Colorfabb XT or Nylon

[DidierKlein 729]

Hi all,

I'm currently doing some research for some filaments that need to produce something more resistant than regular PLA.

I produced two objects this week in PLA but i'm pretty sure they will fail when used.

First one is a clip that is used in a dishwasher, running at 70°c i know that PLA starts to change at 50°c i told the person that it will probably fail.

Second one is a pulley for a land mower, will probably be under a lot of stress (i guess).

So i was looking in alternatives:

Nylon seems to be a good choice, but i'm worried by the fumes (printer is in the room next to my daughter's bed room). Printing Nylon seems okay with the ultimaker 2 from what i've read on the forum, the main issue seems to be with the sticking on the bed.

Colorfabb XT, i saw they put it in a dishwasher to change the color at 70°c so this should be ok for the first object. If i'm not wrong it's stronger than regular PLA too so it should be better for the second object. What about the fumes with this?

I also read that it tends to make the hotend messy

Any advice?

 

[nick-foley 5]

XT is easier, prettier, and has a higher glass transition. Nylon is a pretty cool material, but more specialized for simpler parts that need to be strong and a little flexible.

I would do XT.

 

[Dim3nsioneer 557]

[...]

Colorfabb XT, i saw they put it in a dishwasher to change the color at 70°c [...]

 

It must really be at 70°C as I tested it at 65°C and it neither changed color nor opacity.

 

[somewhereinla 2]

It seems that what you want is ABS.

[DidierKlein 729]

No i don't want ABS because of the fumes mainly.

I also believe that nylon is much stronger than ABS. I don't know about XT.

I'm currently testing colorfabb regular filament and it's going pretty good.

My main concerns are:

1. Fumes toxicity?

2. Maintenance of the printer if you use this material.

I'm using a UM2 by the way

 

[yellowshark 153]

As I said elsewhere, Taulman nylons have no toxicity. The key to maintenance is to ensure you buy their newly made nylons after they retooled to a nominal size of 2.85mm vs the previous tooling of 3.00mm.

The previous nylons have a strong tendency to jam in the Bowden tubing.

You need to trust your supplier on this and stress that you want 2.85 not 3.00. The problem is that both sizes have 3.0mm printed on the reel label. If they sell you old stock you will be stuffed. Eventually one can surmise that this old stuff will work itself out of the supply chain although irritating that Taulman did not re-label.

Apart from this point my assumption is there is not really any maintenance.

The above does not apply to their t-glase nylon as they say this was always manufactured with the new tooling. For clarity it certainly applies to 618 and 645, do not know about Bridge.

 

[DidierKlein 729]

Thanks I will have to ask the suppliers then because i don't want to spend money on a filament that will not work good on the printer.

 

[hreedijk 4]

Didier,

I print a lot with XT and really love it.

It's very strong and has no fumes like ABS or Nylon, you can compare the fumes with PLA/PHA, almost nothing.

Also, I never had a clog of any kind with it ans also never have any problems with the bowden tube.

A little instruction I wrote to swap between XT and PLA/PHA filaments:

http://umforum.ultimaker.com/index.php?/topic/3626-colorfabb-3mm-plapha-filament-and-the-um2/&do=findComment&comment=28010

 

[DidierKlein 729]

Thanks for the tip harold

Would you say that XT is strong enough to manage some friction? Like the piece for the lawn mower will have (it's a pulley)

 

[hreedijk 4]

Your welcome Didier.....

XT can handle some friction, of course it always depends on the kind and amount of friction.

The filament has, from my opinion, better properties than ABS.

I'm in the process of rebuilding my UM1 into an alu frame construction.

All parts are printed with XT, even the extruder and hot-end mount.

Even if it's unsure that XT will hold as a pulley for your lawn mower (I think it can), it's definitely filament you should have for strong, heat resisting parts.

I tried a few meters of HIPS (even more heat resistant than XT), but the fumes where killing, even worse than ABS.