Using Canola Oil when 3d printing with your Makerbot Replicator 2????

3D Printing
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Using Canola Oil when 3d printing with your Makerbot Replicator 2???

Reading all of the posts now, very interesting

https://groups.google.com/d/topic/makerbot/Wn-MKC1Ybm0/discussion

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I would say yes to both ideas.

This simple upgraded is also being talked about a lot to on the Makerbot forums.

3

Various oils have been considered over the years for cleaning the filament.

I would guess that it is actually lubricating the entire system from the filament to the nozzle, and will help for a brief period of time.

Unfortunately, I think it’s a long term problem, since the oil will break down into a much thicker problem at the extruder, and may soon become a nozzle clogging problem. Particularly if the printer is oiled, left idle for a while (days, weeks, etc) and then started back up.

The cooking oil will also eventually go rancid inside the tubes and extruder.

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I suspect that there is, however, a machine oil that won’t have those problems. I don’t know what it is, though.

Any oil will also collect dirt and grime. It could be handled with regular cleaning, but that would require regularly breaking the machine down more than it’s designed for.

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I don’t know about how the makerbot feeds it’s filament, but on my Prusa, I have a Dremel felt polishing wheel that I feed the plastic through to clean it. Maybe letting something like that do double duty as an oiler might be useful?

Best photo I have posted of it is the 3rd from the bottom at http://mike.creuzer.com/2013/01/watercooling-my-makergear-prusa-reprap.html

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Based on what Rob said canola oil maybe a dead end but the upgrade I also saw has some promise.

The oil cleaning the filament is an interesting idea. Someone with a R2 needs to test that. What works better cleaning the filament or canola oil?

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HA HA! PLA is now “experimental” too! No 3D printer on the planet uses oil. Why Makerbot uses that stupid plunger in the MK8 is beyond me. EVERY other printer on the market uses sprung bearings/rollers. That upgrade has been around for a year and originates from @Whosa_whatsis thing http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:15718 Have some common sense people! OIL!? No. just no. Your just avoiding the real problem.

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I cringe every time I see a stock MBI extruder.

I briefly tried motor oil on my PLA three years ago after seeing it mentioned on a blog somewhere. It smelled awful, but seemed to help lubricate the oil on the way through wade’s extruder block and the PTFE and brass hot end, but it smelled awful and I think it eventually contributed to a clog or other failure… don’t remember the details, but I stopped using if after about a week.

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I understand the thinking but it can only lead to attracting dirt and grime. People have enough trouble with clogging nozzles. So far, I have not had dirt clogs.

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I highly recommend cleaning the filament on the way into the extruder. I find that a folded paper towel wrapped around the filament and held in place with some sort of clip or tie works best. You should see how much dust mine have caught.

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Yeah I think we are lucky the dust gets impregnated into the plastic and makes it through! I haven’t tried the sponge or paper towel thing in a long while, I really should. It seems to be another overlooked tip. Oh man what a funny thread on the Makerbot google groups. So glad I unsubbed. Nothing to see.

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I switched my subscription to digest a few months ago, and I’ve been thinking about dropping it completely too.

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I just check in every now and then for a laugh. I’m not expecting to find any riveting news there anymore. I find the Sailfish Jetty group good and Ultimaker, of course, for my own printing. I’m hoping google groups turn into communities.