Re: [rp-ml] Zcorp binder

Quoting Steve Pinkston <SPinkston@essexind.com>:

> Has anyone experimented with using any other kind of dyes in a Zcorp
> printer other than the colored binders they sell? I would like to just
> make the binder tinted, not full color. This is useful if you need to
> align the print heads without replacing them. I have been thinning the
> color binder with clear at about a 10:1 ratio but my color is going to
> go out of date at this rate. It is also not very cost effective since
> the color binder is 60% more expensive than the clear.

The binder is cyanoacrylate, so, whatever you do, don't get any water
or water-soluble dye near it (or anything else with hydroxide ions).
I would have thought oil-soluble dyes might work well. I'd look at
dyes intended for cooking and catering oils, and azo dyes like Sudan
II. Azo dyes have OH groups, of course, but they are covalently
bonded, so shouldn't cause trouble.

If you get a powder dye, you'll have to be very careful that it's all
dissolved, or the residual powder will clog the print heads. I'd put
it through a filter paper just to be sure (again, making sure no
moisture gets to it). Watch out what the filter is made from -
cyanoacrylate reacts violently with cotton (and that means some
papers, too).

Experiment with a few tubes of Super Glue before pouring the dye into
the machine...

Best wishes

Adrian

Dr Adrian Bowyer
http://staff.bath.ac.uk/ensab
http://reprap.org
Received on Fri Jun 27 21:43:00 2008