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Decomposition of organic matter is sensitive to air flow, humidity and temperature, thus appropriate conditions are needed for effective composting which are achieved through a correct composter design. The paper focuses on a simulation analysis for the injection molding process of the bottom part of a composter. Contemporary injection molding machines require fine tuning to ensure successful mold filling and the attainment of satisfactory product quality. Addressing plastic product design from a manufacturing perspective helps ease challenges related to injection molding process and mold design. Process optimization commonly involves variables such as injection pressure, injection time, packing pressure, packing pressure holding time, melt temperature, mold cavity temperature and features of the cooling system. To ensure consistent product quality, it's crucial to optimize process parameters for specific cases due to substantial variability among injection molding input parameters. The use of Moldex3D software aids in identifying locations of critical values of defects, such as shrinkage and warpage. Warpage and shrinkage defects are minimized by Design of Experiments (DOE) optimization method. The results show that simulation, combined with optimization techniques, significantly improves product quality and process efficiency. Reducing warpage is achievable by extending the packing pressure time and using a lower coolant temperature. However, while extending the packing pressure time and reducing the melt temperature have a marginal effect on reducing shrinkage, higher cooling temperatures, as predicted, results in diminished shrinkage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Additive technologies have begun its development and application since the second half of the 1980s. The main reason behind that was to fulfil the market demands of increased product quality, flexibility, lower costs, shorter development time and production, as well as small series and individual production. As part of additive technologies, low-budget 3D printers have been developed and are widely available now, and they have enabled a significant expansion of the application of additive technologies for development and production. A large number of low-budget 3D printers on the market make it difficult for the potential investor to choose from. Therefore, potential investor in low-budget 3D printers has to know more detailed their working principle, their construction, materials that they can process and the errors and problems of their technology that occur during processing. In the paper, two most popular low-budget 3D printers MakerBot Replicator 2X and Ultimaker Original was chosen for a detailed comparison. Two reference models were selected for detailed comparison of their performance. Evaluation was made based on final model properties such as deviations from nominal dimensions, shrinkage and surface roughness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]