PLA / PVA Spring Motor Demonstrator

myminifactory

From time to time, I revisit older designs for various reasons. This project, the PLA/PVA Spring Motor Demonstrator, is a revisit and redesign of my original PLA Spring Motor Demonstrator. Yes, the redesigned version is smaller, printed in one color, but most importantly, it was printed in place and fully assembled using PLA for the structure and water-soluble PVA for supports. When printing is complete, just throw it into a water bath for a few hours, and it's ready to run with no assembly required! I had never heard of PVA until I saw the release of the Ultimaker 3, leading me to realize I'd been living a sheltered life in 3D printing. After discussions with my wife and the onset of Christmas, I received an Ultimaker 3 Extended including PVA filament. I'm not a fan of PLA supports, as they tend to leave a rough surface at the point of contact with the component being printed. However, Cura slicer and Ultimaker have solved this problem using PVA supports, which leave remarkably smooth surfaces with no visual hint that support was used. The first photograph shows from left to right: the original PLA Spring Motor Demonstrator, the redesigned PLA/PVA Spring Motor Demonstrator encased in PVA, and the PLA/PVA Spring Motor Demonstrator after its water bath. Video of prototype is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6w0yKowwVEk. I'm using a printed circuit board etching tank with a bubbler and heater to expedite the PVA dissolve in this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jeWeDsPPoC8. Designed using Fusion 360, sliced using Cura, and printed in PLA/PVA on an Ultimaker 3 Extended.