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Printing in Polystyrene

Posted by An Original Name 
Printing in Polystyrene
November 02, 2012 04:55PM
Greetings!

Curious to see if anyone has tried using polystyrene as a print material, which is the same material used in scale model kits. I have a lot of sprues lying around from various kits, and I'm interested in the idea of recycling them. It melts at around the same temperature as ABS, but it is very brittle. I am also unaware of potential health hazards.

Thanks,
An Original Name
Re: Printing in Polystyrene
November 02, 2012 06:31PM
I haven't any experience, but I do know the GRRF recently started selling Polystyrene: [grrf.de]

I'd be interested to hear how it prints, and also whether it could be reclaimed from recycling.


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garyhodgson.com/reprap | reprap.development-tracker.info | thingtracker.net
Re: Printing in Polystyrene
November 03, 2012 07:57AM
According this table it has a shrinkage factor comparable to ABS, so if it sticks to the usual print bed materials, it should be printable. But I think ABS better in almost every way, I wouldn't use PS unless there was a big difference in price in favor of PS...
Edit: I bet it smells horrible too, being pure styrene...

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/03/2012 08:00AM by ttsalo.
Re: Printing in Polystyrene
November 04, 2012 03:12PM
Yes, smell would probably be a problem. Mechanically speaking, is it similar in properties to ABS?
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