Maizena 3D Prints with Liquid Polymers

By on October 20th, 2014 in Hardware

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You’ll need some plastic filament for your extruder, correct? Not so if you happen to use an extruder from Maizena. It prints liquid!

Specifically, the extruder uses a mixture of corn starch and water, extruded under pressure. In the image above you can see the liquid mix entering the extruder through a tube. No filament! 

The Maizena team has been investigating approaches to liquid printing and came up with a design that seems to work. There are a couple of advantages of such a system: less power is required due to the absence of a heating requirement; extremely inexpensive material, as corn starch is commonly available at very low prices compared to any plastic filament. 

It’s an interesting approach that certainly deserves some investigation. We’re a bit skeptical about the utility of the prints, however. How robust are they? Would the finish, resolution and strength compare with ABS or PLA prints? What kind of overhangs are possible when printing? 

We’re certain Maizena is checking all this out and we’re interested to see the results. 

Via Maizena

By Kerry Stevenson

Kerry Stevenson, aka "General Fabb" has written over 8,000 stories on 3D printing at Fabbaloo since he launched the venture in 2007, with an intention to promote and grow the incredible technology of 3D printing across the world. So far, it seems to be working!