Absolutely! It can be a teeny bit finicky compared ol’ reliable PLA, but I think it’s pretty worth it. The only real issue is that wide flat parts have a tendency to warp off the build plate? Here’s what I’ve figured out so far about making it adhere extra well:
- Bed temp turned completely off!
- Use a fresh layer of a really good 3d printing adhesive. (If your adhesive is heat activated, 35C should be enough to activate without messing with the PHA)
- If you have an enclosure, open it up as much as possible. I noticed I have a lot more warping in my enclosed printer than my unenclosed one.
- Between the handful of 100% pure PHA brands that I’m aware of existing, one says full fan as early as possible and another says no fan at all unless you’re doing lots of bridging/overhangs, so try out a few different fan settings.
- Put a big giant brim on it. Maybe even try one made out of a different material than the object itself, if you’ve got dual extrusion.
- The higher the infill percentage and the more solid bottom layers there are, the more it will warp. So avoid that where possible.
- Most slicers probably already print the first layer at a chunkier line width than the nozzle size, but feel free to jack up the line width even more.
- Set the first layer pattern to concentric or Hilbert curve, evens out the distribution of forces that cause warping.
- Finally, if all else fails… Rotate the object until it’s sitting on a really impractical edge, then print it in sort of a “cradle” of support material. I use BVOH or PVA. Basically make as little of it touch the build plate as possible? I don’t like this option because it requires dual extrusion and is pretty wasteful.
There, that’s everything I know so far. This probably makes the warping sound a lot worse than it is. It’s really not super terrible. You probably won’t have to barely ever use any of these tips, and if you can get past the warping, every other aspect of printing with PHA works like a dream.
omg yeah, your stuff has been really helpful! there’s so little info out there about it, I hope it catches on