Ultimaker 2 with 2+ upgrade ok for Nylon?

[Mick F 0]

I am looking to purchase a Ultimaker 2 with the 2+ upgrade as I want to print Nylon parts. Will this printer be OK for this.

 

This will be on a very light commercial basis. The parts will only be in the region of 25x18x13mm for the smallest up to approx. 55x20x25 for the larger items. I am hoping there will be lots of these - but it depends on how they go!

 

Also, what size filament does the 2+ use?

 

Any help and advise greatly appreciated.

 

Many thanks

 

Mick

[gr5 2,172]

All ultimaker printers use "3mm" filament which is actually 2.85mm.

 

The um2 with the plus upgrade (around 500 euros?) is identical to the UM2+.  You don't need the um2+ to print nylon but you probably will want to print with a 0.8mm nozzle.  Some of the older UM2s didn't come with an olsson block so you are stuck with the 0.4mm nozzle only (but getting an olsson block is cheap (< 100 euros) and easy).

 

I only say you may want the larger nozzle because it prints so much faster and your prints are big enough that they may take many days without the larger nozzle.

 

I don't know if all new UM2s come with Olsson block - I think they do.  The Olsson block allows you to change nozzles.

 

By the way, printing with nylon is much harder than with PLA so there will be a learning curve.  For one thing you need to keep it extremely dry - like 10% humidity which is very hard to do so basically you will have to bake the nylon (for example on the bed set to 100C covered in a box or with a blanket) and if you have print jobs more than an hour (almost every print job) then you may even need to do more drastic things (like I do - not sure it's 100% necessary) -- I like to keep the whole spool in a ziplock with a large - freshly reset dessicant - with only a small hole to let the spool out (to keep humidity out).  It's pretty easy once you've done it once.

 

It's harder to get Nylon to stick to the glass - I recommend taulman bridge nylon.  Or ultimaker nylon.

 

Also you should cover the front of the printer.  Just a plastic bag or sandwich wrap will do.  I also like to cover the top but I don't think it's necessary with nylon and set the fan to a low speed (around 30%) or your layer bonding on the nylon will be weak and parts will break at layer lines.

 

Anyway try printing nylon and post in here when you start having your first issues.

[Mick F 0]

Many thanks for your help, I appreciate your advice! 

[geert_2 557]

7 hours ago, gr5 said:

All ultimaker printers use "3mm" filament which is actually 3.85mm.

...

This is a typo, it should be 2.85mm. I am sure gr5 was thinking "2.85mm", but his finger hit the wrong key. This happens with fingers when they are typing in half-automatic mode, while we are already thinking way ahead about the next thing.