MakerGear Forum

Does anyone know of a filament type that does not dissolve in acetone? I know HDPE doesn't, but it doesn't look like an HDPE filament exists. All I can find are experimental HDPE filaments being made by people chopping up milk jugs. I can't think of any other type of plastic that can hold up to acetone.

Looks like maybe nylon filament is acetone resistant?

PLA, At least not at any significant rate. I tried acetone polishing PLA with no results.

will it be constantly in contact with the acetone?

PLA is too brittle and too heat sensitive for my application, but I imagine that one is in fact resistant to acetone. I need the slightly flexible type plastic like ABS, PETG or Nylon which will allow me to press-fit metal pins into very slightly undersized holes without cracking the plastic. The printed parts will need to be cleaned up using acetone after each use, so that will actually expose the parts to acetone from a spray bottle.

Get with one of those dudes. See if they would spot you some for testing on your machine?

pyro, petg and nylon will be what you want. both are acetone resistant. i have pet bottles in my shop that that solvent base paints come in. thats all acetone, mek, nba, and tons of other solvents.

pyronaught wrote:Does anyone know of a filament type that does not dissolve in acetone? I know HDPE doesn't, but it doesn't look like an HDPE filament exists. All I can find are experimental HDPE filaments being made by people chopping up milk jugs. I can't think of any other type of plastic that can hold up to acetone.

I made some HDPE filament awhile ago ... it's wildly inconsistent on the diameter, but it might work for a test?

jimc wrote:pyro, petg and nylon will be what you want. both are acetone resistant. i have pet bottles in my shop that that solvent base paints come in. thats all acetone, mek, nba, and tons of other solvents.

That's good that PETG works, I really like that stuff and it has exactly the degree of flexibility I need. I've never tried nylon yet, but it
sounds like too big of a pain to get to stick to the build plate and looks like it can have moisture absorption issues too.

This is another tool project for my website, so I don't want to use experimental home made filament since other people need to be able to reproduce these projects using commercially available filament.

BTW, HDPE is what the fireworks industry uses for mortars. Not only is it super tough, but when you do manage to detonate one it will not fragment into shards like PVC and other types of plastic pipe will. It just sort of peels or melts open with the fragments staying connected to each other. It holds up really well to heat too. There is no known solvent or glue that will work on it either, pieces can only be joined by friction welding or hardware fasteners. Another nice thing about it is that it can sit out in direct sunlight for years with no UV damage. It's a pretty amazing material, I'm surprised no filament has been made with it yet.

RepRap used to use HDPE ... it's a huge pain in the ass because it warps really, really badly and doesn't stick to any bed surface.

yeah, I could see the non-stick being an issue. HDPE almost has a waxy surface too it. I think chopping blocks are made out of it too so that nothing will stick.

It's probably safe to assume that any major category of plastic that isn't available in filament form probably has some big issue that makes it unusable.