21 Comments so far

• Erik J. Durwood II

  February 21, 2011 at 11:10 am

   

  Great news! Time to get back to designing my dual-extruder printer derivative! One-pass prints with dissolvable support material, HERE I COME!

   

• Stephen

  February 21, 2011 at 12:51 pm

   

  This is great! and hopefully with the stepper extruder we can now print objects with water soluble supports so we don’t have to worry about overhangs anymore! (though that will be rather labor intensive)

   

• Tweets that mention MakerBot Introduces Water Soluble 3D Printer Filament! - MakerBot Industries -- Topsy.com

  February 21, 2011 at 1:26 pm

   

  [...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Guan Yang, Zaq Mosher and Miquel Lloveras, HN Firehose. HN Firehose said: MakerBot Introduces Water Soluble 3D Printer Filament: http://bit.ly/gMMV1T [...]

   

• eagleapex

  February 21, 2011 at 3:40 pm

   

  I think more people know PVA as Poly Vinyl Acetate or white glue. This other use of “PVA” should be PVOH or PVAl to not confuse any carpenters or book binders or crafters.

   

• Daveland

  February 21, 2011 at 4:38 pm

   

  After reading the Temperature recommendations I wonder how I clean out an extruder with ABS in it to get the PVA running through it. I don’t know that 180-200C is hot enough to clear the ABS from the nozzle. And if PVA breaks down above 200C it may not get cleared out before it decomposes and clogs.

  Any Input from Makerbot on filament changeover practice?

   

• Joris

  February 21, 2011 at 4:51 pm

   

  How long did it take to fully dissolve the skull? Is it just still water, or is it moving?
  Would an ultrasonic cleaner dissolve the material faster?

   

• zgbot

  February 21, 2011 at 7:10 pm

   

  Daveland

  i have extruded abs down at about 190º i wouldn’t worry about that.

   

• tim1986

  February 21, 2011 at 9:14 pm

   

  This will be WAY more useful with a dual extruder.

   

• tre3

  February 21, 2011 at 10:55 pm

   

  Exciting

  >• smooth finishes on products without the use of solvents

  hehe… Water: also known as the “Universal Solvent”

  I’ve only seen “raw” PVA in liquid form – for spraying on molds… The alcohol evaporates and you’re left with a (hopefully) beautiful film of vinyl.

  That said, it would be great to get some 1.7mm love

   

• worksofman

  February 21, 2011 at 11:35 pm

   

  I think things just got a little more exciting.
  Ok, perhaps a lot.

   

• wirelessprint

  February 21, 2011 at 11:45 pm

   

  This material is so interesting. can it be reuse after it melt ?

   

• Matt

  February 22, 2011 at 11:21 am

   

  Quick background history of the video project: this dissolve took place in still water as a test to see how long it would take to dissolve completely without agitation. Most of it was gone in about 4-6 hours. Most folks using this process would use running water or other agitation which would drastically accelerate this process. We pretty much included the entire process in one swoop here (though played the most exciting parts with more frames than the last 20% of dissolving.

   

• Makerbot stellt wasserlösliches Plastik vor | 3Druck - alles über 3D-Drucker und Digital Fabricator

  February 23, 2011 at 1:10 pm

   

  [...] Makerbot.com [...]

   

• Rashad Glover

  February 26, 2011 at 2:02 am

   

  I think Im going to wait and buy the dual head with support material next year or can help and design it now. Please let me know if I can help. I have 12 Years of 3D CAD experience.

   

• Donald Pelton

  March 14, 2011 at 6:10 pm

   

  The idea of a soluble mold would be wonderful for making a casting of a nonwater based material, such as beeswax. I keep thinking of WSF however for practical jokes. Imagine a cup made of it.

   

• Metal 3D Printers

  May 3, 2011 at 10:13 pm

   

  [...] MakerBot Introduces Water Soluble 3D Printer Filament! A quote from Zach, co-founder of Makerbot- “Soluble objects are a holy grail of 3D Printing since our early days!” With MakerBot PVA filament you can now print 3D objects that dissolve in water. We at the BotCave have come up with some … MakerBot Introduces Water Soluble 3D Printer Filament! [...]

   

• Nowy członek rodziny Makerbotów | Designfutures.pl

  January 10, 2012 at 12:57 pm

   

  [...] dysze oznaczają możliwość druku obiektów w dwóch kolorach lub druk z materiałem podporowym wymywalnym wodą. Obie opcje z pewnością umożliwią dojście do bardzo ciekawych [...]

   

• PerryMakes

  January 21, 2012 at 12:11 am

   

  Looks like this filament is no longer available – and NOW would be the time to have something like this with the dual-extruder option now being offered!!

  What’s the story?

   

• Danny

  January 31, 2012 at 3:15 pm

   

  PVA filament URL moved to here: http://store.makerbot.com/makerbot-pva-1kg-spool.html

   

• michael shiloh

  March 22, 2012 at 9:47 pm

   

  What are the fumes like for this material? I use PLA primarily to avoid fumes.

   

• akka69

  March 28, 2012 at 9:26 am

   

  Why not use sugar filaments?
  It melts around 185,5°C and dissolves in water…