1 Topic by Jonny

  • Jonny
  • Newbie
  • Offline
  • Registered: 2013-03-11
  • Posts: 9

Topic: Rubber filament

I saw this today: thingiverse-thing:93148
And I thought that it was fairly expensive since you get about a tenth of the
amount for the same price (compared to a 1kg roll) and the smallest size is 2mm
which might work for a 1.75mm hot end.
        So I started to look for other materials that come in coils or cords, and I found
this EPDM rubber 1/16in 100ft for $19 at mcmastercar product #9616K11
(there is other rubbers too but EPDM is resistant to steam and water). Haven't tried this
but I'm curious if any of you know any thing about the melting point of rubber
(it says the temperature range is -40 to +212f), if it would clog the hot end, and
what material to print on/ it would adhere to.

2 Reply by Charles_Xavier (edited by Charles_Xavier 2013-08-03 03:17:42)

  • Charles_Xavier
  • Member
  • Offline
  • From: Indiana
  • Registered: 2013-04-11
  • Posts: 127

Re: Rubber filament

Preface: I have never used this material or any rubber in a printer.

An important thing to remember is that if a substance was not formulated for 3D printing, all bets are off. It might work. It might clog your hotend. It might off-gas something toxic and kill you. This has been mentioned before when people were printing with weed-wacker line (because it is cheap and mostly nylon), but it turned out to contain fiberglass. So there are a lot of risks.

Related to that caveat: I would never melt (or even excessively heat) a synthetic polymer that I didn't know a LOT about. This EPDM rubber is not a natural rubber, and it could break down into a dozen different things to give you cancer or kill you outright. But I think this is a moot point because it looks like this EPDM rubber is a thermoset and wouldn't work anyway.

If you decide to buy some anyway, I recommend taking a small amount of it and gradually heating it up on a hotplate or a stovetop and seeing if it smokes or smells ungodly before melting or smoldering. And if you decide to try printing with it anyway, buy an extra extruder.

The moral of the story is: Please don't kill yourself to save a few bucks. If it doesn't work, you'll probably end up spending the extra money anyway.