3D Printing: Can toothbrush bristles be printed? (3 Solutions!!)
Channel: Roel Van de Paar
Date: 2019-06-29

3D Printing: Can toothbrush bristles be printed?


The Question: Is it possible to print toothbrush bristles using a common FDM 3D printer? I am
particularly interested in the width of bristles, closeness together of each
bristle, and the flexibility of each particular bristle.

Solutions: Please watch the whole video to see all solutions, in order of how many people found them helpful

== This solution helped 6 people ==
Actually last year a group did use a normal FDM printer to 3d print hair,
brushed, etc. See the press release from Carnegie Mellon University
www.engadget.com/2015/10/29/3d-printing-hair-is-as-easy-as-using-a-hot-
glue-gun/
technabob.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/
3d_printed_hair_by_Gierad_Laput_Xiang_Chen_Chris_Harrison_1.jpg
That said as far as I know you will not have access to this process, and is
probably under a mountain of patents and other innovation killers.
Now how to do this outside of fancy software.
For a FDM printer the smallest nozzle I ever got was 0.1mm, it jammed
instantly. One could print rows at this precision.
Now we have to move to something more advanced, such as DLP. Not the materials
you want, but closer to the size you want. a formlabs can print at 25 microns.
Which as a hair is 17 microns, you are "close enough" .. but a resin would be
brittle and break. They do have other materials such as flexibles, but I am not
familiar with them enough.
Also just going to mention. Tiny slivers of plastic is more likely to cut you
than comb you.

== This solution helped 3 people ==
At this point, an FDM printer probably wouldn't produce good results if you
intend on printing the same design as current toothbrushes.
Each strand is about 0.007" in diameter which is slightly larger than the
typical minimum diameter that can possibly be extruded. This doesn't leave much
room to provide a well enough surface between layers.
With features this small you might run into issues with resolution and accuracy
of the machine. The resolution may determine how well the strands are printed
separately. The accuracy may determine how well each layer print over each
other. If your machines accuracy is about 0.0005", then expect your layers to
have run-out of about 0.0005"-0.001" on a 0.007" size feature. I'm also not
accounting for how well the machine is maintained/tuned, which could detriment
both resolution and accuracy.
So, it's possible on an FDM, but not probable at this time.
To help your odds:
 * Slow your feed rate way down (maybe 30-40mm/s)
 * Watch over and under extrusion. It will be more evident on smaller
 features like this. It either will look like a big blob or pretty much
 nothing. You should have settings in your slicer to help compensate.
 * Clean your extruder and drive gear and tune the tension on filament in
 the extruder assembly.
 * Use quality filament! If the filament is out of round, then over/under
 extrusion will occur.
 * Be mindful of any health organization requirements on the type of
 materials you're allowed to use for something that goes in your mouth.
 The same logic goes for ensuring you don't print the bristles in
 something that can mold. I believe nylon is safe, at least in the US, but
 don't quote me on this.

With thanks & praise to God, and with thanks to the many people who have made this project possible! | Content (except music & images) licensed under cc by-sa 3.0 | Music: www.bensound.com/royalty-free-music | Images: stocksnap.io/license & others | With thanks to user user802599 (askubuntu.com/users/1476), user tbm0115 (askubuntu.com/users/98), user StarWind0 (askubuntu.com/users/2146), user Mithrandir (askubuntu.com/users/5686), user J. Roibal - BlockchainEng (askubuntu.com/users/2111), and the Stack Exchange Network (3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/1355). Trademarks are property of their respective owners. Disclaimer: All information is provided "AS IS" without warranty of any kind. You are responsible for your own actions. Please contact me if anything is amiss at Roel D.OT VandePaar A.T gmail.com.