Printing with Nylon

[ldabkey]

I have a Makerbot Replicator 2x and I want to start printing using nylon. I have the nylon filament coming this week but I want to know people's experiences.

What is best extruder temperature?
Heated build plate at what temperature?
Best material for build plate? Blue tape? Kapton tape? Other?
Heating/cooling of cabinet temperature?
Any other experiences printing nylon to share?

Thank you in advance.

[Davo]

Idabkey,

When we print in Nylon, we print at about 220C, hotbed at 60C, and we print on a special surface: sandpaper glued to the glass build plate.

We don't do it much, just enough to prove the functionality.

Good luck!

-Davo

[jimc]

davo, sandpaper on the plate is a new one. thats interesting. what kind of grit are we talking? 320-400grit? coarser.....finer?


to the op, nylon can be tricky for larger prints. it does shrink alot so it loves to warp. currently i use garolite as recommended by taulman. so far its been hit or mis. onle time it will bond so hard that the garolite come off with the nylon and i can print the same part again right after with the same settings and it will be peeling off the bed like i waxed it. as for the settings i run pretty much what davo said. the only thing that is odd with nylon is you usually need retraction and ooze control settings that are a bit on the extreme side. i think i am at about 3.5mm for retraction and 2-3mm of coasting along with a slight negative restart distance. i can get my prints to come out super clean if i can get them to stay stuck consistently.

[Davo]

jimc,

We use about 220-240 grit. We tried 400, but it didn't work as well.

Good luck.

[ldabkey]

jimc..... I think I will try Davo's sandpaper trick first as I have heard it is pretty much hit or miss with garolite plate. I think I can get 220 grit sandpaper with peel & stick adhesive on the back and lay on my glass plate. It's sounds like a great idea to try.

I noticed Taulman recommended a higher 245° C extruder temperature for nylon 618. I thought nylon has a higher melting point than ABS. Since posting, I found this on Taulman site
http://taulman3d.com/618-features.html

And this on Thingiverse site
http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:34801/#instructions

Are we talking about a different type of nylon? ..maybe nylon 645? Have you tried that setting with success or is that not a good idea?

Also, thank you for your advice on the retraction settings.

[jimc]

618 is what i print and will extrude fine at 220. 645 is supposed to require slightly higher temps but i have not used it. yes i have all grits here in my shop with psa adhesive so next time i mess with nylon i am going to try it. thanks davo for the tip!

[ldabkey]

jimc-

I'll give it a go.....and let you know....

[jimc]

cool, i would like to hear how it works for you

[Davo]

Let us know!

[rkopf]

I have had very good luck recently printing 618 at 245 onto unheated glass bed pretreated with a children's Elmer's Glue Stick - just a thin coat. I've got the kind that goes on purple and dry's clear. "normal" spacing from hot end to glass (as in I'm using the same procedure to level the print bed I use with PLA.) My glass is just double strength glass from the local hardware store - nothing special. Cheap and easy to get and cut.

Much better then my previous method which was again at 245 onto canvas glued to glass (again unheated.)