Should You Start 3D Printing with PHA Filament?
Vložit
- čas přidán 8. 12. 2022
- Is there anyone more qualified to discuss eco-friendly filaments than the Ecostruder himself?!
In this video, we break down exactly what PHA is, why this product exists, and return to a tried and true, "very scientific", method of testing the stuff out! With all the potential for a new ground-breaking eco-friendly filament, let's get into it!
Have you used any PHA filaments yet? Leave your experiences and opinions in the comments, we'd love to hear them!
ECOstruder@HartSmartProducts.com
www.HartSmartProducts.com
Follow ECOstruder on Social Media:
/
/ hartsmartprod
/ ecostruder - Věda a technologie
I work in the makerspace of a public library, one that 3d prints whatever patrons ask for. It was tough, but I've more or less managed to convince them to make 100% PHA our standard go-to everyday material. Tough in that it costs a lot more, AND tough in that it's ridiculously hard to print well 😅
First of all, I love that your public library is providing access to 3D printing for your community--that's awesome. Even better, the fact that you are using a fully compostable material ensures that all of the 3D printed stuff that you make won't exist in a thousand years from now. Excellent work!
Storms! Did not expect a Stormlight reference in this video! Thanks for the info, I'm ready to start soulcasting some stuff into PHA!
Life before Death. Strength before Weakness. Journey before Destination.
Enjoy the journey of printing with PHA!
So glad to see someone reviewing all of the bio alternative sources of filament! Instant subscribe :)
Thanks for the sub!
Trying to learn more of Eco Friendly 3d printing and this vid was amazing, thank you!!
Glad it was helpful!
Good to see videos about PHA, keep it up!
Thanks! Will do!
Hi ECOstruder, good to find this! Finally a ray of light on this confusing urgent subject of sustainability
I'm delighted that you found it! PHA is a really cool material, and I have even found some additional options after publishing this video. I'm happy to see development happening with this eco-friendly filament option.
@@ecostruder would you mind sharing the additional options?
@@jutube476 I'd be delighted to! I haven't printed with it yet, but filaments.ca now offers a PHA material called Regen PHA. The material I've mostly been focused on testing out (and it's performing extremely well so far) is the PHA options from Beyond Plastic. They have a Flex PHA which is really good and a Standard PHA which is a bit closer to PLA. Both print much easier than the allPHA stuff from Colorfabb and I've got some amazing parts with very minimal effort. The trick is to print on a cold bed with some glue stick on it--it works wonders. Good luck!
@@ecostruder thanks a lot! you are a big help.
Thanks for this video! I found it very helpfull! Can you recommend a printer for the usage of allPHA?
I'm glad you liked it! allPHA (or any other PHA filament such as the really good stuff from Beyond Plastic) doesn't actually require any sort of special printer. The key thing is to ensure that you can print without the bed being hot. Some printers, such as my Creality CR-6 Max want to heat the bed up at the start of every print in order to home the machine when the bed is warm. This is annoying with PHA since it is better to print it on a cold bed. But direct drive, bowden, plastic-lined hotends or all-metal hotends--it's all good!
I knew PLA isn't biodegradable and I'm super happy AllPHA is. Thanks for the video even if like EstBest69 I definitely want to know more on the degradation of the allPHA filament. I'll test it as soon as I can 🙂
I'd love to know the results of your testing!
Thanks for the inspiration! Just bought a few PHA rolls from filaments ca (much cheaper), hoping for the best!
That's wonderful--I hope you love it! Thanks for exploring the eco-friendly side of 3D printing!
Great video. Please review the PHA by Beyond plastic
Thanks for watching! I didn't do a full review of Beyond Plastic's PHA, but I did talk about in my video here: czcams.com/video/PNyUyTBKRdY/video.htmlsi=lMQGerUsGXtjIays. Their PHA filament is the best I've tried by far. Highly recommended.
Lots of countries recycle a lot of their plastics. Makers who do use recyclable plastics like ABS should get into the habit of adding the recycle logo on the objects they print so their consumers would know how to recycle. If people think bio-degradability is interesting for landfills (which aren't very good biotopes for bio-degradation without chemical help) they may be less inclined to recycle.
This is a great idea, however I looked into it a while ago and sadly, most (if not all) recycling facilities will ignore the plastic type in the symbol (they already do). The recent report by Greenpeace was very enlightening about what actually gets recycled at all in the USA. I hate to be negative, but our recycling system is pretty terrible, even with known plastics like PETE soda bottles. I wish it was different. Currently the best option is to ensure you are using biodegradable materials, or already recycled plastics. Maybe someday things will get better. Thank you for your comment--always great to think about things like this!!
I would agree with Brandon except on one little ray of sunshine. Here in California, we now have SB54, mandated recycle content minimums for packaging. And we also have mandated municipal composting services.
And as we speak, we are helping draft a bill that would classify biopolymers (not all are created equal). And ensuring that mfg. proof and validated their end of life claims for all products made with any and all biopolymers.
Sounds promising! I hope it works out!
That's a fascinating background you've got there. Can you give me any more information about it? Did you laser-cut that yourself? Are there files available somewhere?
Why thank you! This is a custom-designed temporary wall that we had made to separate our retail space from our community area. When we first moved into the space we didn't have nearly enough products to fill up the retail area so I had this wall made so the retail area would feel smaller and less empty, then we could move it as needed when we got more products in. It was designed by a local artist, Molly Spain. Then it was laser cut from corrugated cardboard by a local shop, Notch & Nail. It is meant to emulate the HartSmart Products logo with pieces that simply slot together. Since it's all just corrugated cardboard and no glue or fasteners, it's 100% recyclable!
Thanks
No. Thank YOU!
What about a PHB/PHA blend? Still safe for the environment, but just degrades more slowly than PHA alone. I found some by NonOilen brand. Let me know what you think. Thanks!
If it still biodegrades in the same (or a similar) way and it's an easily printable material then I'm into it! I've heard of Fillamentum's NonOilen before but I've never printed with it. I should fix that. Great suggestion!
It would make sense for airsoft BBs to be made in PHA :) PHA granulates looks to be similarly priced to PLA, so it has potential to be price competitive.
This is a great idea. While PHA won't necessarily break down when it's not in an ideal environment, having PHA pellets scattered around the woods/grass would certainly be better than PLA.
Can someonepoint me in the direction on how to dial in All PHA. I haven't had a successful print yet.
I'm assuming you are referring to ColorFabb's "AllPHA" material. I struggled a lot to get good prints with that material (as I showed in the video). ColorFabb has some suggested printing advice on their product page (colorfabb.com/allpha-black). The biggest issue with this material is that it doesn't want to stick to the bed. And overhangs are a problem. Make sure the bed is cold (no heat whatsoever), use a brim, and some sort of bed adhesive. I tried several and I believe regular old glue stick seemed to work best. For what it's worth, I found Beyond Plastic's PHA to be significantly easier to print with than AllPHA. I know that's not available everywhere (yet), but it's really good.
Another thing to note about PHA: that material creeps more than PLA and absorbs moisture like crazy.
Would you want to do a test on the degradation of the allPHA filament?
I would love to do that. Unfortunately I don't currently have a good way to carry out that test. I'd also want to compare the degradation of multiple types of 3D printing plastics, rather than limiting it to allPHA. So many people still think that PLA is biodegradable. It would be great to show how PHA compares to PLA. I'll have to think through the right way to do this. It's a solid suggestion. Thanks!
"Kaladin Corg-blessed". Heh, Nerd.
Yeah. Fair. But proud of it! :-)
@@ecostruder Takes one to know one 😂 Life before death.
Kinda disappointed at the video from the title. I was hoping to see a test of is decomposability before I bought any. Thank you for the info about how it prints and everything however.
I have to admit that I agree with you. I didn't love this title for the video. It's a bit misleading. I'll probably change it, if I can. For what it's worth, I had a local customer volunteer to print some stuff and bury it in their yard. She recently dug it up and there was absolutely nothing left of it. It's fully biodegraded without any trace!
Kaladin korgblessed LMAO. Journey before destination, bet this guy likes walks.
has anyone actually tested this breaking down?
Great question. I doubt there has been any time to study allPHA filament itself since it is so new to the market, but the biodegradation of PHA is a well established and documented fact. Since allPHA filament is all PHA, those same characteristics should apply.
You didn't prove anything about biodegradability. You just made claims with no proof.
I agree! For materials like this I have to rely upon the research and statements from the manufacturers. This was not a video about proving anything--just bringing attention to a relatively unknown material that, according to all sources I can find, is far more eco-friendly than even typical PLA. I'd be very interested to see someone actually bury or compost these to see how that works out.
Par for the course for light-weight science videos on youtube.