Steaming to remove supports?

I came across this video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N9TkYDGt2U0&ab_channel=EnvisionTEC which uses a steam gun to soften and remove supports from prints. Has anyone tried doing this (or similar methods with hot water) with Formlabs resins?

I’ll just chime in to say that while this is not an officially tested method of support removal, if it works for you, that’s great! And absolutely share your results here in case it would work well for others! I’d be personally curious as well! :slight_smile:

1 Like

For standard resins (I mostly print black), a heat gun on low works pretty well.

I’ve got DeWalt’s cordless one, on which the low setting is about 250°C / 480°F. Softens the supports enough for you to just bend them loose, so long as you don’t keep the hot air in one place too long it shouldn’t damage the print.

https://www.dewalt.com/products/power-tools/specialty-and-other-tools/20v-max-cordless-heat-gun-tool-only/dce530b

I tested a misprinted 28mm miniature in a hot water bath for about a minute. The supports fell away with barely any resistance. It was supported with mostly 0.5 and some 0.4 supports. It still left some pock marks on the surface, but certainly less than if it had been pulled apart after curing or with sprue cutters. I’m going to do a few more tests with finer pieces to see how they react to the heat.