3D Printing PLA solvent

DestinyOceolot · December 28, 2016

I have found (through very scientific methods) some solvents that dissolve PLA and might be capable of smoothing prints, similar to acetone for ABS, just slower. Toluene and Xylene dissolved some PLA that I put in beakers, and I know that people in the UK can buy these from ebay or http://darrantchemicals.co.uk (Not an affiliate link). I don't know if or where you can buy these in any other countries.

My method was to put some scrap PLA in a beaker with the solvent and poke it until I saw some dissolve, and it did dissolve slowly, but it was cold.

I hope this helps someone.

Also safety tip: use these solvents outside or by an extractor fan as they evaporate quickly even when cold.

Hackentosher · December 28, 2016

Have you tried out the vapor smoothing method like with acetone and abs prints? This is very interesting, great research.

DestinyOceolot · December 28, 2016

17 minutes ago, Hackentosher said:

Have you tried out the vapor smoothing method like with acetone and abs prints? This is very interesting, great research.

I haven't tried that yet, I have literally just dropped some scrap PLA into those solvents, but I will try that at some point and post the results here. I will also try the other randoms solvents I have to see if those work once I clean my other beakers.

Hackentosher · December 28, 2016

1 minute ago, DestinyOceolot said:

I haven't tried that yet, I have literally just dropped some scrap PLA into those solvents, but I will try that at some point and post the results here. I will also try the other randoms solvents I have to see if those work once I clean my other beakers.

Ultimaker has really been pushing PVA filament as it is dissolveable in water so it can be used as a proper support material. But I didn't really think smoothing PLA was possible.

VoyexTech · January 5, 2017

-ignore-

VoyexTech · January 25, 2017

On 12/28/2016 at 10:40 AM, Hackentosher said:

Ultimaker has really been pushing PVA filament as it is dissolveable in water so it can be used as a proper support material. But I didn't really think smoothing PLA was possible.

I did alot of looking around and you can smooth PLA with chloroform or ethyl acetate and other polar solvents. Although ethyl acetate can create white marks on the print. Overall chloroform looks to be the best option but I need a license to get it so...