There are plenty of articles about ideas and intentions 4, but have all the players been communicating with each other? Here’s a place to do just that. (For this discussion let’s assume that the factors that limit industrial volumes of raw Hemp material will soon change.)
We have the technology, we have the overwhelming interest and we have the community
We’re still pretty early in our fiber testing - it’s the most difficult custom filament to create in our experience because the fibers don’t like “changing speed” as the filament is squished through the nozzle, so they have to be very small (shorter than the width of a nozzle, ish) to actually print successfully…this drastically reduces the benefits of having fibers in the first place, and as far as I know the MarkForged Mark 1 is the only printer specifically designed to overcome this (it’s very, very cool).
That being said, there’s nothing stopping a hemp composite from happening, as the folks at matterlab have already shown. Once it becomes more prominent I suspect the community will discover a wide variety of uses for it, demand will rise, etc etc. We’re certainly hoping our customers feel able to easily experiment with hemp-based (and other) composite materials. Maybe someone else can chime in on what road-blocks there are right now, and how we might be able to address them?
Strength and durability of the material aside, it’s really about sustainable materials. It grows fast and everywhere. If bamboo fill is attractive to you for those reasons then get excited about hemp fill.
Thanks for that, Adam. I’ll keep an eye on it. As always, however, the devil’s advocate in me begins to wonder when phrases like “overwhelming interest” and “unprecedented success” occur and the cynic in me thinks it’ll have to be at least as good and as cheap as any conventional alternative in order to displace current technologies. If there’s a quantifiable physical advantage to its use then that’s terrific. So much the better! Alas, the so called “green premium” needs to be paid by someone.
Making my own filament from my saved ABS is my driving reason for someday getting a filament maker… but playing with exotic PLA mixes like Hemp is a close second.
I hadn’t heard of Hemp being used as a textile in 3DP like the MK1 does with carbon fiber. I’ve met them at a Boston meetup and I know someone who left 3DS to work with them. I wonder if they are open to experimenting with fiber and composite in one machine.
As far as I can tell, hempplastic.com 18 sell the PLA mix pellets that can be used in a home extruder. Any brave souls out there with a filament rig who could make a batch or two? Bonus points if your power is coming from solar! I know we just kinda ragged on Green Marketing, but what better green tag line than:
I only wish, Adam. Certainly a portion of the electrickery used by the farm is solar, although, of course, that proportion changes with the weather, but I guess I can legitimately say my printer’s powered by solar. Unfortunately the news on extruders isn’t good: I was an Extrusionbot backer and although it arrived, it never worked. Our friends at Omni Dynamics seem to be weathering the Doldrums at present and it may be some little while yet before my Strooder will land on my doorstep. :-/
