Can we use Nylon filament in Ultimaker ? Has anyone tried using Nylon filament ?

[kpk 2]

We want to use nylon filament in ultimaker, can any one tell how to use nylon and what are the temperature parameters?

[calinb 11]

I mostly print nylon with my UMO. I've printed Oregon brand Gatorline trimmer line, Taulman 618, and 3ntr PA6. The only one I can't get to work well is 3ntr, because the layer to layer bonds are too weak and part strength suffers (even at nozzle temps as high as 275 C at only 25 mm/sec.) I like to print the others at about 260 C for maximum layer bonding strength, typically using 0.100 layers and nice and slow 25 mm/sec speed.  Even printing infill at 40 mm/sec results in a weaker part and my motivation for using nylon in the first place is high part strength (and occasionally its lubricity and chemical and solvent resistance).

The only build surface material that I've found that is satisfactory for large parts is machineable Garolite--and you will have to machine it (or sand it forever on a flat glass plate) to get it really flat, which I highly recommend. Shrinkage and bed adhesion challenges make printing ABS seem like child's play, in comparison to nylon. A bed that's +/- 0.002" (or about +/- a phonebook page of paper) in flatness still deviates more than a 0.100 mm layer height and really isn't flat enough! For good results, 0.001" in level/flatness or better is necessary.

Edited May 31, 2015 by Guest

[Opc150 2]

Get yourself some Nylon bridge it's cheap and I've had some good results with it on my UL2 extended. Plus it doesn't off gas gnarly chemicals like arsenic n stuff while printing. that trimmer nylon is nasty stuff.

Print settings

Temp 240-242c

bed temp 70c

+PVA glue, glass, no tape

no active cooling (fan @ 0%).

.1-.2 layer height.

material flow 105-110%.

Use ALOT of brim, i may be over doing it, but in cura I'm a at 50-80) basically maxing out the brim on print bed. (why not? - Helps it from lifting and primes extruder).

For Support: I use 10-15% infill And add a bit to the support/print seperation. Xy I have at 1~1.5mm and Z @ .3-.45 dep on layers height.(use a multiple of 2x-3x)

For print infill I would rec as much as you can. 100% prints like a brick(yet still a bit flexible), 25% is a bit more spongy, all depends on your application. Note on large 100% infill parts you tend to see a bit more part warping.

Hope this helps,

[calinb 11]

Plus it doesn't off gas gnarly chemicals like arsenic n stuff while printing. that trimmer nylon is nasty stuff.

 

Have you found more than hearsay that it's "nasty stuff" at the temperatures we print? I'm talking about empirical testing!

I'm not saying that it isn't nasty, but how convenient that a reasonably priced and excellent performing source of nylon would be deemed inappropriate and unsafe to use by those who sell printer filament!

As with many activities, I recommend playing it safe by not printing where one breathes (that goes for any plastic--even PLA). Ink jet printers have been found to out-gas unhealthy fumes in an Australian study and they are found in all office buildings and many homes too!

[zxen 4]

I want to make servo horns for my new Hitec 9380TH servos (36kg.cm of torque). The horns that come with the servos are made of nylon, but I'm not sure if they can be 3D printed and still work. PLA and ABS definitely dont work, as each tooth is around 0.1mm or less. Would this stuff work, and how long does each print take (how many mm per second)? Also I've heard that the PTFE next to the nozzle breaks down at over 240 degrees...

 

Get yourself some Nylon bridge it's cheap and I've had some good results with it on my UL2 extended. Plus it doesn't off gas gnarly chemicals like arsenic n stuff while printing. that trimmer nylon is nasty stuff.

Print settings

Temp 240-242c

bed temp 70c

+PVA glue, glass, no tape

no active cooling (fan @ 0%).

.1-.2 layer height.

material flow 105-110%.

Use ALOT of brim, i may be over doing it, but in cura I'm a at 50-80) basically maxing out the brim on print bed. (why not? - Helps it from lifting and primes extruder).

For Support: I use 10-15% infill And add a bit to the support/print seperation. Xy I have at 1~1.5mm and Z @ .3-.45 dep on layers height.(use a multiple of 2x-3x)

For print infill I would rec as much as you can. 100% prints like a brick(yet still a bit flexible), 25% is a bit more spongy, all depends on your application. Note on large 100% infill parts you tend to see a bit more part warping.

Hope this helps,

 

[aelric23 2]

Tried Taulamn Bridge last night on my UMO+ because I needed a nylon print for work. Completely nuked my printer head. The entire nozzle and aluminum heater block were oozing nylon everywhere. I tried adjusting the feed rate, that did close to nothing. I had it printing at 30 mm/s at 247C. Anyone know if it was those settings or just user error? Just ordered a ton of extra printer head parts and nozzles. I'm going to try printing in Ninjaflex when I get the thing working again. The print came out reasonably, but I have a suspicion that the filament had quite a lot of moisture in it due to the popping sound I heard while heating the filament. If you're testing out new filament on your ultimaker, be sure to have spare printerhead parts on standby. OPC150 may have had better results and he is right about the infill, although I saw that anything less that 100% is going to give you something that is strong yet flexible. 100% infill is probably what you are looking for if you want mechanical parts.

[zxen 4]

"100% infill is probably what you are looking for if you want mechanical parts."

I need a 1 cm diametre gear with 20 teeth (each tooth is around 0.1mm long) to replace a steel one that works to lift heavy loads. Would nylon work or only steel?

Edited May 21, 2016 by Guest

[avogra 68]

I think Nylon Bridge is too flexible, don't know about the other nylons, maybe Alloy 910 is better? Basically Nylon should be a good choice for gears, but 0,1mm teeth? that sounds unrealistic in any material, even steel.

[zxen 4]

The outer teeth are around 1mm long, and the inner teeth are around 0.1mm long.

[krys 206]

Hi there.

I have done some printing in Taulman Bridge nylon on my UM2 and it worked well. It took me a bit to dial in the right settings (and I do not remember them at the moment), but I was able to print large pill box/parts cases using the full bed. Only a little warping. The cases were flexible when complete, but they were also thin-walled.

I also read that the E-nable prosthetic hand people have experimented with more solid nylon prints to good effect.

I do not know if this helps with gears, but nylon is totally doable on UM(2) printers.

One heads up: If you let the bed cool too much before removing the print, you can pull up chunks of glass! So, keep the bed warm (45+) when removing the part. (Same goes for T-Glass too, I believe).

Anyway, hope this helps. I can dig up my settings if anyone is interested.