Printing POM/Delrin...it sticks!

[Ama-fessional Molder]

Actels are fun. Running some of it right now (injection molding).

For what it's worth, for most of our molding applications with this material we run mold temperatures of around 80c tops. Now, this is to *encourage* release from the mold, if I had to guess to get it to stick to the tool I would suggest in excess of... *converting* 120c. At that temperature an acetel resin should stick to damn near anything and then pop right off once it cools down. I know when I have a hot tool in my hand and I get molten delrin on it, the stuff stays firmly put until the whole assembly is cooled down.

Though I am sure you have noticed the smell when processing it, just in case, I would strongly suggest good ventilation. Formaldehyde gas is volatilized from these plastics, and that stuff wreaks havoc on mucus membranes.

Additional information I can supply:

Acetel is a highly crystalline polymer. Since the Tg is below 0, any cure temperature (chamber temp in the case of printing) will encourage strong crystal formation. The higher you can comfortably manage chamber temperature, the larger, stronger, and more dense the crystals will be. This makes for excellent mechanical properties. Of course, you will also reduce warping this way. Double bonus. Thing is though that most likely the differences won't matter for 99.9% of you guys. Just something to keep in mind.

Cautionary note:

Many acetels are also pretty flammable, so be wary of this if you plan to use an open flame to heat a clogged extruder with the stuff in it. I have lit the entire back side of an 30x1000mm extruder on fire before. Some brands have flame retardants in them, but even still the stuff will ignite.