I was thinking of trying to print with PVA in a solution as an ink with my inkjet printer. But there are 2 kinds of print head; thermal and peizo, which uses mechanical pumping action. The peizo is probably the only one it would work with, I would think, as with a thermal print head non volatile residue would accumulate in the print head.
How can you tell if a print head is peizo or thermal?
Also, any other ideas for inks? I was thinking, a saturated solution of PVA, maybe with a small amount of thixotropic gelling agent, print it on, evaporate the water, and repeat. Only the outer edges of the object need to be printed in high resolution. Of course it would be slow, but the resolution could be extremely good. Plus, you have 3 print heads right there, so you can use support material. Maybe a solution of a plastic in an organic solvent as the support material, as long as it is compatible with the print head... Or a very low viscosity plastic that melts at a temperature that is likewise compatible.
In the future, the printer could form the core of a printer that was more complicated,the interior of the object could be filled with some other, high speed but lower resolution method. A 3d scanner could be used to provide dimensional feedback, so that way the layer high does not have to be too exact each time.
But the first step is getting a printer that can print in very high resolution, which directly printing with an inkjet has the potential to do. The resolution is needed for things like jewelery, etc. Plus, down the line, if a material that can stand casting temperatures can be deposited with, you could print casts for full strength metal objects. Also, gel casting, in which the part is formed of a gel of colloidal ceramic material, which might be compatible with an inkjet head, then fired in an oven, is good enough you can make drill bits etc. with it directly, they do not need any finishing apparently (Except maybe sharpening, I would think).
