PLA

88 Articles

3D Filament lizards show decomposable joints

Sustainable 3D Prints With Decomposable Filaments

May 30, 2025 by 24 Comments

What if you could design your 3D print to fall apart on purpose? That’s the curious promise of a new paper from CHI 2025, which brings a serious hacker vibe to the sustainability problem of multi-material 3D printing. Titled Enabling Recycling of Multi-Material 3D Printed Objects through Computational Design and Disassembly by Dissolution, it proposes a technique that lets complex prints disassemble themselves via water-soluble seams. Just a bit of H2O is needed, no drills or pliers.

At its core, this method builds dissolvable interfaces between materials like PLA and TPU using water-soluble PVA. Their algorithm auto-generates jointed seams (think shrink-wrap meets mushroom pegs) that don’t interfere with the part’s function. Once printed, the object behaves like any ordinary 3D creation. But at end-of-life, a water bath breaks it down into clean, separable materials, ready for recycling. That gives 90% material recovery, and over 50% reduction in carbon emissions.

This is the research – call it a very, very well documented hack – we need more of. It’s climate-conscious and machine-savvy. If you’re into computational fabrication or environmental tinkering, it’s worth your time. Hats off to [Wen, Bae, and Rivera] for turning what might otherwise be considered a failure into a feature.

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3D Print ABS Without A Screaming Hot Bed

May 29, 2025 by 15 Comments

ABS is a durable material that can be 3D printed, but requires a 100° C build surface. The print bed of [Pat]’s Bambu Lab A1 Mini is unable to get that hot, which means he can not print ABS…or can he? By fiddling a few settings, he prints ABS no problem with only a 60° C bed, thanks to a PLA interface layer.

Here’s what’s going on: first [Pat] prints a single layer of PLA, then does a filament swap for ABS (which the printer thinks is PETG with extrusion temperature bumped to 255° C and a tweaked flow rate) and lets the print finish. The end result is an ABS part with a single layer of PLA at the bottom, all printed on a 60° C bed. That PLA layer peels off easily, leaving a nice finish behind.

[Pat] is printing small parts in ABS for a custom skeletal mouse shell (pictured above) and his results are fantastic. We’re curious how this technique would fare with larger ABS objects, which tend to have more issues with warping and shrinkage. But it seems that at least for small parts, it’s a reliable and clever way to go.

We originally saw how [JanTec Engineering] used this technique to get less warping with ABS. As for why PLA is the way to go for the interface layer, we’ve learned that PLA only really truly sticks to PLA, making it a great interface or support for other filaments in general. (PETG on the other hand wants to stick to everything but PLA.)

A Die-Level Look At The Pentium FDIV Bug

December 29, 2024 by 10 Comments

The early 1990s were an interesting time in the PC world, mainly because PCs were entering the zeitgeist for the first time. This was fueled in part by companies like Intel and AMD going head-to-head in the marketplace with massive ad campaigns to build brand recognition; remember “Intel Inside”?

In 1993, Intel was making some headway in that regard. The splashy launch of their new Pentium chip in 1993 was a huge event. Unfortunately an esoteric bug in the floating-point division module came to the public’s attention. [Ken Shirriff]’s excellent account of that kerfuffle goes into great detail about the discovery of the bug. The issue was discovered by [Dr. Thomas R. Nicely] as he searched for prime numbers. It’s a bit of an understatement to say this bug created a mess for Intel. The really interesting stuff is how the so-called FDIV bug, named after the floating-point division instruction affected, was actually executed in silicon.

We won’t presume to explain it better than [Professor Ken] does, but the gist is that floating-point division in the Pentium relied on a lookup table implemented in a programmable logic array on the chip. The bug was caused by five missing table entries, and [Ken] was able to find the corresponding PLA defects on a decapped Pentium. What’s more, his analysis suggests that Intel’s characterization of the bug as a transcription error is a bit misleading; the pattern of the missing entries in the lookup table is more consistent with a mathematical error in the program that generated the table.

The Pentium bug was a big deal at the time, and in some ways a master class on how not to handle a complex technical problem. To be fair, this was the first time something like this had happened on a global scale, so Intel didn’t really have a playbook to go by. [Ken]’s account of the bug and the dustup surrounding it is first-rate, and if you ever wanted to really understand how floating-point math works in silicon, this is one article you won’t want to miss.

Printing In Multi-material? Use These Filament Combos

December 7, 2024 by 15 Comments

If one has a multi-material printer there are more options than simply printing in different colors of the same filament. [Thomas Sanladerer] explores combinations of different filaments in a fantastic article that covers not just which materials make good removable support interfaces, but also which ones stick to each other well enough together to make a multi-material print feasible. He tested an array of PLA, PETG, ASA, ABS, and Flex filaments with each in both top (printed object) and bottom (support) roles.

A zero-clearance support where the object prints directly on the support structure can result in a very clean bottom surface. But only if the support can be removed easily.

People had already discovered that PETG and PLA make pretty good support for each other. [Thomas] expands on this to demonstrate that PLA doesn’t really stick very well to anything but itself, and PETG by contrast sticks really well to just about anything other than PLA.

One mild surprise was that flexible filament conforms very well to PLA, but doesn’t truly stick to it. Flex can be peeled away from PLA without too much trouble, leaving a very nice finish. That means using flex filament as a zero-clearance support interface — that is to say, the layer between the support structure and the PLA print — seems like it has potential.

Flex and PETG by contrast pretty much permanently weld themselves together, which means that making something like a box out of PETG with a little living hinge section out of flex would be doable without adhesives or fasteners. Ditto for giving a PETG object a grippy base. [Thomas] notes that flexible filaments all have different formulations, but broadly speaking they behave similarly enough in terms of what they stick to.

[Thomas] leaves us with some tips that are worth keeping in mind when it comes to supported models. One is that supports can leave tiny bits of material on the model, so try to use same or similar colors for both support and model so there’s no visual blemish. Another tip is that PLA softens slightly in hot water, so if PLA supports are clinging stubbornly to a model printed in a higher-temperature material like PETG or ABS/ASA, use some hot water to make the job a little easier. The PLA will soften first, giving you an edge. Give the video below a watch to see for yourself how the combinations act.

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Putting The New CryoGrip Build Plate To The Test

October 25, 2024 by 15 Comments

BIQU has released a new line of low-temperature build plates that look to be the next step in 3D printing’s iteration—or so YouTuber Printing Perspective thinks after reviewing one. The Cryogrip Pro is designed for the Bambu X1, P1, and A1 series of printers but could easily be adapted for other magnetic-bed machines.

The bed adhesion strength when cold is immense!

The idea of the new material is to reduce the need for high bed temperatures, keeping enclosure temperatures low. As some enclosed printer owners may know, trying to print PLA and even PETG with the door closed can be troublesome due to how slowly these materials cool. Too high an ambient temperature can wreak havoc with this cooling process, even leading to nozzle-clogging.

The new build plate purports to enable low, even ambient bed temperatures, still with maximum adhesion. Two versions are available, with the ‘frostbite’ version intended for only PLA and PETG but having the best adhesion properties.  A more general-purpose version, the ‘glacier’ sacrifices a little bed adhesion but gains the ability to handle a much wider range of materials.

An initial test with a decent-sized print showed that the bed adhesion was excellent, but after removing the print, it still looked warped. The theory was that it was due to how consistently the magnetic build plate was attached to the printer bed plate, which was now the limiting factor. Switching to a different printer seemed to ‘fix’ that issue, but that was really only needed to continue the build plate review.

They demonstrated a common issue with high-grip build plates: what happens when you try to remove the print. Obviously, magnetic build plates are designed to be removed and flexed to pop off the print, and this one is no different. The extreme adhesion, even at ambient temperature, does mean it’s even more essential to flex that plate, and thin prints will be troublesome. We guess that if these plates allow the door to be kept closed, then there are quite a few advantages, namely lower operating noise and improved filtration to keep those nasty nanoparticles in check. And low bed temperatures mean lower energy consumption, which is got to be a good thing. Don’t underestimate how much power that beefy bed heater needs!

Ever wondered what mini QR-code-like tags are on the high-end build plates? We’ve got the answer. And now that you’ve got a pile of different build plates, how do you store them and keep them clean? With this neat gadget!

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3D Printed Tires, By The Numbers

October 24, 2024 by 21 Comments

What does it take to make decent tires for your projects? According to this 3D printed tire torture test, it’s actually pretty easy — it’s more a question of how well they work when you’re done.

For the test, [Excessive Overkill] made four different sets of shoes for his RC test vehicle. First up was a plain PLA wheel with a knobby tread, followed by an exact copy printed in ABS which he intended to coat with Flex Seal — yes, that Flex Seal. The idea here was to see how well the spray-on rubber compound would improve the performance of the wheel; ABS was used in the hopes that the Flex Seal solvents would partially dissolve the plastic and form a better bond. The next test subjects were a PLA wheel with a separately printed TPU tire, and a urethane tire molded directly to a PLA rim. That last one required a pretty complicated five-piece mold and some specialized urethane resin, but the results looked fantastic.

Non-destructive tests on the tires included an assessment of static friction by measuring the torque needed to start the tire rolling against a rough surface, plus a dynamic friction test using the same setup but measuring torque against increasing motor speed. [Overkill] threw in a destructive test, too, with the test specimens grinding against a concrete block at a constant speed to see how long the tire lasted. Finally, there was a road test, with a full set of each tire mounted to an RC car and subjected to timed laps along a course with mixed surfaces.

Results were mixed, and we won’t spoil the surprise, but suffice it to say that molding your own tires might not be worth the effort, and that Flex Seal is as disappointing as any other infomercial product. We’ve seen other printed tires before, but hats off to [Excessive Overkill] for diving into the data.

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New Study Looks At The Potential Carcinogenicity Of 3D Printing

October 14, 2024 by 40 Comments

We’ve all heard stories of the dangers of 3D printing, with fires from runaway hot ends or dodgy heated build plates being the main hazards. But what about the particulates? Can they actually cause health problems in the long run? Maybe, if new research into the carcinogenicity of common 3D printing plastics pans out.

According to authors [CheolHong Lim] and [ and that PLA was less likely to be hazardous than ABS. The study was designed to assess the potential carcinogenicity of both ABS and PLA particulates under conditions similar to what could be expected in an educational setting.

To do this, they generated particulates by heating ABS and PLA to extruder temperatures, collected and characterized them electrostatically, and dissolved them in the solvent DMSO. They used a cell line known as Balb/c, derived from fibroblasts of an albino laboratory mouse, to assess the cytotoxic concentration of each plastic, then conducted a comet assay, which uses cell shape as a proxy for DNA damage; damaged cells often take on a characteristically tailed shape that resembles a comet. This showed no significant DNA damage for either plastic.

But just because a substance doesn’t cause DNA damage doesn’t mean it can’t mess with the cell’s working in other ways. To assess this, they performed a series of cell transformation assays, which look for morphological changes as a result of treatment with a potential carcinogen. Neither ABS nor PLA were found to be carcinogenic in this assay. They also looked at the RNA of the treated cells, to assess the expression of genes related to carcinogenic pathways. They found that of 147 cancer-related genes, 113 were either turned up or turned down relative to controls. Finally, they looked at glucose metabolism as a proxy for the metabolic changes a malignant cell generally experiences, finding that both plastics increased metabolism in vitro.

Does this mean that 3D printing causes cancer? No, not by a long shot. But, it’s clear that under lab conditions, exposure to either PLA or ABS particulates seems to be related to some of the cell changes associated with carcinogenesis. What exactly this means in the real world remains to be seen, but the work described here at least sets the stage for further examination.

What does this all mean to the home gamer? For now, maybe you should at least crack a window while you’re printing.