100% INFILL

[furball 0]

Hi everyone. Having spent a long time researching the market I am about to buy an Ultimaker 2 to help origination of our range of pewter aircraft http://www.pewteraircraft.com . I need to print in ABS with 100% infill to create masters for our mouldmaking process. My question is; I know cura allows fill to be set at 100% but is the print totally solid? If the print were cut in half would there be any air inside?

Thanks for your help guys.

 

[IRobertI 516]

If you don't have a problem with the print such as under extrusion the print will be 100% solid ABS.

Just out of personal curiosity, why does the print have to be filled 100%?

 

[furball 0]

If you don't have a problem with the print such as under extrusion the print will be 100% solid ABS.

Just out of personal curiosity, why does the print have to be filled 100%?

 

Thanks for the reply - looks like I'll be ordering a UM2 then. :-P

I am going to use the ABS print as a master to make vulcanised rubber moulds from which I can cast pewter aircraft.

The ABS has to withstand the vulcanising process which requires high tempertures and pressures. Tests so far show that ABS prints with less than 100% filll disintegrate. The captive air expands and colapses the print during the vulcanising process. 100% solid PLA remains intact so I need something that prints 100% solid ABS ......UM2 :cool:

 

[Daid 304]

While 100% infill is quite solid, there is always some trapped air inside. There are some tiny corners not filled.

I would recommend:

High wall thickness (2.0mm), 100% infill, 130% flow, 260C, 30mm/s print speed.

This means you slightly over-extrude, filling up more gaps, thick walls make up for a stronger print with less air holes, as the biggest air holes will be between the infill and the walls. You might even try 1000.0mm wall thickness.

 

[furball 0]

While 100% infill is quite solid, there is always some trapped air inside. There are some tiny corners not filled.

I would recommend:

High wall thickness (2.0mm), 100% infill, 130% flow, 260C, 30mm/s print speed.

This means you slightly over-extrude, filling up more gaps, thick walls make up for a stronger print with less air holes, as the biggest air holes will be between the infill and the walls. You might even try 1000.0mm wall thickness.

 

Thanks for the settings that gives me a baseline to work from. I would expect even at 100% infill the possibility of some trapped air hopefully a high wall thickness will help. Prints will be made at the highest resolution, as I will only need one print for mouldmaking. We are experiminting with different rubbers, temperatures and pressures at the momment to place less structural demands on the print.

 

[IRobertI 516]

Or maybe it's possible to do it in a two step process where you create a mold for casting a master in some other material like epoxy/resin/what have you? Depends on the complexity of the shape I imagine. Just a thought.

 

[Daid 304]

Or maybe it's possible to do it in a two step process where you create a mold for casting a master in some other material like epoxy/resin/what have you? Depends on the complexity of the shape I imagine. Just a thought.

 

This might also be a nice option for you, I've read about some people printing a negative, then casting some ceramic like material in it, then bake it (which evaporates the PLA print) then you can use the result to cast your mold from. Extra bonus, nice ceramic model as show piece.

 

[furball 0]

At present I sculpt a master in an epoxy putty called Milliput which is then used to create a cold cure silicone rubber mould from which I cast a rough metal master. The metal master has a lot of distortion and requires a lot of finishing before it is ready to make a vulcanised production mould from. The plan is to use the UM2 to print a finished master from which I can make a vulcanised mould. This will save a lot of time. So far tests look promising. For more details on the current origination process the best place to look is my blog. http://www.pewteraircraft.com/NEW%20RELEASES/blog.htm

 

[furball 0]

Finally got my Ultimaker 2 and have started printing ABS with 100% infill using Daid's baseline settings. I have lowered the print speed to 20mm/s, set the fans to come on at 2mm and allowed for 0.5mm extra material all round for finishing. Layer thickness 0.06mm. Had a few minor issues with Cura but checking the layers in the display everytime prevented a lot of missprints. The only output issue I have so far is, if I have a small raised detail say a 1mm diameter cylinder sticking up 1 or 2mm from the surface all I get is mush. I have tried cool head retraction but no luck.

Bed levelling is spot on, adhesion with gluestick very good, UM2 on solid table, and I have found methylated spirits cleans the printbed perfectly.

Thanks for all your help guys, the forum is an excellnt resource and has saved me a lot of frustration.

I forgot to mention the printer does seem to beep a lot at the final 3/4 of the print.

[yodajammies 0]

Impressive work furball!