Printing with Nylon

[Dan Steele]

I just got back from my trip to find a bunch of plastic shipments arrived including the above three spools of Taulman30 618 Nylon Co-Polymer.  I have some Rit dye and am going to try RichRap's tiedye trick.  Has anyone printed with this stuff before?  Any tips or thoughts?

Dan.
 

[LoialOtter]

I've printed with nylon some. It picks up moisture very easily and I've always had to bake it for an hour or so at 170F to dry it out (anyone have better ideas?). If you don't get rid of the moisture, it steams like you wouldn't believe and doesn't extrude very well.

As others have mentioned, it does print well on wood surfaces such as MDF. It shrinks a little more than ABS but that may be due to my print speeds or other factors. Layer adhesion is awesome with this stuff.

I have noticed that my nozzles clog after using it when using other plastics but this may be because it doesn't start melting til 215C and most of the time I print lower than this. Might be worth it cleaning the nozzle entirely after use or having a dedicated nozzle for nylon.

Hope that helps some.

[Simon C]

Me too! Just got some 618 and 645 nylon, printing on MakerBot (Original / Dual) - any tips for settings, temperature, layer height etc. etc. ?

[LoialOtter]

Man I hate having to use google groups to respond.

Temperature - 240C. It starts liquifying around 215C and doesn't extrude very well before 230C. I generally run my hot-end at 240C while doing nylon. Note that I wouldn't go much beyond this as the PTFE and PEEK in most hotends aren't rated for much higher. Having a cooling-fan on the base of the hot-end is also required.

Layer height - the usual 2/3 your nozzle size. Because layers adhere so well, you can push this to very nearly the nozzle size but that's the sweet-spot with most printing

Speeds - I was getting a huge amount of warping but I tend to print at 100mm/s outside layers and 150mm/s infill. I'm pretty sure this is why there was curling as I watched the strands actually pull and draw in the model as the prints were going. Slower speeds are probably required on this one. Also I was going to do some testing of Slic3r's percentages on infill to try over-filling the layers to make it drag or draw the filament less. This might help as well but I haven't tested it yet.

Infill and all that is the same.

It does not appear to stick well to either PLA or ABS so using them as a support material doesn't seem to be an option. Again, the speed might have been the issue and more testing is needed. PLA probably never will be a viable support material though due to the high print temperatures. I would expect it to get to soft and sag all the time.

The nylon I was testing with was all 618.

[Voxel Factory]

Hi guys,

Both Nylon 618 and 645 stick very well to "Lepage glue stick".

Can be applied to glass or over blue tape as you wish.

Tip : Lepage glue also make PLA stick very well.

Regards,

François

Voxel Factory

[Scott]

If you burn it is nylon not extremely toxic?

Dan what about that polystyrene plastic? Did up you order any?

-s

[Kevin]

No, your on the wrong track there.

Nylon's ignition point is between 421° and 590°C depending on the flammability of the additives.

The MELTING point is also dependent on the additives.

Nylon 618 is a specific additive formulation and has a melting point of 218°C and you print with it between 235 - 260 °C

618 does not off gas when it melts.  But it is hydrophilic so if it has not been otherwise dehydrated, you will get steam.

If you have been printing with other filaments and then switch to nylon, the higher temperatures (especially PLA) will cause the plastic residue left in the print head to begin degrading and you may get a stronger version of the odors you are accustomed to getting while the residue remains.

[Dan Steele]

I haven't ordered any polystyrene filament..didn't notice it for sale anywhere, but I'd be interested in getting my hands on some.

I have Styrene sheets that I vacuum form with and I like working with it, I suspect Polystyrene would have similar properties..

I haven't printed with the Nylon yet, based on Loial's advice I'm going to print a fan adapter to blow onto the print head, hadn't added that to my Replicator yet, and I think it would help speed up my PLA prints too.

Dan.

[Scott]

I would also be interested in testing some if a group wants to go in on a sample. Of the polystyrene material you mentioned at science world.

[Simon C]

So, good news, I was able to clean my right nozzle using Nylon, it was starting to perform poorly (but not fully blocked) so I ran some nylon though it at 240 (might have been 250) let it go cold (waited a day) and then unscrewed the nozzle from the heater element (MakerBot Dual)

It didn't want to come, but ....... pop! It came loose of the nylon and as far as I can tell, all the crud in the nozzle stayed stuck to the nylon. I then heated the element (with the nozzle still removed) to pull the nylon through (I cut it at the top), so I could re-assemble it all again.

Then I printed the tree frog with my newly free flowing nozzle at 215 degC, and got terrible layer adhesion. I'll report back when I have another go, probably at 240 degC.

So - Nylon might be a solution for nozzle cleaning!