1 Topic by genesat1

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Topic: [PET] Eastman 5214A

After having fantastic success with multiple types of ABS I thought I would try some PET.  I bought some Eastman 5214A (datasheet: http://www.matweb.com/search/datasheet. … 36bce3c182 ) with the hope of having an alternative to PLA that was less prone to cracking and didn't need a heated bed (having previously printed PETG filament to blue tape on a nonheated bed and finding it to be incredibly strong) 

At 230C it results in the stall protection kicking in at 1.61A.  At 235C it comes out almost like a liquid and breaks under it's own weight.  It comes out as a blob, and as it falls it stretches and breaks, and then another blob starts at the nozzle.    I dried it much more than I do ABS (few days in a dehydrator, few days in a vacuum desiccator, and finally about 5 hours at 300F in a convection oven) without improvement.  I finally got some extrusion by mixing it with ABS at a ratio of 75% PA-747 and 25% PET - but haven't used it yet (the diameter might have fluctuated too much to be usable at 1.4mm to 1.8mm, probably because the temperature had to be much higher than normal for PA-747 in order to melt the PET)

I'm wondering if it isn't the size of the pellets causing an issue - has anybody had extrusion issues with smaller pellets?  I'm going to try changing orientation, see if it performs differently in horizontal/vertical/45 degree.  Has anybody here tried PET themselves?

2 Reply by AZERATE

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Re: [PET] Eastman 5214A

Pellets too small in diameter will yield inconsistent color/material blend.
I've experimented with recycled filament below 1.7mm and the Filastruder allows up to 5mm diameter. If you are suffering with inconsistencies, it sounds more like temperature issues than diameter.

PA747 is my personal favorite, but it takes longer to extrude and a tad higher temperature than MG94. also, vertical extrusion is awesome, but many people report better experimentation with 45°. When blending colors and materials, your experience may vary. I'm sure Elmoret could clarify/trump  these claims

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3 Reply by elmoret

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Re: [PET] Eastman 5214A

I'd say the trouble here is more related to the material (PET). There are lots of flavors of PET, and some are more suitable for 3D printing than others.

Filastruder - the robust, inexpensive filament extruder
E3Dv6 All Metal Hotend - the premier 3D printing hotend

4 Reply by genesat1 (edited by genesat1 2016-06-25 04:12:14)

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Re: [PET] Eastman 5214A

Good news, I managed to print with the filament I did get out, despite it dipping very small at points, it was a ratio of about 50-75% ABS, 50-25% PET.  It even printed on a bed at ONLY 50C - so I think the PET is indeed helping it to adhere to a bed that was barely heated.

When I did this extrusion I had it vertical to try to help it feed better, but I think vertical makes the diameter shrink more doesn't it?

Here is the video of me breaking the part I printed (ignore the dirty hand, I have a perpetual state of grease, wood dust, and paint whenever I'm in the garage) - it was really strong along the wall, with a weak spot at the corners that I was able to bend back and forth to eventually break, the middle of the walls though was not wanting to come apart at all:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=163Y3sH7ZEs

Here is the picture of the Filastruder in a vertical setup thanks to this http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:1508688:
http://soliforum.com/i/?ohtxwxj.jpg

Here's the raw PET pellets:
http://soliforum.com/i/?NbYQk2l.jpg

And here is the filament that is part ABS and part PET, the ABS was purple, the PET brown:
http://soliforum.com/i/?3KGovI8.jpg

I extruded the mix at 220-230C, at 220-225C it wanted to stall, at 230C it seemed to shrink to a smaller diameter the longer it ran - so I had to move it back down to 220C and let it extrude a bit until it stalled again.  Frankly - I'm amazed I was able to actually print with it - but I was really glad when it stuck to the bed at only 50C, and then the part ended up being pretty strong (printed at 230C)

I need to go back and do it again in a more controller manner and see if I can find a ratio that works best.  I need to weigh it too so I can know for sure the percentage rather than eyeballing it.