Noob questions, The Machine

[wirlybird]

I agree completely with Todd. ABS has a learning curve but with study and diligence it is easy to print and makes really nice prints. PETG is a good alternative but has its downfalls also. It is more flexible than ABS and on thin parts this will become more prevalent.
PLA is great for a lot of things and good to get started with. However, it is "brittle" and forget heat. I made drain covers for my kitchen sink and the hot water is enough to start to soften the PLA slightly. It will in time degrade around water also. I am testing this in the sink!! It works fine for this application but I know it won't last.

I haven't used nylon yet but it does require high temps and it is also extremely hygroscopic being that it can saturate in under 24 hours so storage is critical.

Curious Ardvark is expressing his opinion which he is entitled to, as am I, but I would take it as just that. I disagree with him more often than not.

ABS is not hard to print if you know what you are doing. A lot of people do it. The industrial high end companies like stratasys customers go through a lot of ABS. :-) I use it almost exclusively as it is very durable for snap fits and impact resistance if you have your settings correct and you can print other materials if you have a dual head machine for dissolvable supports. It also post processes well. Brittle ABS prints are results of improper extrusion/heat parameters and infill/shell settings.

In your initial posts you mentioned mentioned you wanted to print parts for use where heat is involved for your smoker and you also mentioned the use of Polycarbonite. Heat is best handled with a semi crystalline structure material as they don't creep and loose strength with heat at their glass transitional zone. That would be nylon. PC and ABS are amorphous and while way better than PLA at temps are not the material of choice because of degrading strength properties and creep. Both PC and Nylon require high temp metal hot ends. PLA is horrible in heat situations even though your temps that you listed are well below where it should be a problem the part probably will not last long.

Absolutely DO NOT use an item printed in PLA in a salt water tank. PLA degrades in a few ways. Moisture is the base then you have chemicals such as chlorine which is high in saltwater. Heat and bacteria are the other enemies which your tank requires to be sustained. I have salt water reef tanks as well. The constant flow of water in the tank with the dissolved abrasive salt will not be good. I know this because before HIPS came out I used PLA as a disolvable support structure for ABS prints. See the video below on how it's done. I have a unit very similar to this one.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uWYn5wJ72zY

PLA is great for a lot of applications and it is easy for noobies. I print almost exclusively for prototype parts for consumer retail goods as I am a mechanical engineer so it just isn't for me most of the time. No one polymer is. There are so many different ones for a reason. The application dictates the tools.

[Todd-67]

It will in time degrade around water also. I am testing this in the sink!! It works fine for this application but I know it won't last.

I haven't used nylon yet but it does require high temps and it is also extremely hygroscopic being that it can saturate in under 24 hours so storage is critical.

PLA won't degrade for a long time in water alone. It needs bacteria and heat such as in a landfill (or fish tank) along with the moisture. Detergents and chemicals design to breakdown organics such as drain cleaner (lye). heat and adgitation speed up the process just like in the video I use a heated ultrasonic parts cleaner with a water/lye mix. PVA will melt in straight water. Heat and agitation will speed that process up as well. Alternatively to the ultrasonic cleaner you could use a fish tank heater in water with a pump to create a strong current for pretty cheap that I would think would work almost as well.

[wirlybird]

PLA won't degrade for a long time in water alone. It needs bacteria and heat such as in a landfill (or fish tank) along with the moisture. Detergents and chemicals design to breakdown organics such as drain cleaner (lye). heat and adgitation speed up the process just like in the video I use a heated ultrasonic parts cleaner with a water/lye mix. PVA will melt in straight water. Heat and agitation will speed that process up as well. Alternatively to the ultrasonic cleaner you could use a fish tank heater in water with a pump to create a strong current for pretty cheap that I would think would work almost as well.

Interesting. I guess I was a little vague! I am interested to see how it hold up as a drain screen in normal day to day usage in a kitchen sink. Not the most scientific study! I actually made these to fill in the drain hole. Ever set a colander in the sink to have it tip when the feet go in the drain. So these just make the bottom of the sink level by covering/filling the drain.