[PC-ABS Extrusion]

So I know someone else has already posted a review of PC-ABS filament but it was for 3mm and I figured I'd post one for 1.75mm

I don't have a datasheet for this filament, the seller for the filament provided the brand and type of polymer, but I've been unable to locate the actual datasheet, it's called Hushloy HS210 by Techno-UMG Co. If someone finds the datasheet I can update this post with the information from it.

To anyone who wants to extrude this filament I advise that, just as the 3mm post says, you dry it for as long as possible. This filament will come out like garbage if it is not properly dried, even when it is dried it can still have trouble if it wasn't dried long enough or if it takes too long to extrude (I recommend a closed hopper or adding pellets as it extrudes to ensure they remain dry)

Now on to the setup and settings:

Machine: Filastruder S/N 3690
Nozzle diameter: 1.75mm from the filastruder store*
Extruded temperature: 230 C
Speed of extrusion: 1Kg/7 hours**
FIlament diameter: 1.65mm +/0.05mm
Pre-Extrusion Processing: Dried in a food dehydrator @ max temp (158 F) for 20-24 hours
Extruded vs Purchased: The only seller I know that sells this stuff is ProtoPasta, and I've never bought it from them. I imagine that the diameter will be closer to 1.75mm though. If I find a way to get this to a stable 1.75mm I'll edit this post with relevant info.

*at one point I believed the nozzle to be clogged so I took a drill with a 1/16th bit through it. Although this bit is smaller than 1.75mm, I believe it may have removed a small amount of brass from the nozzle. I may end up replacing this nozzle soon and I'll report back if I do.

**I only extruded about 800g of filament because that was how much I dried for the first run, it took about 5.5 hours

Machine setup

The machine is mounted vertically and a filawinder was used for winding. I used a 15v power supply (adjusted to 16v) although you may be able to get away with the default power supply at 230 C. I also attached a higher CFM fan than the default one for filament cooling (although possibly not strictly necessary, I did this because mine was broken) and it did seem to help keep the filament from thinning out when extrusion rate changed. I have about 2-2.5ft of drop before the filament reaches the sensor for the filawinder as well. I am also using the same  hopper by IanJohnson from the other PC-ABS post, but as a warning, it does not work well with current filastruders, mine took a lot of coercion to get it to fit the way it does. Also, make sure any part contacting the barrel for your hopper system is made of PC or similar high temp material. Although it probably won't melt down at 230 C at the tip, mine did when testing (I went all the way to 260C). In the images the clear/white parts are made of PC, the black parts are PETG. The hopper also will leave some pellets un-extruded unless you tap on it or get a shaker.

Printing

I printed this material at 280C with a GeckoTek HOT bed at 110C and a camera tent style enclosure. I used a DyzEnd-X hotend although I've printed PC with E3D clones before, so it will probably print with those as well. The nozzle is 0.4mm and the layers are 0.2mm. In the image for the print below you'll notice the top is messed up, this was due to it printing those layers too fast and the feature being very small. This stuff prints like straight PC so I'd recommend not using any cooling, and printing slowly (20-50mm/s) otherwise you'll see layer seperation, curling, and many other problems. For small features, have it slow down to prevent the material crushing in on itself. Overall it does perform a little better than PC in printing though, as it tends to warp less.

The finish of the material is a very nice semi-gloss satin black, although I'm more interested in the material for its strength properties and heat resistance. I've not done any real tests vs PC, but it seems to be just as strong. As for heat resistance, since it prints at the same temp I print PC at, I imagine it's fairly similar in that front as well.

EDIT:
Extruding at 205c seems to give the best dimensional results, with dimensions clocking in close to 1.75+/- 0.05 (will be able to check tighter tolerances when my new calipers arrive). The issue is, it takes >24h per KG of filament extruded, but the finish of the filament does look very nice. This is with the default sized nozzle, whenever I get around to drilling mine bigger I'll retry this material and report back.

EDIT 2: after getting better calipers and measuring the filament extruded at 205c, I've found it's actually closer to 1.81 +/-0.05 mm, the highest I've measured so far is about 1.83 and lowest is 1.79. So it would appear that 205 is actually a bit too cold even with the default nozzle. I'm going to try 210-220 and see how it goes.

A fore note for the pictures: my workspace is a huge mess and I apologize for that, and the filawinder is not just taped to the wall, the tape is used to reduce vibration.