Tips to Follow if Printing From Space

[Brian_Krassenstein]

While there’s been much excitement over 3D printers headed to space in the last year, as well as all the future plans being made from governments and private organizations around the globe regarding colonization, one thing we lay people don’t hear much about is the issue of safety while 3D printing in space. In a document recently uncovered by Future Engineers, a company responsible for many innovative challenges involving young people designing for space, safety specifications for 3D printing are outlined, specifically prohibiting 3D printing using removable supports in space due to their potential for turning into floating hazards which astronauts could inhale. Read more about the dangers of supports in space in the full article: http://3dprint.com/87416/3d-printing-space-supports/


Below is a look at the 3D printer guidelines for space:

[richardphat]

Title is really misleading, should be rename forbidden to print support object rather than forget support. Because it made people think as, printing everything without support is possible in space.

[lithgowlights]

In a Zero g environment, why do you need any sort of support at all?

[Sebastian Finke]

In a Zero g environment, why do you need any sort of support at all?

Filament would shoot beyond the mark without support. Still need to give it a bed to lay on.

[curious aardvark]

surely you could simply slow down the print speed on an unsupported limb and up the cooling so the bead solidified as it was printed. There is no downward drag so logically you should be able to print long unsupported parts without any issue.
Seems weird that they give the exact same guidelines as printing in gravity.

Ah - reduce cooling and slow print speed. Otherwse it'll get blown around.
Hmm, it's tricky but should still be possible.