OT: Dumping Thread

[wierd_w]

The fancy PVC based filament arrived today.

 

My printer has some worn parts. ABS is too bitchy to get to print properly, PLA wears too fast, Nylon is not rigid enough, PETG does not want to stick, so I have abstained from making the parts I need for it.

 

Got the printer making said parts for itself with the new filament to try it out.  It has a somewhat narrow print temp window, but the insert in the roll says it DOES stick to PLA based bed treatment. (thumbs up!)

 

Sadly, it says it "Can release chlorine gas during printing, use in well ventilated area."  Guess I will have to open the upstairs windows and turn on some fans.  So far though, it prints quite nicely. Not sure why they call it a filament for advanced additive manufacturing.  Maybe it gets touchier as the build height increases?  So far, it prints a lot like nylon, but is not as bendy, and does not have the hygroscopic tendencies.

 

Time to go dig in the garden now though.  It can sit up here making parts for itself, and I can go get the yard read for my seedlings.

[HOME AUTOMATION]

Play Gaza(strip?)...

 

 

[+TheBF]

Completely off topic.  I just wanted to share this.  

 

[mizapf]

This somewhat triggered a latent desire inside me for a bus ride with Sandra Bullock.

[wierd_w]

After exhausting my remnant supply of smurf-blue weed-eater filament a few days ago, I ordered 2 new 5lb spools.

 

Since the stuff is REALLY intended for, you know, CUTTING DOWN WEEDS, it is not packaged in anything even resembling a hermetically sealed bag-- (which basically all quality printer filaments are shipped in), so I need to dry the stuff.  Sadly, nylon is so hygroscopic, that it sucks up water out of the air up to 3% of its weight, and does so VERY fast. This means that long-duration print times (like those PEB enclosure shells), suffer terribly, even though nylon would be a nearly ideal material for them.

 

SO--

 

I have thrown together a super ghetto hot-box out of a cardboard icecream treat box (Great value variety pack of icecream treats is ideally sized to hold a hand-wrapped spool of the trimmer line!), that has a hole cut for filament to come out, and is getting actively roasted with a hair dryer on high.  The side of the box is open, with the filament roll on the roll holder (which has been pushed through a slot I cut in the side of the box), and the hair dryer is aimed into the box (several inches distant, because I do not want the dryer to overheat).  This seems to be giving "Sufficient" hot-box active drying while I print the actual subject of this post-- (Not really dry enough, but sufficient to not be completely just opaque blue fuzz. It has some fuzziness still though. It will probably get better over the duration of the print, since the box holds heat from the hair dryer, and gets actively circulated. A few hours into the print and it should clear up. I only have 2 days off, and used yesterday getting DHE's shells shipped. I want this thing printing ASAP.)

 

I have a rather large Oster brand food dehydrator that would be IDEAL for holding the mammoth sized spools this stuff comes on, and for functioning as a much safer hotbox active dryer for long prints. It is some 13.6" in diameter.  I have designed a set of custom shelves for the thing that will be capable of suspending and feeding the huge rolls this stuff comes on. I am making *FULL* use of the large print volume of this new chiron.

 

According to Cura, the printing process will take an ENTIRE week. 

 

If this works, I might print another set of the shelves, and send them to Arcade Shopper. (Actual drying units cost between 60$ and 300$, and do not have anywhere close to the capacity that this relatively inexpensive (30$) dehydrator has. Since I am printing the shelves out of nylon, they will have very good heat tolerance, so cranking that dehydrator up all the way wont hurt the new shelf. Having an active dryer could be helpful for his printing exploits.)