[Noisebridge-discuss] Quick question about 3d printer

Rachel McConnell rachel at xtreme.com
Tue Oct 7 21:12:28 UTC 2014


All 3d printers that extrude plastic use thermoplastic of various types. 
  In theory you could melt down all your 3d printed objects and extrude 
more filament from them, and use that to print more objects, 
indefinitely.  Although in practice you'd get crud in the mix and it 
would eventually not work any more.

All the thermoset plastics I've worked with are made from two liquid or 
semi-liquid parts that are mixed together and then cure permanently, 
generating heat during the curing process.  A very common example of 
this is epoxy glue, which is technically a thermoset plastic.  Others 
you may be familiar with are the resins used with fiberglass, or the 
clear casting resins that some kinds of jewelry are made from.

You could still use 3d printing in the making of your handle.  Draw and 
3d print a handle to test the fit.  Once you have a version you are 
satisfied with, make a mold of it and cast a resin version as your final 
result.

Rachel1.0

On 10/7/14 12:56 PM, girlgeek wrote:
> I need to make a handle for a kitchen item.   What kind of plastic does
> the 3d printer use, Thermalplastic or Thermalset?  For this application
> I need to use Thermalset.  (Although a member of my family already
> managed to destroy the prior thermalset handle.)
>
> Thanks,
> Claudia
>
>
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