Water soluble support material for Polyjet printers

Removing support material not only takes time, it is also a delicate operation for detailed workpieces. Because you want to prevent the workpiece from being damaged. Stratasys solves this for the precision J35 and J55 Prime printers with a support material that dissolves in water.

The new support material WSS 150 is quickly removed by placing the pieces in a home dishwasher and running a water-only program. No chemicals are involved. You can also immerse the pieces in a container with tap water, then the process will take a little longer. An ideal method for smaller quantities. Because it dissolves in water, support material in internal channels can now be easily removed, for example. As long as the water reaches the WSS 150 material, it dissolves.

Remove support for more than 1000 parts

Especially with the detailed prototypes, models and final parts that are printed on the Stratasys J35 and J55 Prime printers , two Polyjet systems, removing support often takes hours. That is absolutely the case when a batch with hundreds of parts is printed. During the beta test of the WSS 150 support material, the Austrian 3D printing service agency S3D-Repro printed an order totaling more than 1,000 parts. “By using the WSS 150 material, we were able to clean the parts and remove the support almost simultaneously, so that we were able to deliver within the agreed schedule,” says Christoph Dollbacher from the print service agency in St. Pollen.

Office environment

Both Polyjet 3D printers have been developed for use in an office environment. With the new material, post processing can now also be done in the office environment, because only a dishwasher for cleaning larger quantities or a container with tap water is required. The mechanical properties of the printed workpiece remain intact. The water in which the support material dissolves can be incorporated into a special, harmless powder. “Print service agencies can now produce and clean hundreds of parts simultaneously, with minimal labor and a more environmentally friendly process,” concludes Oren Zoran, Product Group Director at Stratasys. Engineers can now design even more complex parts knowing that support material can be easily removed.