Hi. I want to build a filament extruder for recycling mainly e3d scaffold support material because its pretty expensive. The tolerances wont matter that much since the support material will get washed/broken away anyway. Is there anything special i should consider for extruding scaffold (modified PVA)? I read that different plastics can behave very differently.
You will undoubtedly have to dry the filament before and keep it sealed after as PVA does not do well with humidity.
I suspect that it might be a hard task. PVA degrades quicker at temperature than most other plastics.
Is it worth it? It’s not the cheapest of the bunch, but there is very little procentage of the support being used when printing models, unless there is some really odd geometry like bowl or something. You just have to account it into the print price.
@Matej_Rozman I mean if you could find a way to recycle it reliably you could make a single spool for months if not years.
@Adam_Steinmark the only scence here is environmental. If you get one single HE jam because of recycling it kills everything good about it.
WoW
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@Matej_Rozman Well you would have to test the filament extruder until you are able to run the grinding, extruding, and spooling reliably without causing jams during the print. It’s definitely possible, not easy or cheap, but possible.