Resin enhancement

[Morten]

So I'm wondering what can be achieved with mixing stuff into the resin. I plan on testing different fillers, but not only to economize. Colors are one thing, but can we also make metallics, sparkly prints and other special effects (like coffe grounds / wood powder)? Also, I'd like to investigate mixing in more than 22% by volume CNTs to make electro conductive resin for electroplating 3d printed models (and perhaps to make PCBs directly?). Any other ideas?

[amirjabri]

Yes all good ideas!!! I'm trying to make a bioresin from flax and hemp oils. We need to look into these things more but very time consuming to test all the new ideas. I'm trying to make my own resin for 1$ per liter.

[Morten]

Localy sourced bio-resin would be wonderful.

[rylangrayston]

Yes all good ideas!!! I'm trying to make a bioresin from flax and hemp oils. We need to look into these things more but very time consuming to test all the new ideas. I'm trying to make my own resin for 1$ per liter.

whhoo a dollar per liter Thats ambitious .. I love it ... can you tell us more?

[amirjabri]

whhoo a dollar per liter Thats ambitious .. I love it ... can you tell us more?

I talked to the owner of manitoba harvest, and he said he sells hemp oil at 1$ per liter. Hemp oil can be converted to an epoxy resin in air using a non-toxic manganese catalyst (like manganese dioxide you can get for free from used batteries: I took apart a used panasonic C battery and got over 20 grams!). You also get several grams of pure Zinc metal which can be used for many applications: don't throw away your used batteries anymore they are full of amazing valuable and pure chemicals! (I'm thinking of using it help to stop my car from rusting).

You can obviously add the most active known photocatalyst for epoxies which can be made easily or purchased separately for around 20$ per kg from suppliers advertising on alibaba http://www.alibaba.com/trade/search?..._en&fsb=y&sq=y (you only need less than a percent by mass of resin though so it doesnt add more than a few cents on the dollar).

I'm also working along those lines, but also trying out more hacker-friendly recipies using virgin oils made in canada and recycled chemicals like from batteries etc.

Mix those two things together and you have a perfect bio-degradeable, cheap, food-safe, and totally green resin. I used to work in a chemistry lab for 15 years, where I made polymers for industry so this is no problem! I have a small lab set up near my home where I have a controlled heater and I'm testing variations on the curing. I found definately flaxseed oil is naturally photocatalytic and can slowly harden in the sun over the course of a few hours (nothing happens in the dark). I'm trying also to add a simple catalyst to speed up the process so that possibly your peachy printer could use a virgin flax oil and catalyst for 3d printing. Its also nice with flaxseed as you cant really cure more than a thin layer because it is self-limiting as it needs oxygen from the air to cure along with the light. Once a layer is cured it stops untill a new layer is exposed to air and light and the curing starts again.

I started years ago looking into natural based plastics like flax fiber composites, and catalysts for making such plastics, and recently thought it would be so cool to convert a natural oil into a 3d printing resin after the Peachy Printer project was born and inspired me to get involved into it. Plus I teach children and I wanted to let them use the Peachy Printer, however I was worried that the resins available were probably toxic and not safe for children to use.

[jstrack2]

Wow this sounds awesome! The original Kickstarter video made the Peachy Printer sound too good to be true, and yet it keeps getting better! Dirt cheap printer plus dirt cheap resin is really exciting. And if you don't like a print you can just eat it haha. Best of luck!

Also with regards to the flaxseed oil needing oxygen, would it be possible for the flaxseed oil to get oxygen through a liquid rather than the air? I ask because if the flaxseed oil was sandwiched between two liquids it wouldn't have any surface ripples. Either way though this sounds great!

[amirjabri]

Wow this sounds awesome! The original Kickstarter video made the Peachy Printer sound too good to be true, and yet it keeps getting better! Dirt cheap printer plus dirt cheap resin is really exciting. And if you don't like a print you can just eat it haha. Best of luck!

Also with regards to the flaxseed oil needing oxygen, would it be possible for the flaxseed oil to get oxygen through a liquid rather than the air? I ask because if the flaxseed oil was sandwiched between two liquids it wouldn't have any surface ripples. Either way though this sounds great!

Well you would need then to make an epoxy from the flax first using a catalyst and add a photocatalyst to make a resin for peachy printer, and it wouldn't need any air to cure because it is already an epoxy. I was also interested in if you could just use a virgin flax oil which would eliminate one step.

[jstrack2]

Oh okay thanks I understand now.

[rylangrayston]

Well you just let me know how I can help you amirjabri
Have you talked to Josh Elis from maker Juice yet?

[amirjabri]

Well you just let me know how I can help you amirjabri
Have you talked to Josh Elis from maker Juice yet?

I actually haven't yet, It would be really cool to link up with more interested people and sort of form a club to motivate this type of research. There is so much ground to cover, but alot of amazing polymer research has been published in scientific journals which is amazing resource of information! I'm saving all the useful articles I find, and writing down the results of all the experiments I'm doing in case I find a good system.