Material Conveyance/Processing for Additive Manufacturing Sustainability

Design of a conveyance system utilized in the recycling/reuse of HP PA12GB powder. The system should be able to attach to the top of a 55gal holding drum, and be movable with two person carry, between barrels. The system should be a closed loop, in order to avoid contaminating the work environment. The system should be able to draw the powder from the barrel, whether full or near empty, and convey it up to the chambers above. The first of these chambers needs to be able to perform a mixing, to proper ratio, of colorant and other additives. The second chamber should be a hopper that can feed an extrusion machine, and is able to keep a measured amount of mixed material on hand for the extruder, without allowing starvation. A bonus for this project would be one of two paths: 1. retro-fit the current extruder to gain more consistent filament diameter; or, 2. create a better extruder.