Make your own plastic mesh on a 3d printer

[pooootiqe]

Wanna make a set of copepod sieves but don't wanna buy 20 different nylon mesh? How about a Paul B style brine shrimp feeder? Worry not, here's a way to print your own custom mesh on a 3d printer.

What you need:
0.2 mm nozzle
Your filament of interest
A matching support filament for raft
A way to switch filament between layers (AMS, BMCU, dual extruder, manually stopping the print at layer x and swap filament, etc.)

Two vital settings are needed to print a decent mesh. Using Orcaslicer as an example:

1. Generating the mesh
- Under the strength tab, set top / bottom shell layers to 0.
- Under "infill", set "Sparse infill density" to a desired amount. This will influence the hole size in your mesh. I'm still collecting data on this, but on my Bambu A1 mini, 50% sparse infill on an 1 inch circle prints 260-280 um square holes.
- Set "Sparse infill pattern" to "rectilinear".

2. Make a smooth base for the mesh quality
To print a secure first layer, the printer will "squish" the filament into the bed. This is undesirable since it would mess up the hole size.
- To avoid this, set "raft layer" to 1-3 layers, 0 mm raft contact Z distance. This will build a peelable base on which the mesh prints.
- Use a compatible material under "Support / raft base". Some combinations would be PETG / PLA, PVB/PLA, PC/HIPS, etc.
- Select "ironing support interface". This will ensure your mesh stays in place during printing.

Example (50% sparse infill, rectilinear, gray = PVB, black = PLA):

Happy printing!

 

[Decamicron Labs Verified Sponsor]

Awesome idea! Mesh can get quite expensive. We might start using this at our facility. Probably a better idea than painstakingly drawing a mesh.

 

[DaJMasta]

Interesting idea, and surprising performance, but it unfortunately can't replace most sizes used for copepod sorting. On the large end for brine shrimp nauplii but will probably work, likely good as a coarse filter sock replacement (though the geometry isn't ideal) and would work great for collecting eggs/larvae for most larger types and in isolation baskets to keep little things penned in.

 

[pooootiqe]

Interesting idea, and surprising performance, but it unfortunately can't replace most sizes used for copepod sorting. On the large end for brine shrimp nauplii but will probably work, likely good as a coarse filter sock replacement (though the geometry isn't ideal) and would work great for collecting eggs/larvae for most larger types and in isolation baskets to keep little things penned in.

100 um might be doable; printed these to do make a brine shrimp feeder for mandarins, <200 would just be too small for that purpose!

I agree it won’t be a great solution for anything needing <100 um, the lines are just too wide that the hole density would be too low. Someone with the mythical 0.1 mm nozzle is welcomed to give it a try. ;)

 

[DaJMasta]

I've heard basically any filament with color flecks or other color will clog in a 0.2mm nozzle, so a 0.1mm may be out of practical reach even if the motion system has good enough positioning. SLA printers though, probably.

Another technique could be to leave the width of each strand and just try to tighten in the gaps - if the positioning is up to the task, it shouldn't be any more difficult, but it may be harder to convince the infill generation to do (still could make an STL with it, though.)

PET or PC (no CF) would probably hold up best in a saltwater environment in the long term.

 

[pooootiqe]

I've heard basically any filament with color flecks or other color will clog in a 0.2mm nozzle, so a 0.1mm may be out of practical reach even if the motion system has good enough positioning. SLA printers though, probably.

Another technique could be to leave the width of each strand and just try to tighten in the gaps - if the positioning is up to the task, it shouldn't be any more difficult, but it may be harder to convince the infill generation to do (still could make an STL with it, though.)

PET or PC (no CF) would probably hold up best in a saltwater environment in the long term.

Absolutely. I haven’t played around with the heterogeneous filaments but heard of the horror stories. I’ve always wanted to get an SLA printer but shied away from them cause of the fumes and cleanup. Would be the best tool for small and precise features, for sure.

I attempted 60% infill which def made the gaps smaller (eyeballing to be about 150 um?) but the hole uniformity starts to suffer.

Thanks for the suggestion on PC, maybe I’ll give it a try! It kinda bugs me to have the chamber warm up for 20 minutes just to do a 10 minute print, lol.

Here’s a harder question: how do I convince this dum dum to be interested in the feeder? I can literally see bbs wiggling in the mesh!