Just a goofy tip for glue

[kmanstudios 1,120]

I've been printing for a short time and having to do a lot of research and the glue was a subject that has a lot of solutions.

My goofy tip is to recycle the PVA that you can into PVA slurry by just sticking all the bits into water, brush it on while you heat the bed, and it will make a nice, thin sheet of glue without the rough patches. Well, at least when I tried to get the glue stick down it always was rough. I don't even use the glue stick anymore and, well, you paid enough for the filament, put it towards savings

Right now I have not tried this with the Ultimaker PVA (Thought of it as I ran out of the PVA that came with the printer), but the Matterhackers PVA makes a very nice slurry. It is a different chemical composition.

[SandervG 1,521]

Great tip, thanks for sharing! I have heard it before and seems to work nicely.

Before you start dissolving your PVA, you break of some supports first which you can then use for your slurry? Plus it also helps to dissolve your supports faster (cause there is less) so it is a win-win situation!

With the glue stick, how do you mean it was rough? Did it affect your bottom layer?

Some people add some glue from a glue stick and then use a warm damp cloth to spread it out over the glass bed. Perhaps this could also be something to explore

[Responsible 4]

I've found when using a glue stick it spreads much more evenly if I wait until the bed is about 1/2 way to its final temperature. Just have to be fairly quick about it.

Pete

[kmanstudios 1,120]

Great tip, thanks for sharing! :)I have heard it before and seems to work nicely.

Before you start dissolving your PVA, you break of some supports first which you can then use for your slurry? Plus it also helps to dissolve your supports faster (cause there is less) so it is a win-win situation!

I just dissolve most of the support in a container with all the other junk in it (priming tower, or birds next if the priming tower gets toppled) as well as the main model. Depending on the PVA used, it will vary on times. Once most of it has gone by the wayside, I then do a final cleaning/dissolving to get rid of the more difficult parts. Those right against the model, in crevices and such. Depending on the model, there can be a lot of just long supports that melt away, or get globby enough to just gently pull off. It will leave it against parts where there are crevices and such.

 

With the glue stick, how do you mean it was rough? Did it affect your bottom layer? Some people add some glue from a glue stick and then use a warm damp cloth to spread it out over the glass bed. Perhaps this could also be something to explore

Yep, when I put on the glue stick it was not even and it did affect the bottom layer. That was when I started researching alternatives. Learned that the glues that were recommended were a PVA (white glue, Elmer's, etc) so I just started to recycle the PVA. I'm a "Use all the Buffalo" kinda guy. This way I do not need to buy new glues and, once I get my recycler to manufacture my own filaments from the waste, I can just let it dry out and solidify for additional recycling.

I just find this is a money saver in the long run...why buy a PVA product when you have PVA waste? I will soon be trying to do this with the Ultimaker PVA to see how it works. That stuff is expensive, but has cool characteristics (stiffer, clearish and bubbly). I would imagine all PVA's have this change in characteristic from type to type/brand to brand.

I am still in the noobish phase (only printing for about 2 months) and learning day by day. So many cubes, and other tests as well as my own models.

[XYZDesignPro 70]

I dispense (squeeze) a small amount of liquid Elmer's White Glue, about the size of a dime, into a very small bowl or shot glass. Add a tablespoon or so of hot water and stir briskly. The resulting slurry is about the consistency of skim milk. Brush it on a cold bed with a 1" wide, "throw away" foam brush from the hardware store. Rinse the brush with hot water for future re-use. Works for several prints if print removal is done carefully from a cold bed.

[kmanstudios 1,120]

I dispense (squeeze) a small amount of liquid Elmer's White Glue, about the size of a dime, into a very small bowl or shot glass.  Add a tablespoon or so of hot water and stir briskly.   The resulting slurry is about the consistency of skim milk.  Brush it on a cold bed with a 1" wide, "throw away" foam brush from the hardware store.  Rinse the brush with hot water for future re-use.  Works for several prints if print removal is done carefully from a cold bed.

 

That's a lot of what I read. But upon finding out that I did not have pay extra money, and use recycling instead of new packaging and extra money (though cheap, it is extra) for another product, I just use what I already have and plenty of it.

Kinda the 'whole buffalo' thing and not just using more things when I have plenty of supply. For instance....

I now have about a gallon of perfectly wonderful PVA slurry that is ready to be shaken, not stirred, and used at whim.

Bond...Buildplate Bond......---tee hee

Edited March 22, 2017 by Guest