Group buy of Ultem and some other experimental materials

Thanks for making this thread.

Note that it doesn't have to be Ultem or other super exotic stuff - anything on their inventory is fair game. Their inventory:

http://independentplastic.com/online-inventory

Which HIPS specifically?

Here's the current purchase list:

Virgin PA757
Virgin Eastar 6763 clear PETG
Virgin Ultem 1000 type black
Virgin Santoprene 80A natural
Purgepro 100G
Rapidpurge MP1000
Irogran A85
MAKROBLEND EL700
VIRGIN NATURAL HIPS 8 MELT 2 IZOD

Yes, COMP is compounded - eg regrind that has then been reprocessed so it is back to normal pellet form (regrind could technically be larger chunks that wouldn't feed as smoothly as pellets).

I would advise against running Acetal for most people - or at least I know I wouldn't let the stuff near mine (partially because I'm too lazy to take the whole assembly apart and completely clean it to make sure all trace of Acetal is gone before switching to another plastic). 

It puts out formaldehyde (at normal melt temperatures, obviously way more if overheated), it reacts explosively in combination with some other plastics (study compatibility datasheet carefully), and personally I think it smells way worse than ABS.  It also is VERY hard to print (I bought a premade spool of it).  I've successfully printed all manner of plastics, and Acetal filament warped on me so much that even when I figured out how to get it to stick (had to print a PLA raft first, it won't stick to glass/glue/PEI/etc, but will stick to PLA printed rafts) the small piece I was printing tore itself apart due to warping.  With ABS I can always just extrude hotter, layers bond better, and it normally doesn't crack open on the side even if it warps because the layer bonding is high enough, but with Acetal I was too afraid of the formaldehyde to up the temperature more.

Nylons are interesting though - particularly if we had a way of knowing glass fiber mesh size.  If the glass fibers in the filled versions are small enough to make it through the melt filter, would they still be large enough to increase rigidity?  Nylon 12 supposedly absorbs less water - wonder how that would print compared to the nylon 6 that almost all commercial Nylon filaments are made of.

(Also, unrelated to extruding it into filament, but Acetal is the one plastic I've managed to hurt myself with.  Have you ever read Sanjay/E3Ds story about how he has plastic in his thumb from where acetone touched his skin that had absorbed ABS?  I had just failed to get Acetal to work again, and was changing out the filament in my printer to a nylon.  When I put the nylon in, and started it feeding suddenly I heard a POP, and acetal flew out of the other end of the nozzle in different directions.  A little bit landed on my thumb.  At first - it just hurt.  Later however after the burn healed (for whatever reason acetal at 230C seemed so much hotter than even PC that had just been extruded at 300C), I noticed a bump, and it was black under the skin.  Personally I have wondered if maybe I have a little Acetal under the skin now, did it burn it's way in?  I have no idea why it popped like it did - it acted like I had just poured water in a hot pan of oil on the stove - and as far as I can tell nylon is not suppose to be incompatible with Acetal like that.)

If you hate having to take the machine apart to clean nylon then when Elmoret gets the plastic in be sure to order some of the Purge Pro 100 - here is directly from their website: http://www.ameriplasinc.com/purge-pro-p … mpound.htm

"PurgePro 100 can be used directly without any mixing necessary to clean most plastic equipment during color, and resin changes. The unique additives in PurgePro 100, makes it possible to purge resins like Polyethylene, Polypropylene, polystyrene, nylons as well as PEEK, PPS, and Ultem in less time in most resin applications."

I'm no expert for sure, but from what I understand it should work like Esun's cleaning filament for 3D printers - a very wide temperature range lets you put it in at the higher temperature, it pushes out the higher temperature plastic, but it still can be extruded at lower temperatures to then let you push the purge material out.

All materials posted here:

https://www.filastruder.com/collections/pellets

Still need to add photos and flesh out descriptions. Remember that there's still store credit on material reviews/writeups! Doesn't have to be a positive outcome, just has to be a reasonable effort at achieving success.

If there's other materials folks would like, feel free to post here.

Order placed here too.  Free shipping, : )

It's turned a bit cold here lately - wonder what a Filastruder can get up to with a 15V heater, in a 2C room.

Detached garage - have a pet bird so I keep all plastic related endeavors far far away.  I can still even print out there with PLA and PETG - without a heated enclosure, but I will have to build a heated enclosure for Ultem or EL700 I imagine.

I already have Eastar 6763 and PA747 so I started with Irogran A85, Ultem 1000, Makroblend EL700, Purgepro and Rapidpurge.  Obviously the last two are not meant to be made into filament - but who knows, maybe they could clean nozzles just as well as they clean extruders.

Grrr... spent too much lately, need to wait a few weeks. I'll likely get the PETG, HIPS, a couple others to experiment with, and some purge pellets just to try out. Maybe some PLA. I haven't made any of that yet, but it's useful for some sorts of prints.

Got my order today...thanks Tim!
I'm printing a prototype basket/heat box so I can use my heat bed to dry the pellets right now, so I hope to begin extruding in the next day or two.

Yes, that should work too.