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. :-)
]]>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.
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.
]]>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.
]]>The Taulman is billed as a Nylon Copolymer. Do you think ABS would be what they blended it with?
No idea.
The other nice thing about blending it is that it won't clump in the hopper and cause feed problems.
It is not as strong as pure nylon - I can still break a strand of 1.75mm filament with my bare hands, which I can't do with pure nylon. I have access to all sorts of Instrons and MTS machines, maybe one of these days if I get time I'll get some data.
]]>One thing I've tried is a ABS/Nylon blend, about 80% ABS, 20% Nylon. It fed and extruded great, I haven't tried printing it yet. It seemed less brittle than normal ABS.
Printed some of this today. Really neat stuff. Prints better than ABS, seems to flow well and layer lines are less pronounced. Definitely more flexible and less prone to breaking than straight ABS. I like it a lot.
]]>It is pretty cool - strong and flexible compared to ABS.
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