looking for a good 3d printer

[magicniner]

The only issue with PLA is it's absorbs water so make sure you store in with silica gel and if it has absorbed moisture an hour in the oven at 80c will sort it out.

Nylon can absorb up to 20% of it's weight in water and can need 1 to 4 hours at 80C to dry a full reel to the core, PLA at 80C for 1 to 4 hours will yield a nice bit of modern art but no useful filament ;-)

I find ABS is strong than PLA but there's not a lot in it.

Print a mount for your phone in PLA and leave it on the dash in a hot car on a sunny day, then tell me that :D


I'm interested in making functional plastic components and while PLA is OK for a few bits it's properties limit it's usefulness in any applications which require greater permanence.

- Nick

[Desertboy]

Nylon can absorb up to 20% of it's weight in water and can need 1 to 4 hours at 80C to dry a full reel to the core, PLA at 80C for 1 to 4 hours will yield a nice bit of modern art but no useful filament ;-)



Print a mount for your phone in PLA and leave it on the dash in a hot car on a sunny day, then tell me that :D


I'm interested in making functional plastic components and while PLA is OK for a few bits it's properties limit it's usefulness in any applications which require greater permanence.

- Nick

I forgot the heat thing, I print everything in ABS apart from the first prints I did so never noticed it lol.

If you want to make injection mold strength parts maybe consider Nylon or Polyurethane casting especially if you want produce a lot of one part, you can use a router or 3d printer to make you master molds.

I definitely want to have a go at casting with polyurethane and also aluminium casting but need to make a furnace first. Vacuum former is the next project but cnc style lol.

[AlexDoran]

Bowden can be trickier to get the retraction settings dialled in properly, and rules out using flexible filaments as well.

You guys should certainly look at PETG filaments, as easy to print as PLA but as strong as ABS, doesn't absorb moisture either; some types can be stringy but good retraction settings handle that. I have been using "Real Filaments" (Check amazon) and they have been working very well for me, £15 - £20 a spool depending on colour.

Thanks

Alex

[magicniner]

You guys should certainly look at PETG filaments

Thanks for the suggestion, I have some samples of PETG to try once I've got the Nylon parts in production.

[Ross77]

Too bad... never the less, at that price I'd expect that something needs to be fixed

Its always a risk buying secondhand but yes it was cheap enough. Having said that I've only replaced a few screws, oiled it and changed a few setting and the print quality is much better. (mainly slowed it down and dropped the hot end temp 15 degrees) At least in happy with it now. Still using the PLA that came with it so hopefully it will get better with better filments.

What do you mean is the issue with the bowden extruder? The printer I am planning to build is planned to have bowden type of extruder, so I'd be interested if there is an issue I did not think about.

I was looking at the e3d aero which is more controllable and can be used for all materials, I think the main issue is that for this machine it is propriety so not easy to change. its really slow on the warm up which is bugging me already.

Having done some quick prototyping tonight I can definitely see the potential so may look at up grading all the electrics, The machine is rock solid so I tthink it will be a good base which will save me a lot of time.

Might even get the lathe finished this year... :0)

[Greeny]

You guys should certainly look at PETG filaments, as easy to print as PLA but as strong as ABS, doesn't absorb moisture either; some types can be stringy but good retraction settings handle that. I have been using "Real Filaments" (Check amazon) and they have been working very well for me, £15 - £20 a spool depending on colour.

Thanks
Alex

I agree, I'm experimenting with a roll of PETG (coincidentally from real filaments!)
I have found it pretty easy to print with, although it can sometimes have small stringy artifacts, but these are easy to scrape off.
It is definately tougher than PLA, but i couldn't quantify by how much.
I think it will be my "go to" filament when strength is a factor, otherwise PLA . I haven't tried ABS yet as I've heard it's smelly and I'm enough trouble as it is!!

Pic of 16mm tube motor mount for my upcoming X8 copter printed in PETG
Cheers

[Zeeflyboy]

ASA is another good option, it's basically got all the properties of ABS but significantly less warp, less odour when printing and better UV resistance. I've tried formfutura's ApolloX with pretty nice results once I added a fan at 30-40%

I've also been having very nice results with formfutura TitanX again with the fan. Basically a modified ABS that seems to have very minimal shrinkage and warping.

Carbonfil is still by some significant margin the most impressive filament I've used in terms of making accurate structural parts with very high strength and dimensional accuracy. Its still expensive and a pain though, so still looking for my ultimate filaments... Edge (PETG type material), Apollo X (ASA) and Titan X (modified ABS) are about as close to ideal as I have yet found.

[Boyan Silyavski]

I print mainly PETG and am looking to print only Nylon in near future due to the fact that for parts that will heat more than 70C that is the only way to go. Talking about functional parts. ABS typically is not strong enough to my liking and is best suited for pieces that will be polished and must have a nice look at the end.

I would have printed only Nylon and Carbon filled Nylon if not for the price... . Ridiculous price i say for the Carbon filled Nylon. All the above are only 15-20 euro per kg top quality so that matters.

[magicniner]

Boyan,
I know what you mean about cost and was initially a bit miffed about the cost of the Taulman Bridge Nylon but I have to say that it is well worth the price for small fine detail using a 0.2 nozzle, with 0.4 and 0.9 nozzles I'm getting good results with Nylon at the normal price per Kg,
Regards