Putting a Kraken Printhead on the FlashForge Creator Pro

Hello folks -

I'm new to the 3dPrint world, but am trying to make the immediate jump to printing with nylon. A FlashForge Creator Pro has arrived in my school's department and has the basic ABS / PLA threads with a dual-extruder.

To avoid putting materials with different melting points through the same extruder head, I've taken a notice of the Kraken quad extruder.

As I research what people have accomplished with the Creator Pro, I'd really appreciate hearing from the forum's experience about:

1) installing the Kraken head (or any different printhead) onto the Creator Pro
and
2) Whether the Creator Pro can handle the higher melting point of nylon (~255C). From what I've seen early, the high temperatures may weaken components around the extruder, which may put the kibosh on the whole deal.

Any references or suggestions on these would be very helpful. Thank you!

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Putting different materials through the same extruder shouldn't be a problem. You just need to make sure you flush it out at the melting temp for your highest temp rated material. Did that make sense? Lol. For example, when switching from ABS to PLA. I print my ABS around 230C and my PLA around 200C. Make sure you use 230C (or your particular ABS heat setting) to unload the ABS and to load the PLA and let it run for a tad to clear out the old material. This will make sure the material that was removed melts and gets flushed out. Then you can just set your temps as you normally would and print away.

What type of Nylon are you printing with? I know that plenty of people print with the stock setup with some of the Taulman filaments, for example. I think some of those can print at under 250C.

My suggestion to you would be to learn to print in PLA, then ABS, then jump to Nylon. You'll be able to print in PLA much quicker than you can in Nylon (or ABS for that matter) and you should really know how the machine works the way it came before modding it or you won't have anything to compare it to. Nylon is very temperamental compared to PLA or even ABS. It absorbs water from the air so many people actually bake the filament at super low temps in the oven for a couple hours before using. You also need to print a whole lot slower with it. You will get more out of your time with the printer and enjoy the hobby a lot more starting at step 1... PLA. But that is just my humble opinion

I am currently working on putting 2 E3DV6 hot ends on a Wanhao D4S, which I believe is in the same family as your Creator Pro. http://3dprintboard.com/showthread.p...icator-Creator

As of now, I have a single E3D mounted with a bowden setup. I had some issues exporting my drawings for the dual out of sketchup, so I started from scratch learning autodesk 123d design. I finished the drawing last night, and hope to print today if I get time.

This is what I have for now.
http://i.imgur.com/tSCvaTt.jpg

MSG -

I've heard of this procedure, but have some concerns about carbonizing the lower MP material. Has this happened in your experience?
The nylon I'm attempting to print in is the Taulman 618 Nylon 6,6. Because this is for a research project, I'd like to use a high quality, hydrophilic compound. I plan to analyze the plastic before and after printing by NMR (nuclear magnetic resonance) and perhaps by XPS (Xray Photoelectron Spectroscopy).

There are folks better versed in 3D that I have access to for help, so I will be printing out some constructs using PLA first. But Nylon's the key. I'd outsource the STLs I'd like printed, but still think the cost may be prohibitive.

Really appreciate the advice!

good luck with printing 618 with any head. That stuff is NOT user friendly.

Warps like an amoeba being tickled, soaks water up like silica gel and really requires a sealed, heated chamber. Which - if you've got the creator pro - you do have.

The stock flashforge nozzle and extruder is absolutely fine. Not sure why you're trying to fix something that isn't broken.

And you don't actually need to print nylon at the top end of the temp range.

I have made a few sucessful prints with 618 at 250, but only quite small items are succesful without major warping.

I've got a roll of taulman bridge that I haven't got round to trying yet. Hopefully that's abit more user friendly.

I haven't found anything my stock extruders can't handle yet. From nylon, through all the flexible filaments to wood and bamboo fill.

The only issues are with the filament itself. But the extruders have so far handled every kind of filament without any issues.

Good to hear other experiences with other materials.

My main interest in Nylon is its chemical structure, as its one of the few materials in the 3D printing world that's pretty hydrophilic (which explains why it absorbs water so readily!) Thank you for letting me know the temperature range. And you're definitely correct about the heated chamber. I've seen warping with simpler materials without a constant higher temp., I can only imagine what would happen with 618. I'm sure people have tried to use make-shift chambers to retain the heat, but I'm sure people have also created fire risks... Hmmmm

More to think about. Thank you!

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Originally Posted by curious aardvark

good luck with printing 618 with any head. That stuff is NOT user friendly.

Warps like an amoeba being tickled, soaks water up like silica gel and really requires a sealed, heated chamber. Which - if you've got the creator pro - you do have.

The stock flashforge nozzle and extruder is absolutely fine. Not sure why you're trying to fix something that isn't broken.

And you don't actually need to print nylon at the top end of the temp range.

I have made a few sucessful prints with 618 at 250, but only quite small items are succesful without major warping.

I've got a roll of taulman bridge that I haven't got round to trying yet. Hopefully that's abit more user friendly.

I haven't found anything my stock extruders can't handle yet. From nylon, through all the flexible filaments to wood and bamboo fill.

The only issues are with the filament itself. But the extruders have so far handled every kind of filament without any issues.

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