Washing Machine resistant filament?

[Nicolinux 288]

Hi,

 

soooo... adulthood huh? Where you have to wash your own laundry and hang it to dry... fun times. Except when it comes to socks. They come in pairs but leave the washing machine in a scrambled ball of sock doom which takes ages to sort. I'd like to tackle this problem with technology and print "sock clips" so they stay together. But I don't know what kind of filament to use. PLA should be fine since I am washing laundry at 30/40 C but I am more worried about the filament's resistance to detergents.

 

Do any of you have experience with it?

 

Thanks.

[geert_2 557]

I have a PLA sift sitting in the sink of my laboratory, just to test how well it would survive this harsh environment of soaps and diluted alcohol and detergents. Currently this is in colorFabb PLA/PHA. It does not show any damage after one year. The previous one was Ultimaker light blue, and that got a little bit dull after a year. I replaced it because the newer design is more handy to take out and to clean (and by then my UM blue filament was of course used up). I would say: just try it, it is a good experiment.  :)

 

[yellowshark 153]

Great idea ?  Mind you my socks go straight into the hot air drier so I need to trace the user manual and try to determine the temperature in the drier.

[kmanstudios 1,120]

To solve the sock problem, just be very nice to them. They got tangled up fighting over which one would be the one to escape (lost). It is a worldwide phenomenon and not just for you. It has even inspired stand up comics to make entire dialogues about it.

 

Remember, socks are wearables too....just be kind and all is good. ?

[drayson 75]

hmmm.... I just put them in a cloth mesh to prevent them from escaping ?

Good idea nico, but I had the experience that those sock clips wear off the area theyre mounted to over the time (and usually it is nearly the same place)

Regarding material: I have a roll of vulcano filament which can be heat threated that should work with thumble dryer too...

[yellowshark 153]

and do not forget; a sock is for life

[geert_2 557]

3 hours ago, drayson said:

hmmm.... I just put them in a cloth mesh to prevent them from escaping ?

...

Yes, this seems the best idea to me. Socks like to play hide and seek. If you just bind two together, they may still play their little game, but then as a siamese twin.

 

Anyway, if you make clips, make sure they are way bigger than the holes in your washing machine, also if they would break or deform. Otherwise these parts might go play hide and seek in the pumps and valves of the machine...

 

Another option is that you don't mind wearing socks of different colors. Some people have that as their little game.  :)

 

[drayson 75]

23 minutes ago, geert_2 said:

Another option is that you don't mind wearing socks of different colors. Some people have that as their little game.  ?

 

or just buy black ones - fit to everything - from suits to dirty feet :-()

 

Edited June 7, 2018 by drayson

[Dim3nsioneer 557]

In case you are still looking for a material after all that sock philosophy (which I liked btw.) I would try it with some copolyester such as CPE or PET-G. They are pretty resistant to various chemicals. Unfortunately UM does not have a list of chemicals CPE is resistant to.