Thursday, February 18, 2010

Parifin Wax Soak for RP parts.

While playing around with some of my Mendel parts, I came across the most fun way to make SUPER dense parts that are also quick to print. I hadn't posting anything about it because I thought it was a little silly, but after a post on thingiverse, I realized this technique might help some people out.

Parifin wax is around the same density as ABS, but melts at 64C. A very easy way to cut your build times on structural components is to print an item at say .15 or even .1, basically making a part almost completely hollow.

You then place the part in a pot with melted parifin. The parifin will eventually fill the inside of the part (after about 5 minutes, depending on the part). Then pull the part out of the pot, and place it in the freezer. After about an hour take the part out of the freezer and place it in the oven. After about 10 minutes the outside of the part can be wiped clean. The part will be super heavy, like a 1 infill part, and will be structurally strong at room temp.

This technique has some advantages.

-Almost no warping, it's the infill that causes most of our warping issues
-Parfin wax is available in all countries, and cost $3 a lb
-No odor
-Cuts print times by a significant amount.
-If you are really cheap, you can get the Parifin wax out of the part by placing it an oven at 100C, and just let it drip out.

Disadvantages:

-Parafin is very flamable, and if someone put a match against your part, well by by house.

-Would not be suitable for extruder parts, but would be suitable for all parts that are not related to either the motors, or extruder.

Sorry no video, my camera has been stolen by my 3 year old daughter.

3 comments:

  1. Intereseting post just thinking what other materirials are there that might have similar properties without the flamability.

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  2. Two part low viscosity resins would do the job as well. But can be quite costly.

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  3. We are on the same page.
    My concepts are contailed under "Fixturing"
    http://probersideas.blogspot.com/2009/12/5th-generation-fixturing.html & http://probersideas.blogspot.com/2009_11_01_archive.html

    My hope was to recycle scrap plastic for "infill".
    Good work!

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