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Strongest filament thats easy to print


mayo77

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Posted (edited) · Strongest filament thats easy to print

I have tried a generic nylon filament in the past and all i wanted to do was rip my hair out because no matter what i used gluestick/ hairspray/ slurry/ brim nothing ever worked and the filament would always curl up and come off the print bed. This would drive me mental.

 

I basically want something that prints parts to at accuracy of pla but is very ridged and strong (weight bearing), price is not an issue.

 

I will add I have an olsson ruby , running on an ultimaker 2. So i believe I can print the vast majority of filaments.

 

I have been looking at xstrand and polycarbonite & carbon fiber but I'm willing to try anything as long as they meet my main requirements.

 

1) Fairly easy to print, i don't want to have to fight with printing this.

2) much more rigid than pla or abs ( and pla + or tough is NOT strong enough as that's what i regularly use)

3) Little to no flex, but not weak on a drop/ impact.

4) Able to take alot of weight prior to breaking

 

 

Any one have any recommendations.

Edited by mayo77
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    Posted · Strongest filament thats easy to print

    You should be aware that abrasive materials will wear out your feeder and nozzle very quick. So if you have to print with CF or glass filled materials, you should upgrade to a Bondtech feeder and a hardened nozzle.

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    Posted (edited) · Strongest filament thats easy to print

     

    36 minutes ago, Carla_Birch said:

    colorFabb PA-CF Low Warp is easy to print, just as easy as PLA is. Not done any real tests with it but its meant to be strong.

    Thanks yeah i have read that too the only problem with that specific filament from what i have gathered through the specs sheet/reviews online, is its meant to be used with a .6 or larger nozzle.I only have a .4 mm nozzle so im not sure this is my solution for my setup. I am now considering esun carbon fiber or maybe fiber force but fiber force is really expensive for small rolls, and not sure if its worth it but it apparently works well with smaller nozzles.

     

    31 minutes ago, Smithy said:

    You should be aware that abrasive materials will wear out your feeder and nozzle very quick. So if you have to print with CF or glass filled materials, you should upgrade to a Bondtech feeder and a hardened nozzle.

    Yup got many replacement steel teeth for my feeder onhand and an olsson ruby nozzle as mentioned earlier in this post. I think that should work out, but i really have no experience first hand on this subject, its all been just research so please, correct me if I'm wrong. IS the bond tech feeder really required?

    Edited by mayo77
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    Posted · Strongest filament thats easy to print
    1 hour ago, mayo77 said:

     

    Thanks yeah i have read that too the only problem with that specific filament from what i have gathered through the specs sheet/reviews online, is its meant to be used with a .6 or larger nozzle.I only have a .4 mm nozzle so im not sure this is my solution for my setup. I am now considering esun carbon fiber or maybe fiber force but fiber force is really expensive for small rolls, and not sure if its worth it but it apparently works well with smaller nozzles.

     

    Yup got many replacement steel teeth for my feeder onhand and an olsson ruby nozzle as mentioned earlier in this post. I think that should work out, but i really have no experience first hand on this subject, its all been just research so please, correct me if I'm wrong. IS the bond tech feeder really required?

     

    Keep in mind most CF or glass filled filaments print better with a nozzle of 0.5 or bigger. With a 0.4 you might run into problems with blocked nozzles over a long print due to the added fibers in the filament.

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    Posted (edited) · Strongest filament thats easy to print
    7 hours ago, Carla_Birch said:

     

    Keep in mind most CF or glass filled filaments print better with a nozzle of 0.5 or bigger. With a 0.4 you might run into problems with blocked nozzles over a long print due to the added fibers in the filament.

    Yep but that depends on the filament, thats why im looking into this 😛.. like i said fiber force carbon fiber should work no problem with my nozzle but the price per gram is insane. In the end if it works ill buy that, just looking for a better price per gram solution if possible.

    Edited by mayo77
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    Posted · Strongest filament thats easy to print

    Just an idea, haven't tried it yet : Clariant PC-ABS

     

    https://www.igo3d.com/mediafiles/Sonstiges/Clariant/TDS/PC+ABS.pdf

     

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    Posted · Strongest filament thats easy to print
    35 minutes ago, Smithy said:

    Just an idea, haven't tried it yet : Clariant PC-ABS

     

    https://www.igo3d.com/mediafiles/Sonstiges/Clariant/TDS/PC+ABS.pdf

     

    I think PC filament is too "bendy" for what im looking for. Tensile strenght /flexular modulus are much to low on that spec sheet but thank you for the suggestion.  I think ill just purchase fiber force filament.

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    Posted · Strongest filament thats easy to print

    Just a thought: buying a .6 hardened nozzle would open your available choices a lot, and the lower expense of the other filaments may pay for the new nozzle.

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    Posted (edited) · Strongest filament thats easy to print
    10 hours ago, johnse said:

    Just a thought: buying a .6 hardened nozzle would open your available choices a lot, and the lower expense of the other filaments may pay for the new nozzle.

    Sure I realize that but swapping nozzles all the time isn't something i want to do. I need to print at 4mm all the time and i really dont want to bother changing the nozzle / and manually releveling the bed constantly( i do run a ultimaker 2 that need to be manually leveled after every nozzle swap), Id rather just pay more for filament that works for my setup. Thanks though for the obvious solution, but for me that wont work.

     

     

    Edited by mayo77
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    Posted · Strongest filament thats easy to print

    Difficult to answer this question. What is considered strong? So many possibilities. Even in Nylon you have many options.

    In the past i used CF from Colorfabb, but it was no "the" solution for everything.

    Ultimaker has already a nice collection of quality filament, where the settings are under control 😉

    And if you go into the marketplace of Cura, you will find all the supported materials, if you chose in that range, life will be easier.:

    I am going to test with this one: PolyMide™ CoPA (according the specs has twice the bending en tensile strength than polymax pla (=tough pla) which i normaly use.

     

     

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    Posted · Strongest filament thats easy to print
    On 9/20/2019 at 6:51 PM, mayo77 said:

    I have tried a generic nylon filament in the past and all i wanted to do was rip my hair out because no matter what i used gluestick/ hairspray/ slurry/ brim nothing ever worked and the filament would always curl up and come off the print bed. This would drive me mental.

     

    I basically want something that prints parts to at accuracy of pla but is very ridged and strong (weight bearing), price is not an issue.

     

    I will add I have an olsson ruby , running on an ultimaker 2. So i believe I can print the vast majority of filaments.

     

    I have been looking at xstrand and polycarbonite & carbon fiber but I'm willing to try anything as long as they meet my main requirements.

     

    1) Fairly easy to print, i don't want to have to fight with printing this.

    2) much more rigid than pla or abs ( and pla + or tough is NOT strong enough as that's what i regularly use)

    3) Little to no flex, but not weak on a drop/ impact.

    4) Able to take alot of weight prior to breaking

     

     

    Any one have any recommendations.

    It's all tradeoffs.

     

    If you want something more rigid than PLA, you're going to either have to look at super high end pure thermoplastics (PEEK, PEKK) or fiber reinforcement. People think PLA is low end because it's cheap and easy to print. It's not. PLA is actually one of the strongest, stiffest filaments that is commonly available. The big downside to PLA is that it's not very thermally resistant. It melts at a low temp, and thus can't be used at even moderate temperatures.

     

    The only thing stronger that's reasonable is perhaps PC. But it generally won't be quite as stiff. It's pretty strong at higher temps also, but must be thus printed at higher temps. Nylon can be strong af, but it's also pretty soft and flexible. PEEK and PEKK are amazing, but holy crap expensive and you need an actual oven to print them. 

     

    Here is data from 3dxtech (and this will vary from manufacturer to manufacturer) on their filaments. They have a good selection, and while this won't apply to every manufacturer's filaments, it's a good reference for comparison. All numbers are Mpa.

     

    Material                 Tensile Strength      Tensile Modulus (stiffness)   Flexural Modulus (stiffness)

    PLA                         56                               2865                                           3185

    ABS                         42                               1950                                           1985

    PC                           62                                2410                                           2200

    PETG                       51                               2218                                           2380

    PEEK                      100                              3720                                            2700

    PEKK                      105                              3200                                            2900

     

    PLA (CF)                 48                               4950                                           6320

    ABS (CF)                46                                5210                                           5260

    PC (CF)                  70                                6200                                            5890

    Nylon (CF)             63                                 3800                                          3750

    PETG (CF)              56                                5230                                           5740

    PEEK (CF)              105                              8100                                            8300

    PEKK (CF)              105                              8210                                            8300

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    Posted · Strongest filament thats easy to print

    Dental composites are extremely hard; these are the white fillings. They are particle filled (=sort of sand), methyl metacrylate based epoxies. But they are also extremely expensive, and light-cured, so you need special equipment (blue power-LED) and thin layers to cure it. And you need water-cooled diamond disks to cut and shape it after curing, you can't get through with a knife or steel bit. So these materials are not practical for other uses.

     

    But maybe you could simulate this concept? Print a mould, coat it with release spray, and then fill it with a mix of fine sand and epoxy? More sand gives a stiffer model. For a good bonding of the particles, the sand needs to be chemically treated or washed in a certain way to activate it, but I don't know the details. But if strenght is not critical (e.g. no pulling forces) and only the hardness is of importance, you could leave this treatment out.

     

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    Posted · Strongest filament thats easy to print

    I won't give you my answer instead I'll direct you to someone that has done far more testing Look up on youtube CNC Kitchen

     

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    Posted · Strongest filament thats easy to print

    Thnaks i have yes he has tonnes of great information which has helped me order new filament ( coming in the mail ) which i hope should be good enough.

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