HIPS - PLA Help

[malencar]

I have a spool of Hatchbox HIPS-PLA filament and I am confused if this means I can use this filament as support on one extruder and PLA on the other as the main material. The box says "HIPS-PLA". Does that mean it is HIPS that's meant to work as support for PLA prints or that HIPS is a kind of PLA material, but should only be used as support material for ABS prints?

Is the answer is that I can only use it with ABS, does anybody know if the Flashforge Dreamer can handle PVA?

Thanks!

Mauro

[MichaelHerron]

I have a spool of Hatchbox HIPS-PLA filament and I am confused if this means I can use this filament as support on one extruder and PLA on the other as the main material. The box says "HIPS-PLA". Does that mean it is HIPS that's meant to work as support for PLA prints or that HIPS is a kind of PLA material, but should only be used as support material for ABS prints?

Is the answer is that I can only use it with ABS, does anybody know if the Flashforge Dreamer can handle PVA?

Thanks!

Mauro

It would appear that it is HIPS for PLA. All this means is that it prints at a lower temperature than "normal" HIPS. There is nothing magical about printing with dissolvable filament--you just need to make sure that your primary filament and your support filament print at similar temperatures so that as one prints, it doesn't damage the other. HIPS is a fine material and isn't bad as a primary material, so long as you don't expose it to its solvent. It does warp at least as bad as ABS, so I'm not sure how it will print as a support for PLA, but perhaps Hatchbox has worked this out.

PVA should work fine on the Dreamer--just make sure you don't ever exceed its max temperature--it can clog your hot-end pretty badly.

I will say that I've never found it totally useful to use dissolvable supports. I'm sure others will disagree, but the time it takes to monkey with dual extrusion for dissolvable supports can often be better spent just removing supports. (just my 2 cents)