Play Dough and Clay-Dough 3D printing

This page documents how to prepare materials for the Eazao Zero 3D printer. All materials should be mixed in the kitchen mixer to the correct indention hardness before printing. Indention hardness is a measure of how soft a material is. We use custom penetrometers for this measurement. This process insures that your material will print and produce stable designs.


Clay

Clay should be mixed in a kitchen mixer to an indention hardness of between .5 and .6 kg/cm^2


Play-Dough, glue and sand

This is the best recipe we have tested so far if you attach a small custom heater to the underside of your extruder.

150 g corn flour
50 g wheat flour
200 g play sand
50 g white glue (ie: Elmer’s)
100 g vinegar
30 g oil
+ water to reach the desired indention hardness (between .5 and .6 kg/cm^2)

Mix all of the dry ingredients in the kitchen mixer. Slowly add the vinegar, glue, and oil and continue mixing. You can also add food coloring at this point. Once the dough is thoroughly mixed, measure its hardness. If it is too hard, slowly add small amounts of water until the desired hardness is reached.


Play-Dough, 75% corn, 25% wheat flour

This is a good recipe to use if you do not want to build a heater and do not want to use clay. May experience some cracking on larger prints.

150 g corn flour
50 g wheat flour
150 g vinegar
30 g oil
food coloring (optional)
+ water to reach the desired indention hardness (between .4 and .5 kg/cm^2)

Mix the corn and wheat flour in the kitchen mixer. Slowly add the vinegar and continue mixing. (DO NOT add the oil before the vinegar. This will create lumps and result in an unusable mixture.) Slowly add the oil while continuing to mix. You can also add food coloring at this point. Once the dough is thoroughly mixed, measure its hardness. If it is too hard, slowly add small amounts of water until the desired hardness is reached.


Clay-Dough

“Clay-Dough” is a material we have developed that consists of a mixture of play-dough and clay. Mix by weight to an indention hardness between .5 and .6 kg/cm^2

A recipe consisting of 75% corn and wheat dough and 25% clay is another good recipe.


Eazao Printer Tube

The Eazao printer has a 500ml tube. It is generally good to mix 400ml of clay for a full tube. This corresponds to approximately 750g of mixed clay and 450g of mixed play dough. Each printer tube is marked with a ruler. Each centimeter of height on the ruler corresponds to 20ml. So, 5cm = 100ml, 10cm = 200ml, etc.