic, a community with open-source documents on plastic recycling machines. One of these is the Sheetpress. This machine transforms plastic shavings into sheets up to 1 metre square.
It works as follows: plastic chips are inserted into a frame that acts as a mould, then heated and pressurised so that they melt and are forced into the shape of the mould.
Once solidified, the sheets can be bent, cut, assembled, screwed or welded. The result will be useful objects such as chairs, shelves and tables.
Tri-Haut’s work on Sheetpress
By 2022, the second Tri-Haut team wanted to acquire a Sheetpress for its future centre. An Indian company was approached to provide a high-quality, ready-to-use machine. However, after several months of delay and difficulties with the company, it was decided to build the machine in Nepal with the help of Madindra Aryal, a Nepalese engineer, and a Nepalese factory.
After two months’ work, a Sheetpress was built, ready to produce its first plates.
In 2024, the objective of the third team was to establish a production protocol for the future use of the machine. A number of tests were carried out to gain a better understanding of the machine’s parameters: heating time and melting temperature, lubrication process and cooling process.
The future of Sheetpress
After more than a month of tests and many repairs to the machine, the protocol for its use was completed. However, the decision was taken to leave the machine in Kathmandu and not to bring it to the future centre in Pangboche.
Why ?
The reasons are twofold:
- The electricity available in the village is very limited – only 12 kW for the whole village, while the machine alone consumes 9 kW.
- the need for extensive maintenance due to the fragility of the machine, which we cannot provide at an altitude of 4,000 m.
For these reasons, it was decided to keep the machine in Kathmandu.
What will it be used for ?
Before the machine was used in the centre, it was always planned to produce sheets that would be used in the centre as building materials. Indeed, our aim is to demonstrate how these sheets can be used as building materials. This has not changed, and sheets will be produced for this purpose. The architects have already been able to produce prototypes of walls and cladding to refine their knowledge of this new material.
Finally, once production is complete, the machine will remain in Kathmandu and will be used by Madindra Aryal, who helped make it and therefore knows how it works. Her aim is to build a variety of furniture with it.
