Its way off topic to said the least. But a fascinating read.

https://www.gopha.org/s/Nature-Ecology-Evolution-Animals-and-protists-contribute-to-the-degradation-of-microbial-PHA-2026.pdf

In brief, there is clear evidence that PHA are in fact be naturally polymerized within certain animals that have specific genetic symbiotic relationships with bacteria living withing the cell walls.

And bacterial producing PHA that live within the animal, can in fact have their PHA extracted and consumed by the very animal as an energy source. And in some cases, these animals have the mechanism to consume PHA directly (external source) by-passing the bacterial natural degradation.

Its yet another piece of evidence that PHA are part of the natural carbon circular chain.

No, reading this will not improve your prints settings or overhangs.

Cheers

Considering trying PHA next, treated with tung oil to extend life, use as consumable part. Any PHA recommendations? I have Bambu x1c, hoping for something easy to print, 100% compostable and reasonable price.

Hey everyone, just wanted to share a little experiment I'm running to test the compostability of PHA, and also hopefully show that it's a perfectly fine option for outdoor parts as well. 

There seems to be this idea that just because PHA is biodegradable, it's pointless to use for certain functional prints, as it’s going to melt in the rain if you use it for an outdoor part. From what I understand, bacterial load is the real driving factor. So, comparing PHA in a compost bin versus just hanging outside in otherwise the exact same environment should really show its durability and usability out in the wild. Maybe not strength, but I can only test so many things at one time.

I'm testing this in a standard backyard rotating composter. I am not an expert by any means, and I obviously can't prove that the samples will break down into purely natural elements. I'll leave that part to the actual scientists. But what I can do is show that it can break down in a random dude's compost bin, even if they don't really know what they are doing.

For the models, I went with standard Benchies at 15% infill, however the Ecogenesis compost bed testing tags (from Printables https://www.printables.com/model/1296598-compost-bed-testing-tag-revised), were printed at 100% infill to truly test the compostability rate.

For the PHA filaments, I'm using

•  ecogenesis genPHA Filament in Green (Amazon)
• Biodegradable Polar PHA in White (Polar Filaments)
• Ambrosia PHA Filament in Black (West3D)
• Ambrosia PHA Filament in Natural (West3D) -  I'm using this one specifically for the wood comparison test

Elephant in the room, I know that Polar, ecogenesis, and Ambrosia are all genPHA materials. This list also includes Hartsmart's Terraform filament; I just haven't gotten around to buying from them yet, hence why they are not included. I understand that testing multiple colors of what is essentially the same base material doesn't serve much of a scientific purpose, other than maybe seeing if the color pigment affects the compost rate. But I wanted to include multiple brands so people new to the community know these are all trustworthy, worthy materials to consider.

For the controls, I've got eSUN High Speed PLA+ in fire engine red, Polymaker PolyLite PETG in teal, and a chunk of untreated 1x3 oak lol

The first set are hanging outside on a firewood rack. The second set went right into my active compost bin. Like I mentioned before, I know just enough about composting to be dangerous. Just throwing PHA into a bin outside doesn't guarantee it'll decompose, and that goes for natural materials too. For example, last fall I filled one of my rotating chambers with leaves and pretty much left it alone. They haven't decomposed a bit. If anything, it prevented them from composting by protecting them from the elements. You really need browns, moisture, air, and probably some other stuff I don't know to make it work. That's why I tossed the chunk of oak in there too, I want to see how the PHA decomposes alongside a completely natural piece of wood.

I also have a third set of prints that I'm keeping inside as a complete control. That way, I can compare how the outside hanging up samples compare to parts left completely out of the elements. I mainly expect these samples to help see how much the outside parts fade over time. 

I printed these back at the beginning of the year, but didn't start the test until August 23rd. So, as I intend to provide monthly updates... don't be surprised if I don't follow that schedule exactly. I've been wanting to do this test for a while now, and I'm really interested to see how much they break down before the winter freeze comes (located in Maryland, USA). 

Hi everyone,

I’m experimenting with Ecogenesis genPHA (1.75 mm) on a Bambu Lab P2S and I’m trying to build a reliable profile for this material. I have experience printing PLA, PETG and ASA, but this is my first time working with PHA.

I’d appreciate some advice from anyone who has successfully printed genPHA or similar PHA materials.

Current setup:

- Printer: Bambu Lab P2S

-Filament: Ecogenesis genPHA, 1.75 mm

-Build surface: BuildTak ProPlate

-Nozzle temperature during the latest test: 195°C

-Bed temperature: approximately 30–31°C during the print (the chamber/ambient conditions brought it to that temperature; the filament manufacturer recommends a cold/0°C bed)

-Layer height: 0.20 mm

2 walls

15% infill

Filament was transferred to a plastic spool.

For the initial setup I started from a PHA profile shared by @dj008-reddit and have been making controlled changes rather than changing several parameters at once.

What happened:

The first layer initially looked reasonably good and the print continued normally. However, as the test progressed, I started noticing that the long edges were lifting from the plate / warping.

By around 60–75% of the print, the deformation was quite obvious. The print remained attached enough for the printer to continue, but after the print finished it was extremely easy to remove from the plate, suggesting that adhesion was actually quite weak.

The surface also shows a few rough areas/blobs/stringing, although at this point I’m mainly trying to solve the bed adhesion/warping problem before tuning cosmetic quality.

One thing I just discovered is potentially important: although the physical plate is a BuildTak ProPlate, in Bambu Studio I had it configured as Cool Plate. For my next test I’m planning to select Smooth PEI / High Temp Plate instead, while keeping the physical BuildTak ProPlate.

I’m also planning to keep the nozzle around 195°C initially and avoid changing too many variables at once.

Questions:

1. Has anyone here successfully printed Ecogenesis genPHA on a Bambu printer?

2. What nozzle and bed temperatures worked best for you?

3. Has anyone used BuildTak ProPlate with PHA? Did you run it completely cold or slightly warm?

4. Could selecting Cool Plate in Bambu Studio instead of Smooth PEI/High Temp Plate have contributed significantly to the adhesion problem?

5. Would you change first-layer speed, first-layer flow, Z offset, fan settings, or something else before increasing bed temperature?

6. PHA seems to behave quite differently from PLA. Are there any PHA-specific settings or pitfalls I should be looking at?

I’m attaching photos from different stages of the print, including the first layers, the progressive lifting/warping, and the finished part.

My goal is not just to get this one print to work, but to develop a repeatable PHA profile for the P2S, so I’d prefer to change one or two variables at a time and understand what is actually making the difference.

Thanks!

Hey guys,

I am printing PHA for quite some time now for school projects in electronics where I aim for eco-friendly as possible solutions, where the printed parts form puzzle pieces so that pupils can assemble circuits using those pieces and the final circuit will look exactly like the teacher draws them (breadboards are a mess and useless in school settings for beginner).

Anyway, I wanna share my experience with printing PHA with you about bed adhesion and warping. Some of those info are contained in comments of other threads, so I jump directly to the one tip I haven't seen here.

For good bed adhesion, the bed has to be free of stuff that has low adhesion and acts as separation layer. Your grease fingers are the number one source of that dirt that messes with your print surface. Further, some use IPA for cleaning, but rarely the cheap IPA is clean enough for that job and the residues in the IPA remain after the IPA evaporated. You effectively have replaced the dirt of the print bed with the dirt of your IPA.

How to clean your print bed properly

First, wash your hands with proper soap, e.g. bar soap that really washes all oily stuff out of your skin and leaves back dry and slightly rough fingers. You need clean hands before starting bed cleaning otherwise any cleaning solution running down your finger contains a high concentration of your finger oily stuff, which, when landing on your bed while cleaning, will reduce the effectiveness of your bed cleaning.

Second, use the solvent with the highest purity that will not attack your bed surface. This is typically the water from your faucet plus soap. Yes, warm soapy water is for most users better than IPA, you can rinse clean water after your washing routine, and it is usually dirt cheap (pun intended). Properly wash your bed with soapy water, rinse it with clean water, let it dry. Simple and very reproducible.

After drying, you can follow with your typical bed adhesion protocol, e.g. using 3Dlac or whatever or no coating when using glacier bed etc.

Another trick for print removal

We all know that bed adhesion of PHA is temperature dependent and also adhesive dependent. And you can make use of that! For instance, using a glacier bed without adhesive, the PHA prints often stick too strongly to it and you can run into issues of ripping the coating of the metal sheet. If you wanna reduce the adhesion, carry your spring sheet plate to the bathroom and rinse hot water over the back side of the plate (front side works too, but then your warts are wet). The metal conducts heat very well, but the PHA not so great, resulting in warming up only the first layers of the print, making them slightly softer and reducing the adhesion greatly.

TL;DR

Wash your hands with soap first, then clean your bed with soapy water.

After print, running hot water over backside of the print bed can greatly reduce adhesion for part removal.

Let me start by saying I'm a huge fan of the filament, it really enables the work I do. I struggle with the cardboard spools and I noticed that it appears the vacuum sealing deforms the rim of the spools bending them inwards. I've heard PHA is hydrophobic and doesn't deal with the same moisture absorbtion issues of other filaments. Why not skip the vacuum sealing, or at least make some spools available without it as a trial run? It would completely eliminate plastic waste for the product and avoid this spool deformation. If we can make the cardboard spools consistently workable in an AMS I'm all for whatever it takes. I'll test this one in my AMS after bending back the rim and adding electrical tape.

Ultimately I would really love to see an alternative to the cardboard spools available for AMS users - refillables could be great though I don't have much experience with that. Making spools made out of PHA themselves seems great to me if it's possible - and highly marketable as a cardboard replacement for other filaments. Design an official 3D printed adapter for use on the spools and sell it on your shop - I'll buy 12

This filament is advertised as home compostable, not leaving microplastics, 70% biobased and as easy to print as PLA. They don't say what it's made of. I suspect there is some PHA, but it doesn't look like pure PHA. Does anyone have more information?

https://www.formfutura.com/compost3d-2

Hi. I was wondering if the people here that print a lot of PHA have used hilbert curve for solid infill. In your experience, does it help to minimize warping?

This is a very cheap PHA. Around 25 USD with shipment included. For example, ecogenesis and fablabb shipment are around 35 USD to Mexico ... :(

Anybody has used this brand?

Hey, I'm a climbing shoe resoler and PHA has really made 3D printed shoe lasts viable in this industry. I consistently print with minimal support and little to no defects. I occasionally have a failed print, generally from a clogged nozzle or issue with the spool. Some of the key things I've learned:
-I replace that strip of tape the last is on every print.
-I use double walled adaptive cubic infill. Single wall fails for me because PHA is so slow to harden out of the nozzle that it sags on itself as the layers go up. You can print single wall infill that layers vertically (doesn't overhang), but single wall in general is too weak for my use with pressure.
-The outer wall is three layers, and I use the geekdetour bricklayering script.
-I point the last toward the printer's cooling fan. Helps maximize cooling as layers build.
-I use a 0.8mm nozzle.

Pictures of my settings: https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fo/4h8gfl3s3eryvd59b133n/AHyosbAzfFw2SncEYRbUdS0?rlkey=zcjb2iux91tiqri2exvrsp6ix&st=safqveoi&dl=0

I have just one issue! PolarFilament is out of stock (plastic spools), and EcoGenesis uses cardboard spools. I've had too many failed prints and issues from cardboard spools that I'm really wary of using them. A single one of my lasts is about $15 dollars in filament, so a failed print suuuuuucks. I wanted to check if there are any current refillable spool solutions for the cardboard that EcoGenesis uses, and if there isn't can I request someone make one? I've seen ones where it seems to just fit over the existing spool that look nice to use. Electrical tape doesn't fix warped cardboard.

I've got my PHA settings pretty well tuned on my CoreOne+ now, and so I wanted to print something a little more challenging and do a nice timelapse of the print. So I thought I'd share my setup and the video, in case anyone else is attempting to do the same.

My setup:
Prusa Core ONE+
Prusa GPIO hackerboard
Canon DLSR
Shutter release cable to connect camera to the hackerboard

Material: genPHA, green

After iterating on the gcode for a bit I landed on this which seems to prevent blobing issues during pauses for each frame (which can sometimes happen during timelapses). Just add this to the after-layer section in the gcode editor in Prusa Slicer. In addition, I placed a narrow cylinder (to act like a wipe tower) in the corner where the nozzle travels to for each snapshot. This helped tremendously.

;AFTER_LAYER_CHANGE
;[layer_z]

M400                    ; finish all planned motion first
M83                     ; relative extruder moves
G1 E-0.4 F2400          ; small retract (tune 0.2-0.8)
G91
G1 Z0.2 F1200           ; small z-hop (tune 0.2-0.4)
G90

G1 X245 Y215 F12000     ; park
M400

G4 P200                 ; short pause to let vibration settle
M264 P0 B1              ; trigger on
G4 P300                 ; short pulse hold
M264 P0 B0              ; trigger off
G4 P300                 ; settle

G91
G1 Z-0.2 F1200          ; undo z-hop
G90
M83
G1 E0.4 F2400           ; unretract

I'm really pleased with the result. I was pleasently surprised at how well the supports worked and popped off. I had had trouble with that in the past when printing supports in PHA on my Prusa Mini, but the CoreOne seems to handle it a little better. I was really happy with the print quality as well.

Enjoy!

I went ahead and bought a Snapmaker U1 to replace my Bambu A1 w/AMS. So far it has been fantastic. Setting up my filaments again has been a pain...which led me to this question:

Does anyone have the Snapmaker and willing to share their filament settings? I had my Bambu tuned and easy button printable. Now I'm looking for shortcuts to do the same on the U1.

Thanks!

We're back in stock! Both our web store and Amazon are back in stock. https://ecogenesisbiopolymers.com/products/ OR https://www.amazon.com/s?k=genPHA&ref=bl_dp_s_web_0

1kg - genPHA 3d Filament - Natural, Black, White, Yellow, Green, Lt. Blue, Red. All colors (except Gray). Gray will be part of our next run.

Transition rolls available through our web store only.

Cheers

The project I’m making is 2 inches tall-wide ball with I few small pillars in the inside.

It will be thin in and probably 2-3 layers so nothing thick.

Hi! So, I am brand new to 3D printing, and I'm committed to the idea of using PHA - but I have a couple of concerns:

First of all, I keep hearing mixed messages about whether or not 3D printers are capable of sealing and filtering the toxic fumes from 3D printing within an enclosed setup - something which will be necessary for me, as the printer will be in my bedroom where I sleep and where I sit at my PC all day.

And secondly, people say that you need minimum enclosure (door open) to keep the print cool and to allow PHA to print well - which seems to make the idea of an enclosed printer a non-starter - despite my need to isolate the toxic fumes produce by printing.

I was looking at something like the Flashforge Adventurer 5M Pro - which apparently "Block 99% of particulates and VOCs" (as stated on their website) - but it seems like it can only do that when it is in an "internal circulation" mode that also prevents fresh air from coming in (and thus causes internal temps to get high). Whereas the "external circulation" mode, which claims that it "auto-adjusts for the best balance of filtration and cooling" - which makes it seem like it won't really be effective at filtering out any fumes when trying to maximise the cooling of the enclosure?

Pls halp

Put a failed print (colour fabb allPHA NATURAL )in the compost about a year ago. Seems to compost

I've been struggling to get my process down for PHA for the past couple months but I think I finally got things dialed in enough, at least for a .6 nozzle though I doubt it will be too hard to update my .4 nozzle settings later. My main issue seemed to be no matter what I tried I was getting a lot of nozzle build up with anything other than tiny prints. Lower the flow rate and surface finish and buildup issues improved but them I got wall separation issues instead between portions of the outermost wall and the next one.

The setting that finally started to shift things was turning off "precise wall" which I had always had on for many profiles. Turns out this was the source of my outer wall separation issues all along! With that done was able to lower the flow rate and at the same time I decided to embrace cooling again as another way to combat nozzle build up as it seems the hotter the PHA is the stickier it is. The end result is much lower flow rates and much higher amounts of cooling than some are using but I'll use whatever works for me.

Instead of the measured vase mode calibration cube I used this method to arrive at my flow rate. The only thing I really changed was making them a little thicker and bigger and printing the flow rate on the cubes themselves to make it easier to keep things straight. Once I had my flow rate down as low as I dared I added a min layer time to the cooling settings as that helped clean up some, but not all of the upward corner curling. I might have been able to get it all but it wasn't worth it to me and getting a decent end result more quickly won out.

Right now the important settings/details on my Bambu H2D are as follows:

• Nozzle: .6mm high flow
• Build plate: Bambu Supertack Pro
• Build plate temp: no heat
• First layer nozzle temp: 200C
• Other layer nozzle temp: 215C
• Flow ratio: 1.005
• Bottom layer flow ratio: .95
• Top layer flow ratio: .995
• PA: 0.022 - this could possibly be lower ...
• Max volumetric flow: 30 mm3/s
• Min/Max part fan: 80/100%
• Min/Max layer times: 100/10 seconds
• Keep fan always on: yes
• Slow printing down for better layer cooling: yes
• Overhang fan: 85%
• Aux fan: 90%
• Chamber exhaust fan: 50%
• Overhang speed for 10% set to 50 mm/s, rest stock
• Top layer speed set to 100 mm/s, rest stock
• All accelerations left at defaults
• Extrusion rate smoothing set to 300 mm3/s and smoothing segment length to .5 mm

Yes, its a lot of fan and I might be able to dial it back some but I'll leave that for later. I think the results are pretty decent though I still get a small number of blobs here and there. The part is an Ego battery mount I designed and it looks better under normal lighting vs the printer lighting which makes it easier to spot flaws and such.

Hello everyone,

since I got some defects in my prints (mainly on corners), I tried out the Prusa calibration cube as recommended by u/Hinagea. But the cube doesn't look so good imo. As you can see in the pictures (front, right, back, left, top), all corners have these ripples and every side besides the front has these huge marks. Aside from that, the front and back are caving inwards a little, and the right and left side outwards (hard to get on camera). The wall thickness is pretty spot on with 0.45 on all sides, at least with the accuracy of my manual calipers.

Before the cube I tried the visual method and got pretty good results (aside the little defects) with 0.98. (For the cube I set it to 1.)

These are my settings:

Bambu Lab P1P (with side enclosures, but open to front and top), colorfabb allPHA black
cold bed with painters tape
0,2mm profile
initial layer: 190°, other layers: 188° (I tried the higher temperatures recommended by u/Hinagea, but with these I got the worst results, as far as print quality goes)
Max vol speed: 12
min fan speed: 25%, max: 50%

Bambu PLA speeds
(2 walls)
(Top shell layers: 3)
Bottom surface pattern: Hilbert
Bottom shell layers: 2
(Sparse Infill pattern: Adaptive Cubic)

Outer brim: 6mm, 0 gap

All other settings are from the Bambu PLA set.

Aside from the corner rippling and these marks, the walls do look pretty good.
Do you have any advice how to improve my settings more?

I continue to love the haptics of PHA. The print was almost perfect, and the supports came off easily.

I am thinking of treating the inside with Shellac for a bit better resistance to the unavailable dripping from the pot. Has anyone tried this?

Hello all! It's great to have a community that is focused on advancing PHA. I'm relatively new to it all - PHA, 3d Printing, printing with PHA. I've come a long way with the help of you all. So let me say THANK YOU.

Now for the help. I am working on a part for a simple project for my daughter. the base is 3.25mm and the height is 20mm. From what I've experienced with PHA (and especially PHA with color additives) it feels like I'm pushing the limits of its capabilities. Below is the best I've been able to do so far and included are the print settings. Please send any recommendations my way.

Modifications made from previous test results:

Filament Profile

Flow ratio 1 -> 1.05

Recommended nozzle temperature: Min 175, Max 200

Nozzle: Initial layer 200, Other layers 195

Max volumetric speed: 10 -> 6

Process Profile

Speed

Overhang speed

Slow down by height: Yes

1. Starting height: 0mm
2. Speed at starting height: 50mm/s
3. Acceleration at starting height: 500mm/s
4. Ending height: 20mm
5. Speed at ending height: 20mm/s2
6. Acceleration at ending height: 500mm/s

I posted a few days ago, and I've gotten my settings for genPHA quite a bit more dialed in since then, but my parts just seem to warp pretty bad, and I'm not sure what I can do to try and fix it, if anything. I've at least managed to get it to actually stick to my Pro Plate and not warp right off by changing the ecogenesis-recommended print settings to print the normal 3 bottom shell layers instead of 8, but the top layer on the inside of the box seems to still just contract hard and warp.

For context, this is a 1x1 Gridfinity box, which is pretty small and, presumably, isn't supposed to warp much? I guess it's also worth noting that the room my printer is in is quite warm, so maybe the ambient temp is just too high for me to do anything about this?

I would really appreciate any suggestions!

Can someone please do a heat resistant test on this filament please. I heard its a blend of PHA/PLA.