Filament printers

Printers that use rolls of plastic string to feed an automated glue gun that moves on a gantry to squish out layers of plastic into a desirable form

Printing Adhesives

Build plate adhesives I have tried...


ABS Juice.webp


AquaNet.jpg


Glue Stick.webp


Magigoo-reg.jpg


                  Magigoo-PP.jpg


Magigoo-PC.webp


Magigoo-PA.webp


Vision Miner.webp




Print Beds

Many options...

Lots of materials can successfully be used as print bed surfaces, and some of those work with one filament better than another.  This list covers the print surfaces I have used to date, some information about them, and my opinions about each.

(BTW, my choice to use 1mm thick sheets to create new print sheets, is based upon my Prusa Mk3s+ printer's inductive bed sensor and it's need to magnetically "see" the steel sheet below the added print surface.)



Glass Sheet.jpg



BuildTak_FlexPlate_1.png




Whambam PC.webp



Whambam PEX.webp 20230904_100446.jpg


Prusa Sheet.jpg 20230904_100326.jpg


Carbon Fiber.jpg 20230904_100316.jpg



FR4 Sheet.webp



20230810_101652.jpg 20230810_102111.jpg 20230904_100429.jpg 


 20230904_100338.jpg



20230724_175727.jpg 20230904_100302.jpg






Filament Printer Rolling Cart

Mobile and Self-Contained

Unplug and roll it into the corner; enabling better space management around the shop without disturbing the 3D printer at work. 

cART oVERVIEW.jpg


FireBall.jpg


Ikea Bror Cart.jpg



Ikea Lack Table.jpg



UPS.jpg



35ah battery.webp



Power Strips.jpg



Dehydrator.jpg



TP-Link Plugs.jpg



RPi4 Aluminum.jpg




Extras


Material Comparisons

We live in a fantastic world to have literally hundreds of colors available in dozens of different materials for hobby 3D printing


TPU "Thermoplastic PolyUrethane", TPE "ThermoPlastic Elastomer", Flexible-PLA, etc.


ABS "Acrylonitrile Butadiene Styrene"



ASA "Acrylonitrile Styrene Acrylate"



PLA "PolyLactic Acid", PLA+, PLA-Pro, etc.



PETG, PETG+, PETG-Pro, etc.


PC



PP



PA, Nylon, etc.



PE



More to come...


Squish!

Printing the first layer can be frustrating for the do-it-all hobbyist since everything is always changing


Beginner squish


What IS good squish?

When the material leaves the nozzle it's cross section is roughly circular but once touching the bed is deformed and hopefully stuck to the bed.  The resulting oval shaped filament string will have a flat bottom if it sticks to the bed at all, but the top of that oval and any other deformations from this point are exactly what we are discussing here.

Printing whatever filament successfully on a given printer can be performed over a fairly wide range of "filament squish levels", but the best performance, reliability, and quality come from dialing it as close to the middle of the range as possible which I believe helps to account for variations in filament diameter and build plate inconsistencies.

The extremes are easy; if the top if the oval almost looks round it means the nozzle needs to be closer to the bed, and if the oval is deformed to look completely flat the nozzle needs to be farther from the bed.  The middle ground is tricky because each material being printed on each printer will have different preferences. 

I begin with the nozzle well above the level I expect to actually print at, then dial it down while printing in the air until the material sticks nicely and has a visible flat on the top... this is the minimum squish, or highest Z offset if you prefer. 


Materials prefer different heights

This is not based upon the material such as PLA vs PETG or ASA, but might be more individual to the specific color of each material from a given brand and how well that color wants to stick to the build surface being used.

When the best possible reliability and quality are desired, we need to calibrate each printer for each new material


No PETG on PEI / PEX?

Some claim PETG should not be printed on PEI or PEX build plates without adhesive separation layers, and I believe they say it for liability reasons.

Many PETG filaments have a higher coefficient of adhesion at ~85c when compared to ABS or ASA at ~100c with the same nozzle/bed offset, but raising the nozzle height can alter this significantly.  Raising the nozzle to a point of just flattening the top of the print line, seems to allow the same material to stick to the same sheet and pop off nicely after cool down like PLA in most cases.


No Silver Bullets!?!

Unfortunately this is a trial and ERROR process that requires failing regularly.  



Why use Carbon Fiber composite filament?

Most people enjoy the semi-matte finish and chatoyant appearance that carbon composites can provide, yet there seems to be some confusion about the non-aesthetic reasons for or against 3D printing with carbon fiber composite materials.


Stiffness / Brittleness

Regardless of base filament material, any carbon fiber composite should be stiffer and therefore somewhat more brittle when compared with 100% base filament.   Mixing carbon fibers into plastic creates a material that is typically greater than the sum of it's parts; the semi-flexible plastic material coats and sticks to the carbon fiber strands holding them together which helps prevent the strands fracturing under bending stress. 

This phenomenon can be roughly demonstrated using straws: Holding 5 straws from a single end then bending them with another hand vs holding the same straws at both ends and trying the same bend in the middle.   The straws being supported from both ends are much tougher to bend because they are being held together and able to better share their strength instead of each straw having to hold all the strain by itself.

Composite materials are a bit of a double edged sword because by adding a significantly stiffer strengthening material to our base plastic, we are adding nucleation sites for cracks to begin once the part is put under heavy stress.  Unfortunately, these differences also cause a change in part failure "style"; this typically means a sharp violent break with reduced flexing when compared to the original material's properties.  

The amount of additional stress a carbon fiber composite part will accept is usually significant compared to 100% base material parts, even if it does change how a part fails.


Printability

The increase to a base materials' overall stiffness will often reduce part warping significantly(or entirely) even for the more "warp prone" materials.  This stiffness increase often enables getting successful prints on challenging geometries, even when normal filament fails.


Hard Nozzle REQUIRED!

ANY composite filament will heavily increase the wear a 3D printer nozzle undergoes, so using a nozzle created from a wear resistant material makes great sense.  The "Hardened Steel" nozzles tend to be the cheapest entry point, however their very low heat conductivity could require changes to the slicer temperatures in some cases.  ANY of the hardened nozzle styles will allow regular composite use without problems, but there are always trade-offs.

"Stainless Steel" nozzles are sometimes available, but I would not recommend them if they are not listed as "Hardened"; this is because while these WILL last longer than Brass, they will not even get close to the useful life of ANY "Hardened" (or equivalent) nozzle when used to print composites.


Glass Fiber? Aramid Fiber? Other Fibers?


Limited experiences with nozzles and wear

After printing hundreds of kilograms of filament through several printers and consequently destroying dozens on nozzles along the way; I have probably learned nothing, but let's take a look anyway!


Cheap brass nozzles

Cheap "Hardened" nozzles

E3D brass v.6 nozzles

E3D Hardened Steel and Nozzle X coated v.6 nozzles

Everything else I haven't tried yet

Any opinions I have on other nozzles are based purely upon the evil marketing strategies of 3D printer nozzle manufacturers