PLA Support Structure Dissolving Solution from iFeelBeta
BetaSolution
If you’ve got a dual extruder in your 3D printer, you’re not far off from printing with support material. A few months ago our friends at iFeelBeta published the details on their newly developed formula for a solution that would dissolve PLA and leave ABS intact. As these chemicals are no joke, it’s no wonder that it’s taken several months for them to get the legal clearances to be able to ship this solution throughout Europe. (It’s basically the equivalent of a heavy duty drain cleaner) However, they now have BetaSolution up for sale on their website!
Once again, thanks to these guys for being amazing open source innovators and blazing this trail for everyone. Now that they’ve launched their shop, be sure and buy the solution from them!
Also, be sure and read their safety data sheet and manual before using it!
| Tagged with | betasolution, dual extruder, dual extrusion, ifeelbeta, pla, Support, support material, support structure | 4 comments |
4 Comments so far
Bryan
Well wouldn’t the water soluble plastic you guys sell in the Makerbot Store be a better candidate for dual extruders for support material? (Hence the use of less dangerous chemicals)
Zach Hoeken
Yup, water soluble plastic is definitely much safer. However, these guys did some awesome work, and we wanted to support that!
Paul Dutch
I am all for the amazing progress that the 3D printers will bring with them. However I have got an issue with the huge increase in plastic this will surely bring. And now there is a solution that allows you to dissolve PLA and thus use it as a support material? Serious?
Where does the dissolved PLA go? Down the drain??
I am feeling a bit queezy here thinking about the increase in plastic used and discarded when everyone has got a 3D printer sitting in their living room? Coat hook broken? Let’s print another one! Yey! But what to do with the old one? We’ll just throw it in the trash shall we?
Sure we manufacture on demand and we don’t have to hold great stocks any more which should go a long way to saving on the amount of wasted plastic. But imagine if it were really that easy that you just had to hit the print button to get a plastic part? If it is really that easy to get, you would probably not value the product as much and throw it away easily as well?
I think that together with this 3D printing movement there should be a parallel movement as well to develop some kind of recycling machine that scraps printed products that are discarded and brings it back to a virgin state, ready for reusing in the printer. And perhaps a movement that develops biodegradeable materials.
I say that the ultimate would be a 3D printer that doesn’t print plastic or anything cruel like that, but would reorganize matter as we know it. Print layers of molecules and atoms. Building a product from its Smallest Common Denominator Particle. Then being able to break it down again to be reused.
Yes, sounds far fetched but hey.. it’s not like 30 years ago we couldn’t imagine having machines that we sit behind and connect us to the rest of the world instantly, right?
Jamais203
Good point. We should only use recyclable materials with this babies.
If I use ABS, can I recycle it directly, like say, by extruding a new “born again” filament obtained by melting used/broken part I don’t need anymore ?