Compatible filaments?

[hsus]

Hey!

Can't wait to get my Mod-T, been looking around at different filaments and wanted to see if anyone has tried anything except for the newmatter filament?

Both the regular PLA-types such as Colorfabb PLA with PHA (http://colorfabb.com/pla-pha) - Which lets you smoothen your PLA using acetone (as well as being a high quality, less brittle filament)

But also special stuff like composite filaments - like wood or metal PLA mixes?
e.g.

• http://colorfabb.com/woodfill-fine
• http://www.formfutura.com/175mm-wood...laywoo-d3.html
• http://www.makergeeks.com/stst3dprfi.html

Or if anyone has tried any flexible material?

Also what's the word on warranty if one tries these?

[curious aardvark]

the mod t states it can use 3rd party filaments.

Can't see any issues. And the term 'pla' now applies to hundreds of different materials all with different manufacturing processes and formulas.
There is a pla filament out there with pretty much any characteristic you need. Abs - not so much :-)
Flexible pla (I know of at least three companies making this) tends to be much easier to print than ninjaflex or the other rubber based flexi-filaments.

Your best bet is to get some samples from globalfsd - they have a us branch now as well - and just try it out before committing lots of money to full rolls.
http://www.globalfsdusa.com/?target=main

[Feign]

While it's theoretically possible, the filament loading process requires you to jam the filament into the cold end pretty aggressively, so I'd be pretty reluctant to use ninjaflex. Something semi-flexible rather than rubbery might be able to work though.

Also, depending on how the temperature calibration works, compressible filaments might be completely out of the picture.

[curious aardvark]

try some polyflex - like i said much more printer friendly than ninjaflex.
And if you do try ninjaflex - try green ninjaflex.
I had no problems printing that - but couldn't even get red nf to feed on the same machine.
Also had the same issues with filaflex - green - great. red, won't even feed.

Polyflex - on the other hand loads and prints just like normal pla. It's almost as flexible as ninjaflex - but less compressible.

[hsus]

Thanks guys! Great and helpful points!

Will definitely get some samples, I'm curious though, as a newcomer to 3D-printing - How much is 5 or 10 m of 1.75 mm PLA good for, I mean, what can I print? Oh and I just realised that this is a question that is much easier to ask than it is to answer... Maybe be using something from the new matter store and how many of those one could (guesstimately) print

[Feign]

At a ballpark guess, the test print might have taken a little over 1 meter of filament.

5m of filament is certainly good enough to make some trial and error calibration cubes to get the settings for your printer honed in and then a decent handful of parts.

[curious aardvark]

10 metres should be enough for several medium sized models - just remember for stronger prints. Use more shells Not more infill.
That will use a lot less filament and give stronger and quicker prints. 10-15% infill should be fine for most things.

[NewMatter]

We have not tested many of the available filament on the market since we've been busy optimizing our own brand of filament. The max recommended temperature that the MOD-t hot end should run at is 220C. The hot end nozzle is made of wear resistant stainless steel so it should resist wear much better than brass nozzles but we can't predict how they will behave with non-New Matter filament. We can only guarantee the best prints with New Matter filament.

[curious aardvark]

only 220 ?
Well that rules out a lot of stuff. But not polyflex - I print that at 220 :-)
So you're pretty much using pla based filaments - doesn't limit you much.

[Feign]

220 puts a few of the filaments I have on order from Global FSD just barely out of range (Specifically the Porolay series is recommended to print at 225-235 degrees)

An important part for filament compatibility is how does the MOD-t temperature calibration process work? Does it run the extruder servo while slowly adjusting the heat up and down until it 'feels' the filament start to push through the nozzle at the right rate through the servo's feedback? If so then elastic-type filaments might completely throw the process off, even if they would otherwise print fine.

Pretty cool to find out that the nozzle is steel though.