Deciding on a material for heavy duty industrial items

The place to discuss filament...
User avatar
Farr0wn3d
Posts: 319
Joined: Tue Mar 31, 2015 4:16 am
Location: Calgary, Alberta, Canada

Deciding on a material for heavy duty industrial items

Post by Farr0wn3d » Sat Aug 22, 2015 8:24 pm

I'm an industrial mechanic, and theres been a few things that I wanted to prototype and test out on the job to see if it was viable to 3d print things for my own use at work. One of the things I'm looking to make is a tool thats used for slowly rotating large engines while you make adjustments on them. this would essentially be a geared shaft with bearings and a mounting flange. the teeth of the gear would have to be pretty robust and thats where the strength is important. I was thinking something along the lines of one of the Taulman Nylon variants, or perhaps Polycarbonate. I'm sure there must be guys on here that have prototyped things like this for heavy duty use in the past. If you have any first hand experience I would love to hear it!

Jeremy.

User avatar
insta
Posts: 2007
Joined: Tue Sep 16, 2014 3:59 am

Re: Deciding on a material for heavy duty industrial items

Post by insta » Sat Aug 22, 2015 8:59 pm

I think you'd be surprised how strong even common ABS is at 100% fill, printed slow (20mm/sec) and hot (240C). It didn't become a super-popular plastic on accident :)
Custom 3D printing for you or your business -- quote [at] pingring.org

User avatar
jimc
Posts: 2888
Joined: Wed Apr 09, 2014 11:30 pm
Location: mullica, nj
Contact:

Re: Deciding on a material for heavy duty industrial items

Post by jimc » Sat Aug 22, 2015 10:46 pm

To date the strongest material i have used is the epc filament. Very rigid and heat resistant.

User avatar
Farr0wn3d
Posts: 319
Joined: Tue Mar 31, 2015 4:16 am
Location: Calgary, Alberta, Canada

Re: Deciding on a material for heavy duty industrial items

Post by Farr0wn3d » Sun Aug 23, 2015 12:42 am

I'm not familiar with EPC, is that a PC alloy?

With regard to ABS, wouldnt nylon be stronger and have more self-lubricating properties? from what I've read its very well suited to making gears for that reason. ABS seems like a readily available material and theres tons upon tons of experience with it but I live in a pretty small condo with the printer essentially in the kitchen so I'm a bit hesitant about the fumes, plus there must be some sort of advantage to printing with the more exotic stuff, no? I got those v6 hot ends so I could try my hand are the more specialized filaments :)

User avatar
Tim
Posts: 1205
Joined: Thu Apr 10, 2014 2:19 pm
Location: Poolesville, Maryland
Contact:

Re: Deciding on a material for heavy duty industrial items

Post by Tim » Sun Aug 23, 2015 12:45 am

To date the strongest material i have used is the epc filament. Very rigid and heat resistant.
That's the eSUN brand polycarbonate, in case you haven't been following the recent forum thread about it. Normal polycarbonate is a pain to work with (requires extremely high temperatures and likes to warp/shrink severely); Jim has reported that the eSUN brand is some variation on normal PC that is a little less tough and temperature resistant (but only slightly), but a lot easier to work with (much less shrinkage). I have a sample of it but haven't tried it yet. For now, it comes in natural color only. While the printing temperature is a bit lower than regular PC, I think (Jim can correct me if I'm wrong) that it is still too hot for the V3b extruder; you'll need the V4.

User avatar
Tim
Posts: 1205
Joined: Thu Apr 10, 2014 2:19 pm
Location: Poolesville, Maryland
Contact:

Re: Deciding on a material for heavy duty industrial items

Post by Tim » Sun Aug 23, 2015 12:48 am

Farr0wn3d wrote:I got those v6 hot ends so I could try my hand are the more specialized filaments :)
Posted just before seeing that post. . . If you have the E3Dv6, you're definitely good for nylon and polycarbonate. But with the eSUN brand polycarbonate (which we get from William at Intservo, intservo.com), you won't have to build a heated enclosure to deal with warping issues.

User avatar
jimc
Posts: 2888
Joined: Wed Apr 09, 2014 11:30 pm
Location: mullica, nj
Contact:

Re: Deciding on a material for heavy duty industrial items

Post by jimc » Sun Aug 23, 2015 12:59 am

Yes tim pretty much covered it. Its esun's own polycarb formula. Prints great and very easy to work with. Run it at 265c. Nylon is strong but very flexible, not as heat resistant and a major pia to work with.

User avatar
Farr0wn3d
Posts: 319
Joined: Tue Mar 31, 2015 4:16 am
Location: Calgary, Alberta, Canada

Re: Deciding on a material for heavy duty industrial items

Post by Farr0wn3d » Sun Aug 23, 2015 1:00 am

does the enclosure NEED to be actively heated, rather than passively by the bed and extruder? with an enclosure is there issues that arise when it comes to keeping the steppers cool?

User avatar
Farr0wn3d
Posts: 319
Joined: Tue Mar 31, 2015 4:16 am
Location: Calgary, Alberta, Canada

Re: Deciding on a material for heavy duty industrial items

Post by Farr0wn3d » Sun Aug 23, 2015 1:02 am

Jim, which nylon have you worked with? I've heard 618 is less of a pain to work with and had much less shrinkage, thoughts?

User avatar
jimc
Posts: 2888
Joined: Wed Apr 09, 2014 11:30 pm
Location: mullica, nj
Contact:

Re: Deciding on a material for heavy duty industrial items

Post by jimc » Sun Aug 23, 2015 1:21 am

Ive used 618 and bridge. 618 is the opposite from what you said. 618 is hard and bridge is supposed to be easier. Both warp equally but i think bridge is less finicky to get to stick to the bed. Both suck though. You will find every time taulman releaaes a new nylon that its claimed to be easier to work with. I have never seen or heard any of his stuff live up to thise claims i real world. So far nylon is nylon. Bridge is extremely soft like a very hard rubber and 618 is slight harder but not by too much.

Post Reply