SOLVED What material was commonly used for support structures before PVA was developed?

[nzo 16]

Just curious as to what people used in the pre-PVA era?

[ahoeben 1,654]

The same material that is used for the rest of the print, mostly

[geert_2 545]

Depends on the printer brand and type. FDM-printers and most laser-cured liquids use the same material as the print itself, in fine support structures.

Powder based printers don't use any support: the powder supports the model.

Some expensive industrial printers (50.000...100.000 euro) that I have seen, sometimes used a support material that dissolved in caustic (I don't know what material exactly). And the Objet-printers which have a system that looks like an inkjet printer (=ejecting liquid drops, which are cured by UV-light) also uses some sort of gummy washable material: it is washed off with a high pressure water jet. Could be PVA-based, could be something else?

[nzo 16]

Thanks Geert! I only have a single print head at the moment so I'm limited to one material at a time. But what's a few PLA support scars between friends