Has anyone had experience with PVA to support ABS on the H2D? I know on single nozzle devices people have had mixed results.
Interesting. I havent used ABS yet but was under the impression that PVA (At least from Bambu) was for PLA only (just looked at the website and yup) If you could get it to work with ABS i would be very interested but the internal temperature of the enclosure needed for ABS may mess with the PVA.
I’ll buy some to test if I don’t recieve any feedback. It feels like it could be a good interface material.
I’ve had bad luck with the support for abs not breaking away very well, especially with odd geometry.
If youve never messed with PVA before I would recommend at least playing around with it on PLA parts first. I had my own adventure with it last month and there was so much i learned that I hadnt really been expecting to. Its frustrating and rewarding at the same time and is very finnicky. Not to mention that using as an interface layer failed for me every time (gotta use all supports as PVA sadly)
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Thank you for the heads up. Very disappointing you were unable to use it as an interface layer.
Bambu doesn’t list a vicat softening temperature, so maybe there is hope yet to use it.
PVA is very hygroscopic, and you should expect some heartache trying to dry it and keep it sufficiently dry.
I agree w/ the interface assessment, I really haven’t had much luck on interface-only support filament of any kind except extremely simple large flat “shelf” supports. Slips or is knocked off the support body. My experience is thru an AMS and not thru second nozzle tho, so, i dunno.
As @Bullocks notes, PVA is highly hygroscopic—handling the spool with bare hands can introduce enough moisture to make it tacky, leading to jams throughout the extrusion path. I wouldn’t pair it with ASA due to the large temperature gap and the increased risk of clogs.
I use PVA extensively for bait boxes when fishing and often print entire models in PVA (just not Bambu Lab’s more expensive variant).
That said, you can combine PVA with many materials as long as the nozzle printing the PVA doesn’t run too hot; overheating will soften it prematurely and create problems you don’t want. Start with PLA or another easy material, proceed slowly, and work your way up as you get familiar with this finicky—but very useful—filament.
To get you started, you can follow this guide and adapt it for your H2 printer: PVA Printing Guide | Bambu Lab Wiki
For my X1 Carbon, I made this D20 die in a cage to showcase how PVA can be used: Just another D20 in a cage by L0rdS474n MakerWorld: Download Free 3D Models