Taulman 618 Nylon

[z-axis-3d 4]

I have been asked for a part to be printed in 618. The customer wanted this material for it's chemical / fuel resistance. I have used Bridge Nylon too and I know that generally this is easier to print but this post is about 618 specifically, so I am looking for any advice from those who may have experience with this material.

Having read up on the material on Taulman's site and elswhere, I am printing on Tufnol Whale Board, and drying the material in the oven before printing. In fact I am making a little drying box to run the material from, but that is a work-in-progress. The part requires some support, and arguably I could have managed without using Tufnol, but I bought a 1mm sheet and stuck it to a piece of glass with broad double sided tape. I also bought 4mm tufnol but have not tried that yet.

So with Tufnol bed adhesion has not been a problem.

I tried to print at the recommended 245° at 30mm/s but I had delamination when trying to remove the part from the tufnol.

I then tried 250° and used a blade to remove the part, but when I was removing the support I had some delamination on the actual part so the bond was obviously not good. In places the Nylon darkens and looks a little burned, especially when the print speed slows down for the smaller layers.

But most mysteriously of all is that when I chose a particular orientation where there were 2 little lugs at the top, they simply refused to print- I tried 3 times using different temperature and speed settings and it's like the material just jammed as soon as it got to the smaller layers, and the little lugs simply never materialised. I have never had an issue quite like this with any other material.

So by the time it gets to this point:

it will have stopped printing. I can't see anything in the preview that should cause this.

Anybody here have any insights, or just general advice for printing 618 in addition to what I have said above?

Thanks,

Greg

[z-axis-3d 4]

The following response by email from Tom at Taulman helped me and I was able to get a pretty decent print with Bridge. I know I said this Post is not about Bridge, but about 618, but as it's been made obsolete this might help.

Hi Greg.....Tom here.... Bridge is as chemical resistant as 618 and easier to print. We suggest users use Bridge as we have made 618

obsolete last week. The dehydrator looks good....nice design, Greg. Bridge can print to 265C if needed and yes, slow ing down helps.

Also, we suggest increasing flow....the multiplier to 1.1 on some prints. for a .4mm nozzle, we suggest 32mm/s print speed and 50% for perimeters.

Let me know and if need be, we will replace the spool as it's important to us to keep you printing.

The real secret is Dry...Dry..Dry..!

[z-axis-3d 4]

This is what my dryer looks like BTW. Made with a "Really Useful Box"; a 40W bulb with a dimmer; and low-friction-um2-spoolholder

Needs a cage around the bulb but it seems to work OK

I printed on Glass with a 50% Evo-stik wood glue mix and the part stuck well.

Hope this response is useful to someone even though it's now off-topic.

Edited October 13, 2016 by Guest