SoliForum - 3D Printing Community — Preheating Material

Re: Preheating Material

null@example.com (grob) — Fri, 04 Jul 2014 00:48:21 +0000

I've wondered about building filament drying into the feed - e.g. an air-drying thing between the spool and the extruder. Never worked out whether it would even be effective though. Has anyone tried / know of something like this? Probably even more useful for those of us getting into nylon etc.

Re: Preheating Material

null@example.com (exineport) — Thu, 03 Jul 2014 22:17:00 +0000

Oh okay, Not even pre-heating post-drive? I'm not talking pre-melting, just pre-heating - Just enough to remove any moisture (If thats even an issue). I remember reading something about old filament and moisture being an issue for someone awhile back.

I know this is a much smaller scale than industrial and that these are not pellets, I just figured it might help if there was an issue with those types of problems - if there are any.

Re: Preheating Material

null@example.com (adrian) — Thu, 03 Jul 2014 12:10:06 +0000

exact opposite. It will soften the filament, causing drive/tension issues.
Pre-heating doesn't apply as these aren't pellets, and it isn't extruding under pressure into a die... all the pre-heating required happens effectively as the filament is driven into the meltzone (remember, this is all on a hugely smaller scale than 'industrial' processes...)

Preheating Material

null@example.com (exineport) — Thu, 03 Jul 2014 08:34:57 +0000

Back in the day I used to work at a plastic pipe extrusion plant (ABS and PE) and we always preheated the material before we ran it threw the extruders. Granted it was loose loaded pellets and pellet mix with regrind with moisture issues. You guys think a preheater would be useful anyhow?