 We're here in one of the canals in Eindhoven and we're setting up a Installation for glow festival. I'm gonna put a flag in there and then Let's see what happened Welcome to monthly news number 22, so yeah, I think YouTube comments is very seriously there's a lot of good information in there and Yeah, this one. I mean, yeah, we need more charlotte so usually I hear you especially for you Charlotte in the background so I often get the question. Yo, yo, bro. What's up with phone blocks and Especially for the occasion I made a video for it Also, because it's been exactly five years ago last month So really from how it went from the idea to work Google and where it ended up in the end So if you haven't seen that it's in YouTube and another question I often get is what's up with project come So we started this project to set up their own community But then this hill stuff kind of came in between so we won an award We got this space and we decided to work on press plastic version four, which is also It's important to work on But because of that we couldn't really work on project come however being here with all these people around It kind of feels like we're setting up a community already to making sure everyone can do their job as happy it all works You have a few examples of the things we're doing here Hey, I'm Charlotte I'm you talking to you about the living in the community here precious plastic so the working day here starts at 10 a.m. and we serve breakfast from nine until ten and When joining version four you're put into a cleaning team, which are named after our favorite animals I am team cleaning worm and every Monday we clean up after breakfast lunch and dinner and we help prepare breakfast in the morning So we try and produce as least waste as possible here at version four And so everything that comes into the kitchen we buy in bulk so that's things like 10 kilograms of dried figs five kilograms of cumin and Six kilograms of peanut butter, which we go through each week And so following this zero waste lifestyle. We actually utilize our food waste into facial and cleaning products We use our old coffee grounds mixed with baking soda and coconut oil as a face scrub And it's also a great cleaner for our dirty hands in the workspace and using the old citrus peels We mix them with vinegar and they make a really good old purpose cleaner and in our free time when we're not working We have discussion evenings in the Coliseum Which is where we discuss things like food production and banning of the plastic straw And we also had a couple friends from Taiwan visit that gave us free tattoos and free haircuts Haircut and tattooed So we've been setting up this community in here in this building But we still wanting to find that piece of land, but it's a bit challenging because there's so much going on for pressure plastic version four That yeah project come cut and hold a little bit, but luckily we have Katrina Hey, she's actually gonna make sure the project is gonna continue and we actually gonna find that land Yeah, so we had a wider look into where we could go but are now focusing on Portugal and as we are not local there I'm looking into finding getting in touch with people from Portugal being a knowledge about areas there and who can help us So if you know a project or I have an idea Which could help us or you could be helpful make sure to get in touch with us either in the forums or Personally with me. Yes so our plan is to Visit a few plots this winter spring and then we have to get out of this building December next year So that's also our deadline. So after that we need to have a piece of land so we can move all our stuff there So, yeah, we could use some help But before we going to a project come we first gonna finish fresh plastic version four And we've been working on this for like the last three months been an amazing experience I would say so far. We've been working very hard. We made a lot of friends and It's been a very learning experience for all of us But we got to a point now where three months in most of the people have to have to leave because of their reasons These are reasons so it's very boring Reason to sort of break apart people, but anyways, some people have to leave Which leaves us with basically having to reopen the applications For more of you to come down and help us here in the Netherlands So we have a few things we're gonna work on in the coming months and all the Applications will be on next dot fresh plastic dot com, but there are a few in particularly important And I'm gonna have a lot of focus one of them being Yeah for the past couple of months Meanwhile people were developing machines here in the workspace up in the in the office We've been working more on the digital side of the project and we're now working on a on Helping you guys to connect and collaborate locally in a much more efficient and streamlined way and we are working on a much more powerful platform to enable you to do this and So working with Saskia we've been Really thinking it through how we can make it easier for people to come together and to collaborate on different projects So all the user experience side of the project is being nailed down right now And we come to a point where we need to implement all of these ideas and concepts And that is why we're now opening up positions for UI designers. So user interface designers As well as developers, so we will welcome two more in-house developers To help us translate our ideas and designs into code And the requirements for the for developers are that you you are able to work on You're able to code on JavaScript and are familiar with the react and are willing to learn this new programming language and framework So that you can help us bring our ideas to life Yes, and I would also add that We're developing this tool which works for pressure plastic as a community to develop that people can share back knowledge and collaborate But we're also going to share that online tool or website we're building open source online So everybody can use it for their own open source community projects So it's going to be a very complex big project ambitious project But also one that could be very powerful for all these projects like precious plastic that want to develop stuff together And as part of the workspace we're gonna we could use help with Two machines we're gonna build so really engineers and machine builders One is a bigger version of extruder machine Nate has been working on that you could see him in last month's monthly news But he needs to leave and we could use more people there Because with a bigger extruder we can make bigger things bigger beams bigger blocks a process more plastic at once So that is a very exciting tool and the other one is a bigger shredder So right now our shredder is kind of relatively small We want to make one more industrial version that is bigger and shreds more plastic Yeah, and on a side note bring some big jackets because in the Netherlands is very cold and we are in winter So now you're gonna see a clip about another machine. We've been working on it's a sheet press So basically we want to make big sheets and Paul is gonna walk you around about all the things and challenges We had the things we still need to do It's a relatively long clip But also I would say an interesting one if you're into this topic and at the end you would also have a clip of the glow project We did in the beginning about all the plastic in the river and why we did that Hey guys, it's Paul this month. We're gonna be talking to Mark and Vicente about the work that they've been doing developing the sheet press Let's go check it out Hey, we're hoping you could maybe tell us a little bit about the work you've done with the sheet press machine Yeah, sure Well, this is the sheet press area Very big pizza oven And here we have another machine. It's a plate press that was built by Jerry and Thomas has been Working on it to improve the quality that delivers, but already we get quite nice results Only some some problems with the wrinkles. They're coming from this PTOV foil When it shrinks, we think that it shrinks with the plastic And creates these wrinkles And there are heat plates in the press as well, correct? Yeah, so This press has top and bottom heating spirals and then big aluminum plates that distribute the heat evenly and then these PTOV foil Is added to make sure that the plastic ones stick to the machine. So one side is Really nice and flat and the other side has these wrinkles Limit to how thick you can make this. 12 millimeter seems nice and 10 18 is already stretching it a little bit and also the melting time increases a lot when it gets too thick So there might be a limit, but we haven't yet found it, but efficiency wise Smaller plates are easier You have another press too, right? Yeah, there's another press that's we call this the hot press And then we have here the cold press The difference with this press is that this press doesn't have any heating spirals So for this press we use a mold in which we put plastic granite put it in the pizza album When everything is melted we put it in the in this press and with four hydraulic jacks of each eight tons we press the plastic together in the plate shape and then it cools in the machine and Benefit of this of this machine is that It can cool down the plate or the sheet in in less or around an hour So that's really fast compared to this machine which takes Six hours to cool down. So that's a real nice improvement But we're also trying to improve this machine to see if we can introduce a mold in the hot press and do the cooling outside of the press So then we can cut down production times So simultaneously we're doing tests and improvements improvements on both of these Presses and then when we've gathered enough information We're going to redesign either one of them or make a completely new design. Cool And combine everything that we learned and See what works best. Yeah, awesome. Yeah, are there any particular challenges you guys have been facing? well for different types of materials Plastic that stays behind in the mold can be quite tough to remove so we're still looking for the best way to To release the sheets and and also the excess material that stays behind So we're looking for better mold release stuff Yeah, and one of the biggest challenges I think is Making the machines Still accessible to build them So now we have a lot of steel you need to do a lot of welding Some parts need to be welded properly because otherwise they break So we're also trying to simplify that cool. I saw some samples behind the tent. Yeah This is the latest Sheet that I've pressed with the cold press. Nice So this is HDPE has a really nice surface and Structurally, it's pretty solid. Cool Only thing is that they're still really small air pockets at the surface inside it's Fully solid but at the surface you see small dimples Yeah, and then over here with some more samples these samples are from the hot press. Okay, the black machine So this is a really thick machine that we made And this is I think about the maximum we can do. Are there any Plastics in particular that do well with the heat press over others or? Well, I Polypropylene has the easiest manufacturing qualities, so It spreads quite easily it melts easily And the result is also quite nice and the excess material is easy to remove And HDPE has more trouble There's more trouble of removing the excess materials and the overall process is somewhat harder But the result I like the plate results. I like really a lot Cool. Thanks so much for sharing man. Yeah, of course We're gonna go talk to Vicente and see what he's doing with all these sheets. Yeah. Say hi. Yeah. All right Hey Vicente. Hey, hello. Could you show us some of the stuff you've been working on with the plastic sheets? Yeah, sure. So right now We are doing mostly PS HDPE and PP plates and it's the first time that we are able to work with these sheets So we are trying to test them. We are trying to find the best coating methods for the for the sheets and also different types of joinery if it's if it's possible to weld It's it possible just to screw on it or just a snap in which are the differences between them So what kind of joinery methods have you been experimenting with? Yeah, for instance, we have this snapping thing kind of strong. Yeah we also work with this Tolerance hammering method and also this for instance This snapping one was like really strong one because it's a snapping plus working with the tolerance really well nice in 90 degrees Basically what we understood from this material is that the PP and STP both are really soft Really good materials to work with it to be slightly better than PP to work One interesting thing that I can't show you right now Method that we are trying to Which is called mirror welding in which we Put fire on this part of it and then we try to melt To plates together by pressing them Happen working. It's been working kind of well so far. There is no line in the middle We have been cutting these samples and we are going to try it and see So basically what we are trying to do it's learning from the material and developed till the limit which to the limit more or less the The ships yeah under command that so what kinds of different things have you been making using these methods? for instance, this is a table that works just with the snapping and It's kind of strong if you try to press on it. You won't break it, but the only problem is again It's wobbly. Are there any particular challenges or anything you've been facing as you've worked on this that Topped overcome so far basically every new test. It's Something there is a failure on it and there's something to learn with it Working with the CNC machine Ended up being like really good wrestles But at the end we had all as well to learn how to finish it again Because some parts are melting when you are cutting there. There is a problem because if it's too Fast the cutting and then both parts of the cut melt again the plastic So sometimes it ended up being welded again, so you were trying to cut and nothing happened at the end but It's just about trying to find the best place to work with man. Yeah, check out the forums to see the for the developments and let us know which kind of Applications would you love to see? Yeah, and same goes for Mark's project the stuff that he and Jason are working on all that progress is in the forums as Well, so check out the links below if you'd like to contribute or just send them words of encouragement Earlier this month we filled this river with 30,000 plastic bottles We're about a five-minute walk from the v4 workspace and this year we partnered with glow a local light festival in Eindhoven that every year they put on a light event and there's all these light installations throughout the city they asked us to Help with installing one kind of focus on the plastic waste issue in society in this case these 30,000 plastic bottles There are approximately the amount that Netherlands uses every ten minutes and Eindhoven itself just in half a day so We installed this exhibit. We installed our flag. We had a few lucky volunteers jump in the cold river and Then we cleaned it up after the week was over and next year. We're going to use these bottles to make a new exhibition We don't know what yet, but if you have any ideas for 30,000 plastic bottles and pretty lights Every year How's the water? When you get warm again, I mean, I feel like it feels nice now you have new legs That was like a new bowl. It's rejuvenated. I don't think they came back already Working on that gone for the winter Let's go Stan