51

Re: Anyone interested in nylon?

HockeyDR wrote:

Does pure nylon extrude at a consistent 1.75mm?

It does (+/- 0.05 @1.75mm) if you keep it feeding consistently, not letting the powder clump. If the powder is damp at all or not agitated, it will form a bridge of sorts in the hopper and stop feeding.

52

Re: Anyone interested in nylon?

So- I don't have a filastruder yet, but anyone who wants to sell me some of their nylon in 1.75 filament form (or better yet recycled PET) would make me a happy camper..

Grand Rapids, Michigan
SD2 with Sanguinololu board, glass bed mod, E3d_v5 bowden version hotend (currently direct drive), Lawsy Mk5 jigsaw replacement, octopi printserver, drv8825(tiny troubles)

53

Re: Anyone interested in nylon?

Does printing with this nylon emit any toxic fumes and at what temperature do you print at with it?

54

Re: Anyone interested in nylon?

The MSDS for nylon is pretty tame:

http://www.shapeways.com/rrstatic/mater … ngflex.pdf

Sections 10 and 11 are probably what you're looking for. I extrude and print it like ABS - in a well ventilated area. As far as temperatures, I use about 10C hotter than typical ABS.

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Re: Anyone interested in nylon?

I initially had quite a bit of trouble extruding the nylon. It would ramen like crazy. I blended it with some carbon black to achieve my desired material properties, and passed it through the extruder a couple of times. After a while it extruded well.

So there are two potential reasons why I started making good filament instead of ramen:
1. Passing the nylon through twice dried it out.
2. The carbon black decreased the melt flow index, or something, and that caused the nylon to extrude more successfully.

I am leaning towards reason #1 as being the critical element. Dry your nylon!
In more recent batches I am drying it out in a glass pyrex pan in the oven at 100 degrees C.

56

Re: Anyone interested in nylon?

I've been printing a lot of Taulman nylon, and I'll second Lee's observation - you need to keep Nylon dry, or dry it out before printing. Otherwise it "pops" like crazy. I throw it in a zip lock bag with dessicant the day before I want to print.

As far as I can tell, there are a wide range of materials called Nylon, some of which print a lot hotter than Taulman 618 or 645. I think most Nylon injection molding is much hotter than home extruders. And it emits nasty chemicals. Taulman's stuff is formulated to be around the same temperature as ABS, and is safe. :-)

57

Re: Anyone interested in nylon?

Hi everyone!  I use this new company for my PA12 (PA2200), no minimun quantity and a good price compared with EOS materials, same quality. Go to  http://arzauno.com

58

Re: Anyone interested in nylon?

Has anyone experienced any troubles getting nylon through the hopper and into their filastruder?  curious as to how powders work as compared to pellets.

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Re: Anyone interested in nylon?

Its a lot like flour, in that if the powder gets exposed to moisture it might clump and not feed as well. If it stays dry, it should feed fine.