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plumbing parts, biodiesel specific

Posted by JBernal 
plumbing parts, biodiesel specific
December 07, 2011 09:34PM
I have my reprap parts on order and will be assembling it early 2012. I make biodiesel in my garage and I would like to automate the process more by using different plumbing that I cannot get in my local market. Namely things like venturis, tank flanges, and odd-sized pipe couplers which would be nice if I could print them. No biggie if I can't but it would save me a lot of time and torment. My questions are as follows:
Is the printed "essence" of these objects solid enough to contain liquid at slight pressures and vacuums?
LDPE is good for containing the biodiesel chemicals without reacting too terribly, but some plastics do melt when exposed to biodiesel. I haven't got any experience dealing with the other plastics that reprappers are using; anyone know if I might run into problems with the more common filament plastics?
The process requires heat to 60C and sometimes higher, will this put too much stress on the thermoplastic?

Thanks!
-JB
Re: plumbing parts, biodiesel specific
December 08, 2011 04:04AM
60C rules out PLA and I suspect biodiesel might degrade ABS. I have printed HDPE successfully in the past. It bonds more strongly than ABS, so should be much better for holding liquids at pressure and higher temperatures. The downside is that it warps, but round shapes are less of a problem and I never got round to using a heated bed and chamber with it.


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Re: plumbing parts, biodiesel specific
December 08, 2011 10:02AM
Thanks for the info. PLA I am guessing will just become part of the chemical process as pretty much all of it relates to stripping and reordering of fatty acid chains. If it can't deal with the temperatures then it's out anyways.
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