Manual Support

I've been playing around with the idea of using clay as a manual support material for PLA, and I've written up an page on the Wiki that describes the process.

Cool stuff! It "only" needs a second extruder with a clay syringe to automate the process.

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-Nudel
Blog with RepRap Comic

I suspect that the clay will have to be too wet when extruded from a syringe to make a good support for PLA . However, I plan to try some experiments as soon as I get all of the necessary equipment.

Yes, it'll probably have to flow a bit to make a nice, flat top surface. But if you use skirt all the way up (like you do in the pictures on the wiki), there will be a barrier to contain the clay, hopefully.

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-Nudel
Blog with RepRap Comic

Hmm.. that is really cool and gives me an idea, if you have the skirt, why not just fill the thing with a warm viscous fluid occasionally. perhaps dilute gelatin. the print would pause every now and again for you to top it off. This would work much better for a machine that has a moving printhead like the ultimaker than one with a moving platform though due to sloshing.