Filament reviews (Press) (Page 1 of 2)

Filament: Taulman PCTPE
Extruder temp: 260º C
Bed temp: 90º C
Software: Soliprint
Layer height: 0.3mm
Rating: 7/10

This is a really interesting material. It is very soft, which creates some problems. I also had trouble with a lot of bubbles in the final print if it wasn't dried before printing. In order to dry it I just turned the bed on my Press on to 90º C, and put the filament on the bed and closed up the printer for a couple of hours.

This filament sticks really well to glue stick on the bed.

This is a difficult filament to print with Soliprint since it doesn't give good control over printing speeds, especially with solid infill layers. Here you can see the stringing on the bottom of the test print where the printer was moving faster than the filament could be extruded.

Glad to see the hotend on the Press can handle these materials. Very well done. I encourage everybody to try something other than ABS. ABS is King, but there are way more fun materials i love PET. I'd print everything in t-glase if it wasn't so expensive.

You should definitely use a host which gives you more control. You will see much better results I'm sure.

Filament: Solidoodle ABS (Red)
Extruder temp: 240º C
Bed temp: 90º C
Software: Soliprint
Layer height: 0.3mm
Rating: 7/10

I ordered this filament while I was still waiting for my printer. It prints pretty well, and is definitely a step above the starter ABS that came with the printer. It is significantly more elastic and less brittle. The color isn't great. It is kind of an orangish-red instead of a true red, and the dye seems to stick in the extruder. I printed some clear PET after using some of this filament, and even after purging with 200mm of PET the extruded plastic still had a slight reddish tinge to it.

In short, I doubt I will be buying more Solidoodle ABS. It cost $60 after shipping, and doesn't seem to have any real advantages. I guess it fits in the lid of the press, but since you pretty much can't print with the lid closed that isn't much motivation.

Filament: Taulman T-glass (Black)
Extruder temp: 230-250º C
Bed temp: 50-60º C
Software: Soliprint
Layer height: 0.3mm
Rating: 2/10

I just don't think that the Press will be able to print T-glass stock. The high temperature and low speed needed are a bad mix for the already inadequate cooling on the extruder. I tried a number of times and at a bunch of different settings, but wasn't able to get an acceptable print. At 230º C the filament would print if the speed was low, but with very poor inter-layer adhesion, and at the higher temperatures the cool part of the hot end would get too warm and the extruder would start to jam.

I can't recommend T-glass with the Press. It is likely that some additional cooling on the extruder would make this possible, but I don't see it working with a stock Press, which is really unfortunate.

Yeah, I was already printing at 0.3mm, so I don't think that would make a difference. A bigger nozzle would probably help though. I still don't think it is doable on a stock Press though, which is kind of what I want to determine in these reviews.

Read this http://www.soliforum.com/topic/9347/sol … to-fix-it/ and fix the moire in your prints. They all look terrible.

Also, your temp for t-glase should be around 220C.  Its not meant to print at high temps.

I'm rather skeptical of this based on the location of the thermocouple.

Not sure where you get 220C from. I had very poor results with blue t glase at any temperature below 235C, which, as noted by Taulman, is the lowest optimum temperature: http://taulman3d.com/t-glase-features.html. I tried t glase on a brand new heatbrake and .6 nozzle (e3d v6) so we can probably rule out any issues with my setup.

I fought t glase for a while because everyone suggested lower temperatures. If you have problems with t glase 99% of the time it's just because you're printing too cold, in my experience. The #1 sign you're printing too cold is poor layer adhesion, if you aren't having flow problems.

That being said, t glase is incredibly unimpressive at bridging at temps above 230 in my experience, so 230c was my happy spot. (Note: no nozzle fan)

My guess is that the colorant might be a significant factor too. I see people saying they print clear just fine at 212. I can free air extrude blue t glase at 212, but at printing speeds, it wouldn't flow at all. I'd love to find a way to print it lower because it seems to have a dramatic effect on optical clarity, although layer height matters more (exponential relationship according to taulman).

Filament: PET+ by MadeSolid
Extruder temp: 230-260º C
Bed temp: 60-80º C
Software: Soliprint
Layer height: 0.3mm
Rating: 2/10

Sadly I had a very similar experience trying to print this material as T-Glase. The extruder just isn't good at these kinds of materials. I am working on a way to increase the cooling so that I can give these materials another try, as I feel like they are good materials, just difficult to print on the Press.

Filament: HIPS by Reprapper Tech Ltd
Extruder temp: 240º C
Bed temp: 90º C
Software: Soliprint
Layer height: 0.3mm
Rating: 10/10

This stuff prints very well, and with less shrink than ABS. It still smells when printing, but it didn't seem as strong as ABS. Overall, I feel like HIPS is possibly a better 3D printing filament than ABS, and might move to it as my primary filament! (Probably not this color though!)

may also note what safety  measures where taken to deal with the materials that have very toxic fumes/off gassing since the Press dont even have filters etc for ABS, PLA. some of the materials listed here are extremely dangerous to use without industrial lab much less in home. see MSDS on them. this has also been talked about on this forum.