Changed from 1.75 to 3mm, now having problems (Page 1 of 2)

Isn't the filament hard by the time it hits the winder? How is it stretching?

Perhaps lower the temperature a bit, and/or add cooling? I haven't ever done 3mm PC/PC-ABS.

I've also tried adding cooling. I went so far as to print a fan shroud to fit over the nozzle and used an industrial 120mm fan. It still didn't help, although I think it had an adverse effect by making the PID think it was cooler than it actually was, causing it to actually heat up more.

Edit: corrected the fan size

Thanks for the pictures. I will give that a try. Thanks again!

I'm not sure regular expanding foam would be able to handle the temperature. Good idea though, would make great insulation.

I bought my PC / PC-ABS off ebay. I've tried calling companies that sell it but they lose interest when I tell them I'm only interested in 50-100 pounds. I always get "I'll email you", "I'll see what we have and call you back", or "call so-and-so (insert competitor)".

I found a decent deal on some PC-ABS from this seller. It was about $150 for a 50lb box. He still has a couple more boxes for sell along with a lot of other plastics.

I like it, it was definitely an upgrade from the MakerBot. It prints fast, can reach high temperatures with no problem, and the quality is great. I guess the thing I like most is Airwolf's support. I had a problem with one of the couplings and they sent a replacement out the same day with no questions asked.

That's interesting, and thanks for sharing!

What is the output speed?
What materials are the adapter and the plug?
Is the plug solid or cored?
What diameter did you drill for 3mm Polycarb extrusion?
Did you use 1/8" NPT or 1/4" NPT as the final size?

I'm guessing that the threads between the reducer and the nozzle lower the nozzle temperature further, allowing the filament to cool without solidifying.

I guess the downside to this is it makes a melt filter nozzle more difficult to implement.

Hmm. I think with a 1/2" x 1/8" reducer there'd be enough area for a melt filter nozzle.

Steel is more of a pain to machine, slower at least and goes through tooling faster. Would be best to keep the melt filter geometry on the brass bit.

Less surface area to transfer heat as well.

I'll try to explore this. None of my machines use 3mm so I haven't had much need for 3mm, but it sounds like this might be useful for folks doing non-ABS materials at 3mm.

Thank you for sharing, josh/rich! If others have questions, I'll point them towards this thread so they can try it out and report back.

Only remaining data is an output speed report. We know the normal nozzle did 1.75mm filament at 24"/min. 3mm filament has 2.93 times the area, so I'd expect ~8"/min at 3mm if the nozzle isn't affecting anything.

There are no 3/4" parts on a Filastruder. Everything is 1/2" NPT. Just don't want folks to buy the wrong thing.

This is it.............

Drill and tap 1/2" nozzle with melt filter to 1/4 NPT.
Install 1/4 X 1/8 steel male-female adapter
then install 1/8" Brass plug drilled out to filament size.
Insulate all the way down to tip of brass nozzle.
Use a aluminum can heat shield with hole in the bottom, and adjust according to how much tip cooling you need.
No Teflon tape.

Tighten all fittings after a good heat-up

It might have slowed down a little bit.

5-maybe 6 inches/Min.
2.85 ~ 2.86 mm.----------real good tolerance.
PLA
I would say that there is also a bit less duty cycle on the heater.

I like having the melt filter back in.
I don't have a clue to what will happen with ABS, but, it shouldn't be a big deal.

As you know, even the smallest changes will change the thermal properties of everything.......

I am now wondering what will happen if the thermocouple gets moved to the end nozzle...