As a dissolvable filament, High Impact Polystyrene (also known as HIPS) is often used as a support material when printing objects with overhang. One of the reasons why HIPS works as such a great support material is due to its easily removable qualities, with Limonene solution working well to dissolve any of the material post-printing, leaving you with a clean, high-quality print each and every time. Printing with HIPS means you will not need to do any scraping, filling, cutting or any other form of removal, thus minimizing the chance of damaging your newly created masterpiece.
1.75mm HIPS 3D Printing filament - 1kg dissolvable support material.
HIPS has similar qualities to that of ABS. The main difference between HIPS filament and that of ABS is that the former use limonene as a solvent, meaning that HIPS can be used as a support material to aid the printing of designs with significant (or small) overhangs. The best part? HIPS can be dissolved using Limonene as a solvent, leaving you with little to no scraping, sanding or any other type of post-print work to your finalized prints and making it easier to achieve your desired print easily and issue free.
Although HIPS can be used for full prints, we think that the real magic sauce is in the easily dissolvable characteristics the filament has exposed to limonene. In our opinion, the best way to use HIPS is via a dual extruder and when used as support material for your printing. Below gives you a good example of the different ways HIPS can be used as support material.
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HIPS Dissolvable filament[/caption]
The above images show you the different ways in which HIPS can be used to help you print in all sorts of complex designs that would otherwise be deemed impossible to print without using a support material of some sort that can be later removed post-print.
Although the printing characteristics when using HIPS is similar to that of when 3D printing using ABS, HIPS has a tendency to wrap less, making it one less thing to think about when your 3D printer is up and running working on your prints. Ideally, you'd want to use HIPS in conjunction with ABS as they both have similar characteristics when it comes to strength, rigidity and printing temperatures and so do complement each other well when printing.
Digital Cubed HIPS prints best with an extrusion temperature around 230°C and a bed temperature between 90-110°C.
If you are the type of printer or designer that enjoys working with complex shapes and structures, you should certainly try out our premium high-quality HIPS 3D printing filament range by visiting our HIPS inventory page here: Digital Cubed HIPS 3D Printing Filament
All our filaments come with desiccant in a vacuum-sealed bag to guarantee freshness and quality on delivery.
