Noob Looking to Print Delrin - Advice on Getting There

Hi all,

Not a CAD designer, not an engineer. Not illiterate with my hands or computers either. I've never had a 3D printer before and this post is asking for advice about progressing from here to printing delrin. I'm currently looking at a Prusa and am trying to learn my way around Fusion 360 before ordering.

I'm into various outdoor sports at a pretty high level and often need little custom items of gear; normally fairly simple but nothing like anybody is selling. I've been looking into 3d printing for a while as I could make use of lots of the usual PLA/PETG/ABS gubbins, but also literally save several thousand £ over a few years if i could print things like pressure proof (6-11bar external pressure, 0.4L+internal volume) canisters and some simple mounts out of Delrin/Acetal/POM. I know a lathe/mill may be a simpler/more reliable way to do this, but for various reasons that's a bit much for me.

My plan is to:
1. Learn to design simple parts
2. Buy a printer
3. Learn to print slowly PLA/PETG/ABS, and maybe a little bit of flexi material
4. Improve at 1 and 3
5. Learn to print delrin

Part 1: For about the last week I've been playing around on TinkerCad and Fusion360. I've not looked at any tutorials or anything yet, but I'm getting the basic idea of containers/boxes/nuts/bolts on the design side, though I haven't been able to figure out how to check my parts interact correctly. So I'm confident that with time and a bit of direction/focus once the printer around, I should be able to live up to simple designs I wanna print. Does this seem a reasonable approach to people? Seem like I'm on the right track?

Part 2: I've been looking at a Prusa Mk3S+ kit. I'm reasoning it seems to have a hot enough bed and nozzle for delrin, and suitable build size and tolerances for the parts I have in mind. I'd be able to build my own temperature/airflow/pressure controlled enclosure for it relatively simply. Here I've got a two questions:
1. Can I install an aftermarket bed? Do people make aftermarket heated beds and stuff? The thermostat on it might be set a little low for delrin based on my reading around. It also might not.
2. The price of the prusa is pretty, mmm. I'd pay it but it's definitely the upper end of my budget for a first printer. I want to ask about clones but I don't even know what to ask. I'm scared about losing support/community/slicer compatibility etc over time?

Parts 3, 4, and 5 should hopefully run themselves. But I'd appreciate any comments on my plan, answers to my questions, or general advice before I pull the trigger!

Thanks everyone! I hope this is the first of a few posts on here!

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I know a lathe/mill may be a simpler/more reliable way to do this,

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Oh hell no !
Way way more complex than a 3d printer. I'vew been taking a crash course in cnc milling this week.
trust me 3d printing is much better.

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When creating new formulations, it’s common for material manufacturers to come up with their own unique names. In this case, the American chemicals company DuPont did just that when they manufactured an acetal resin thermoset plastic and called it Delrin. Since then, the Delrin name has simply stuck with people.
Scientifically, a more appropriate name for Delrin is polyoxymethylene (POM), which comes from the material’s chemical background. There are two common types of POM: copolymer acetal (POM-C) and homopolymer acetal (POM-H). In fact, the latter is what’s known as Delrin.
For the purposes of this article, we’ll go along with the crowd and use “Delrin”, even if what we’re really talking about is POM-H-based 3D printing filaments.

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Okay so I knoiw what we're dealing with.

Well the mian issue looks to be bed adhesion.
A specific adhesive is probably the bestb way to go.
And yeah you'll need a bed that hits at least 120c
And a heated build cha,ber is recommended.

Printing temps are interesting.
210-220 - apparently it starts to vent formaldehyde at 230c !
Nasty !

Not sure a prusa is going to be your best bet here.

I''l have a look about :-)
Unusua; to need a really hot bed, usually you need a higher temp hotend. But definitely not in this case.

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I'm scared about losing support/community/slicer compatibility etc over time?

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most 3d printers are all using the same parts , some are just put together better than others.

And assume that you're on your own - well apart from places like this and the mixed blessing that is youtube - from day one and buy a machine based on the machine and NOT the brand.

Yes you can get aftermarket heated beds.
Or: heated beds, as we call them.

Should you want to you can indeed build a prusa clone: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oVWLpvekby0

So yeah you can do that :-)
And josef prusa makes all his machines opensource, because he knows that very few people actually will.

Now if I had the money for a prusa mk3 I would buy one of these instead: https://www.amazon.co.uk/TENLOG-TL-D...6702930&sr=8-5

And be amazed that I had so much change :-)
This has all the crucial prusa design features: direct drive extruders, side bed supports and dual z axis screws.

But it then goes ahead of pruusa in almost every single aspect.
This has linear rails on all three axis (x & y definite, i have yet to zsee a back shot of the gantry, but there are no wheels in evidence on the z axis - so the smart money is on rails). - better than prusa who has none anywhere.
Idex extruders - better, 'cos there are two and they work independantly of each other.
a 300c hotend - better, because, well it will print polycarbonate and a prusa won't. :-)

32 bit motherboard - prusa are atill using 8 bit I think. They use 32 bit boards for the mini, but they hadn't switched over for the mk3 last i heard. They might have done by now.

Prusa are using 'better' stepper motor drivers, but all you gain is sensorless homing, and personally I like a physical endstop. I can adjust it with an allen key/ To adjust sensorless homing is a lot more complicated. And as it works by the print carriage crashing into the frame and then reslising that's what it's done. I'm just not convinced that this particular wheel needed reinventing.

So basically on paper the tenlog is better than a prusa in almost all respects, And it has a much larger print volume too.
It uses standard parts, so fixing, modding and upgrading is not going to be a problem.

The hotbed will hit 110c - but that you can upgrade if you want to.

As far as printing pressure bottles goes - I know one of the forum members has done so - hopefully they'll chip in as I can't remember who it was.
I;d guess either roberts_cliff or fred or airscapes, but could easily be someone else. :-)
I think they either painted the print with resin or wrapped in fibreglass tape. But again I'm not 100%.

The other way to go - honestly I can't find anything better at the moment.
With the tenlog you can upgrade the bed and build an enclosure and still have change from the price of a prusa. to buy this: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Magigoo-MKi...6703792&sr=8-3

I'm a big fan of printing adhesives in easy to apply sponge topped bottles.

And they last !
The 50ml of dimafix i got free at a tct show about 5 tears ago, is still over half full.
The bottle of magigoo I 'acquired' the year after is 90% full and the 500ml bottleof something just called: 'printer glue' I got the year after that - if I've used 10 ml I'd be surprised.

For the delrin I reckon the magigoo specifically for nylon, should work well, as nylon and pom have very similiar properties.
pom is harder, but both are 'slippery'.

So that's what I'd do.

Just had a look - yeah they've upgraded the hotend for the mks3+ to a 300c hotend.
So yep pc no issue.

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, I'm too poor to buy that

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The tenlogs are half the price - not sure what you were looking at.
And the only i3 I've seen with good linear rails on all three axis.

The electronics can always be upgraded and they are pretty cheap. But if you start with the best engineered machine you can get - it#ll work better and longer from the get go.

My main point of recommending machines to people is to pick something that Does not need to be rebuilt or ugraded out of the box.

Admottedly prusa's don't - But it's still twice the price of the tenlog. Which has a larger print volume, idex extruders and linear rails.
And until you get a machine that uses linear rails - you really don't appreciate just how much difference they make, I have machines that use wheels and linear bearings. They just don't compare.

Throw in idex extruders and bang for buck the tenlog is streets ahead.

I'm NOT dissing prusas, but if you want dual material printing and top notch engineering and larger print volume and can't afford prusa prices - the tenlog currently ticks every box at a damn low price.

And prusa are STILL using 8 bit boards on the mk3.
The mini's use a 32bit board, but all the improvements on the mk3's have come through the stepper drivers.
It does seem like an odd way to do things.

the 600watt has 300c hotends.

And where's the markup on a prusa ?
Seriously ?
The $799 mkit is about $500 markup. Possibly more.

pretty much all plastic parts are printed inhouse and it uses more printed parts than any other printer because of this.
They are still using 8bit boards.
They buy in bulk.
There is very little money in a prusa from prusa's point of view.

As I said I only recommedn machines that do not need to be upgraded.
To be fair most printers only need a few printed mods and learning how to use them.
Just adding more ndew parts is no substitute for actually learning how to 3d print.
As the constant round robin of people upgrading things seems to prove.

whether you choose to upgrade or not is your own choice.
But don't say that something always needs changing when it usually doesn't.

Even my £80 prusa clone worked quite well with a few printed mods.
Would it benefit from new parts - yes. Does it work better than an ender 3 without them ? yes lol.
But even you said the bed on the prusa had to be modded/upgraded to hit 120c.
So that's probably even more money.

I've currently got 6 printers all different makes and price points and ages. With 4 different ways of moving things around: delta, i3, corexy and standard cartesian.

There are various printed mods on them, some more than others and most of them are better at something or other than the others.
But not one has ever needed me to buy new parts or to 'upgrade' anything to get the best from the machine.
All electronics and firmwares are original. All extruders and hotends and printbeds - likewise.
The vast majority of manufacturers just aren't making things that don't work.
So why buy a machine on the assumption that's it's junk and you NEED to 'upgrade' all the expensive parts ?

I regular print faster with better quality than most prints I see online. Simply because I learn to use the machines and the slicer software properly and never assume that a problem needs a new upgrade to be fixed. So far none of them have ever needed new parts.

I guess i just come from a generation whose first response isn't to thrwo things away and buy something else.
I'd much rather make what i have work properly. And with 3d printers, it's not hard.

Prusa's are expensive, for any 3dprinter with that build volume and for many with much larger build volumes.

Don't get me wrong josef is a great designer and engineer and the machines work really well. But they don't cost much to make and that's how you build a company. You need profit and prusas generate a LOT of profit.
Doesn't detract from the machines, it's just really good business practice.

The reason so many printers on kickstarter go under within a few months of starting to send machines out or just never get to that point, is that they are done by engineers and enthusiasts, most of who have no clue how to run a business.

I doubt tenlog will be able to maintain the build and componets they currently use for an extended period.
They should be costing almost twice what they are charging.
great way to build a reputation but a lousy way to build a business.

But at the moment - it's just hands down the best buy around. .

I have to admit I have failed entirely to print Delrin even with the help of the filament manufacturer and concluded I would have to wait until I upgraded my printer and enclosure meanwhile I have been printing in spectrum. Nylon6 LW our max test pressures aren't as high as yours but we are regularly printing Semi-pressure vessel caps for test pressure internal of 6 to 7 bar.
This material is very easy to print and has properties close to Delrin.

hi 2 points I already have and use an industrial CO2 laser and in another post I reported that I was now able to print Delrin after I updated to a more sophisticated 3D printer.
Thanks for the note anyway.