PVA supports with NylonX

[b3_engineering 0]

I'm starting to try and print some NylonX with my S5, and I'm going to try using PVA as my support material.  Both are in separate dry boxes and have been for about 12 hours at this point and I plan to print from the boxes.  My question was should I use PVA as the whole support material?  Or I saw some suggestions about a roof setting in CURA that would mean it only uses the PVA at the interface between support and part?  Not sure which will work better here. I guess I can try and see, but thought I'd ask advice first.

 

Thanks!

[Slashee_the_Cow 438]

Hiya! Your friendly and occasionally overzealous assistant mod Slashee here. I wish I had an answer for you (and I really wish I had an S5) but I'm just going to move this to the "Improve your 3D prints" board since it doesn't really have much to do with Cura. Don't worry, all of the smart people who know what they're talking about usually look at both 🙂

[fbrc8-erin 298]

I haven't printed with NylonX particularly (though I've printed with other carbon and glass nylon materials), but if you want to try doing an interface layer only for the support part with PVA to minimize how much PVA you're using, I would do a small test piece first.

 

Generally with a lot filament, PVA sticks better to the glass and itself than to other filaments, which is why the defaults in Cura generally go for more PVA rather than less, and connect multiple sections of PVA together where they can so that you've got outside PVA sticking directly to the bed and as much of the rest of it together as possible for more reliability. 

Since how well different materials bond can have a lot of factors, if you do want to do a PVA at interface layer only print with NylonX, I would recommend doing it as a small sample piece first to check how well it's going to bond together while you can monitor it before doing a big print and leaving it unattended. If the PVA doesn't bond well to NylonX, you're better off finding that out before a print has been left overnight by itself and could cause damage.