I’m Harry D & I’m new to 3D printing. I’ve just bought the K8400 this afternoon and in the shop I explained that I intended to work with ABS, as I was planning to do prototyping with the printer & ABS seemed the better material for it.
I then got the well meant advise to start out with PLA first, as it’s a more user friendly material. I could then switch over to ABS, when I was comfortable working with PLA. (That seems to make sense & I’m not one to discard good advise) :-).
But now I’m sipping my coffee, while browsing websites & material datasheets on PLA & ABS materials and to my surprise, most manufacturers state a higher tensile strength for PLA, as for ABS. In most cases some 50%, but in some improved compositions PLA could even have a 100% higher tensile strenght. That raises an eye brow…?
The pages also state, however, that ABS would have a better machineability than PLA i[/i]. So, making adjustments to the finished product with traditional machining tools would work better. Also, the ABS material would be less impacted by environmental influences (higher temperatures, moisture).
I’ll be starting out with PLA anyway, as it seems to be the right learning curve. But would any of you have experience with both these materials? If so, I’d appreciate it, if you could share following two points:
Which do you use & what is the property that makes you choose for it?
What are long term results with the products you produce? Only to your knowledge & experience, of course.
Thanks for your response, I’ll defenitely keep eye out for the various materials. There seems to be a lot going on, yes. I already saw a YouTube clip of someone working with Nylon filament - challenging learning curve, but getting results.
And, no, I don’t have a heated bed - not yet, anyway. I’m building the beast as it comes out of the box. The only option I added, is the double extruder kit. I’m not sure I need 2 heads, but I figured to just get the printer as complete as possible.
I’ll start out with PLA & then take it from there - one step at a time.
One other thing, though - while we’re on PLA: I haven’t been able to find a product datasheet of the PLA that Velleman is selling - I bought 2 rolls with the printer, but would like to know it’s tensile strenght. The safety sheets are easy to find, but I must be overlooking the technical detail sheets.
Would you or anyone else here be able to post these here - or the link to them?
Thanks & cheers,
Harry D.
P.s.: Printer’s coming along nicely - think I’m a little over halfway the build.
Don’t forget there are PLA filaments that have additives to reduce brittleness and improve strength - I always use PLA for environmental reasons, as IMHO the world really doesn’t need any more petrochemical plastics being left in landfill!
But one PLA you might want to check out is PolyMax - stronger than ABS (and unfortunately dearer). It prints fine with standard PLA settings, you can prototype in PLA and transfer that straight to PolyMax.
ABS is frankly a pain to print with, as shrinkage and warping mean you’ll have to go with a heated bed eventually. As I say, the range of PLA based filaments is constantly expanding and improving.
I’ve got the first samples out of the printer: I did 2 of the keyring samples & 2 test objects of my own. And I have to say, that I’d need to agree that (for what I’m doing now) PLA seems quite sufficient - from a strenght perspective anyway.
I’m pretty sure I will try out ABS & other materials at one point - even if only for the experience. It indeed remains to be seen how effective a material for any printed object is, but so far the standard PLA is already bringing a wide smile to the face.
If you then look at some of the documented tensile strengths for these new PLA’s - some are going up to 100 Mpa… That’s twice ABS! (Prometheus, I thought - but I’ll have a look into the Polymax, you mentioned). ABS seems to have better properties for post print modifications, though. Could be a consideration for me, for cases where you’d need to produce small threaded connections.
I’d need to test how that works out between PLA & ABS. I’ll drill a hole into a PLA print & see how threading goes.
if ABS or PLA - preference should be on PLA concerning environmental aspects.
PLA is degrading quicker and will be consumed by nature at the end.
Handling on the printer also is easier.
But: If I want to print special waterproof cases for marine equipment,
I have to use a UV and weatherproof material.
Nobody nowdays relies on a sailing vessel made of PLA.
The best material would be polycarbonate for my purpose.
Is there a filament made out of this?
If you intend to use ABS, a heated glass plate is a must.
Don’t try that ABS print on BuildTak, if you are not willing to have one print = buy a new BuildTak foil.
[quote=“HDS”]Hi,
The best material would be polycarbonate for my purpose.
Is there a filament made out of this?
If you intend to use ABS, a heated glass plate is a must.
Don’t try that ABS print on BuildTak, if you are not willing to have one print = buy a new BuildTak foil.[/quote]
There is, but I don’t think polycarbonate is realistic for 3D printing - even for [color=#0000BF]e3d nozzles[/color], bed temp of 120C and nozzle temps of 300C? :-0
I’ve printed colorfabb’s XT on buildtak with no problems, at similar temps to ABS. Like ABS it’s prone to warping, but not as much.
Personally, I think PolyMax is the way to go if you want stronger PLA prints. I print stuff for my kayak with this and it’s fine.
This is interesting stuff. Been having some questions about printing parts in nylon or maybe PE for a company I print a lot for. The first for it’s good applications as sort of bearing material and the second because of it becoming glassy instead of wearing out in certain conditions. Since so far I only printed PLA (made some parts for my laser sailboat as well and they work fine lol) I made the step to ABS first. Tried some small parts and of course ran into problems with bigger ones. Am fitting a mk3 to my vertex now. Next are 2 E3D v6’s with which I hope I’ll be able for achieve higher tempo nessicary for nylon. Of PE I know nothing. Anyone have any ideas on it? Lastly i’d love to be able to print ninjaflex or something similar. To go short, it all is a great hobby;)
I’ve printed lots of stuff in filaflex on the Vertex. Just slow the speed right down to 15ms everywhere. You can’t print too slowly - and don’t be tempted to speed up, as you end up with a big tangle by the feed wheel! But it is doable.
