Printing Nylon Structure with PLA Support

[ewatson 0]

There is a component I am printing in high volume and I have recently made the change from PLA to NYLON because of NYLON's strength.  However, when I print the supports for this NYLON structure using NYLON I find the supports almost impossible to remove.  Because of this I have tried printing the supports with PLA.  However, the NYLON doesn't seem to make an important connection to the PLA.  Does anyone have any recommendations for printing supports for a NYLON print?

[Enigma_M4 101]

Hi ewatson,

 

PLA is not really the material of choice for support structures. Using a UM3, I'd recommend either PVA or Breakaway, which both work really well with nylon.

PVA is easyer to remove by water-dissolution, but more expensive. Breakaway, sometimes releaves smaller strands, which are hard to grab.

 

Regards

 

PS (edit): Ultimaker material-compatibility-chart:

 

https://ultimaker.com/en/resources/49799-material-compatibility

 

Edited January 8, 2020 by Enigma_M4

[FalmouthLouis 3]

I've had some problems with Nylon and Breakaway. They may work together well if Breakaway is supporting nice flat surfaces. However, I recently printed something with indentations and some ridged sections. Breakaway was very difficult - if not impossible - to remove. I resorted to PVA which worked absolutely fine.

 

But I then moved on to a fragile set of loops (this was an NDA job so I can't be more specific). Breakaway printed to the necessary heights, but it was impossible to remove it without damaging the relatively thin looped surfaces. PVA doesn't seem to like being printed in relatively thin columns, so was useless in a different way

[Oliveros 11]

I print nylon with nylon supports, I don't have a problem removing the supports. 

 

Make sure you set the gap to be big enough so they don't fuse together.

[FalmouthLouis 3]

Oliveros: thanks for this. I'm normally taking other people's designs so what do I do within Cura to make sure the relevant gaps are big enough?

[Oliveros 11]

It's under the supports section, just hover over the settings but it's something to do with distance between the model and the support, something gap I believe it is.

[FalmouthLouis 3]

Oliveros: there are a confusing number of options in Cura's preferences for controlling supports. I've picked a few which may help a bit and will do some experimentation. My guess is that "support z distance" and 'support top distance' could be key.

[Oliveros 11]

Yes, I'm well aware, lol.

 

That sounds about right, if you hover over the setting, it will explain it a little.