Howdy! First post here. It WILL be a categorically ignorant newbie post, so I hope you’ll bear with me. I have almost no experience with 3d printing, much less printing with PVA, and the bulk of the research I’ve managed to do seems to revolve around this material’s use as a support material, which makes all kinds of sense. However, could it also be used as a print medium by itself, to create models for processes such as ‘lost wax’ casting, where a detailed model is made of wax, then cast in another material such as clay, and then removed with a molten material? Instead of wax, could I use PVA, then surround the model with casting material and use water to remove the PVA before casting?
Thanks for your time - I realize answering neophyte questions can be arduous, but I don’t know what I don’t know, and sometimes just spitballing a question produces an answer where research allows things to remain elusive…
Of course you can use PVA for whatever you want, but keep in mind: PVA dissolves in water, so if you want to make a mold for clay, the clay can’t be very watery otherwise the mold itself will slowly dissolve before the clay hardens.
In a closed mould design, it’ll be tricky to get a reasonable PVA/water interface to dissolve the PVA in a reasonable time.
In an open mould design (e.g. two halves), you have many more options by, for example, using a PLA print.
However, there are specialist filaments for this or even just PLA…
Don’t. You are just making trouble for yourself with PVA. If you want to try water soluble filaments jump straight to BVOH. But in general, having dissolved lots of both, you are never going to get it to dissolve inside a cast like that.
If you want to try burning it out, there are some filament already designed for this or experiment with natural (un-colored) PVB filaments.
Thank you! As I’m not doing anything but pondering, right now, I’m not married to any one method or process. That material definitely looks interesting, and is likely a better solution. Guess I’ve got more reading to do!
Really, I think my question was more about how PVA works for detail. As I stated, I have ZERO experience with this stuff, and don’t know anything beyond the little bits and pieces I’m seeing from browsing randomly on MakerWorld.
Appreciate all the input, gang. This is an intimidating and exciting process to dive into!
I do have to admit that I am rather biased due to some PVA experiences in the past with a Tevo Tarantula and later my X1. I am fully with @krellboy in that BVOH may not be easy in itself, but it is loads easier than PVA. I haven’t tried Bambu’s PVA though.
When properly dried, BVOH prints pretty much like PLA, bonds very well to PLA and is easy to remove. Just keep in mind that it is so hygroscopic, it’ll keep the dessiccant in the AMS dry So dry once a week even if in an AMS
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PS: I myself use Fiberlogy’s BVOH. Not cheap, but when going for interfaces only it is well worth it.
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So dry once a week even if in an AMS