I’m trying to print in a material that would allow for a saw or knife to make rigid cuts through. this is mostly for the purposes of simulating bone for orthopedic surgery planning. Does anyone know what material I would go about using? Thanks.
Not too sure what you mean by rigid cuts but you can doing it with any material. I would say PLA since it’s harder yet more brittle than ABS. ABS has a slight bit more flexibility than PLA, it’s really up to personal choice or whatever you think works better. When it comes to simulating bone, my guess would just be making a model of the area you’re planning to work on. Leave the marrow area empty and just making the “bone” area and its infill really high or close to whatever gives the best simulated density. Or you could get a model and just make the walls as thick as you need to give the depth of bone. Check my picture to see what I mean. http://puu.sh/nTiUe/6bce082f8f.PNG if the picture doesn’t somehow work.
Bare in mind that you will have to keep material could during cutting (especially PLA), as it will begin to melt and deform due to friction heat while cutting.
PLA should be OK if above is followed (i.e. cut under a cold stream of water). Did quite a few prints for medical use, check my hub for some pictures. The feed were used for a re constructive surgery and model was cut to individual bone components and put back in corrected position to simulate operation.
Mihai.
Thanks for your response. Creating the bone not the problem for me. I want to be able to print a bone and then take an actual saw and make real cuts through it to simulate a surgical procedure. This would be for surgical planning prior to operation. The layers of PLA don’t quite hold up to that. Was wondering if there was a material that could be done with. Thanks!
What instrument did you use to cut with?thanks!
used a Dremel with a flexible shaft attachment and a small hobby hacksaw for metal cutting (like this one http://www.cabaret.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/03-Cutting-brass-tubing.jpg)
Did the cutting under cold water stream to ensure material doesn’t melt.
Another material I would maybe recommend instead of PLA is the Polymaker PC plus (as you get it in white). A bit trickyto print with but you do get amazing inter layer adhesion as well as increased temp. resistance of up to 110 deg C.
Hope this helps 
Thanks again - will give this a shot.
i recommend using an SLA printer and photopolymer resin. i have used this for orthopedic surgery planning. PLA will melt when sawing. The resin holds up well to the heat and can even be CT scanned with great results. see the photo, this has been the go to for bone.
thanks for your response. how are you cutting the resin? osteotome or oscillating saw? or some kind of hobby tool?
Polycarbonate is extremely strong and has a higher melting point. Very tough and durable material. I am a jeweler by day and mill a lot of different polymers by night. lol The plastic PLA , ABS, are easily broken…if you will… When I hook up my 30,000 rpm handpiece and begin to mill polycarbonate I fear for my hand and major arteries lol bc I know the poly carb will not give or break! I think it could create a very satisfying bone!
oscillating saw. now it depends what you are trying to accomplish. the resin has worked for us since we have used it for research purposes. our models are solid (i segment it that way) but if you want to just replicate bone it can also be done this way too.
