Printing with nylon filament

[Brian H]

First off, I have had great success with PLA so far. Only one messed up print out of about 150 pieces because I didn't have the bed leveled quite right.
however, I warned you I'd be a pain the butt with questions so here goes.
I purchased a roll of nylon filament and wanted to print a couple things and have had nothing but failure and frustration. I have spent several hours on google and youtube trying to figure this out with no success. I cannot get the prints to adhere to the bed, and have had to unplug and clean out the nozzle several times (glad I have an extra one)
Here's what I've tried so far:
-gone through all the slicer settings (I'm using Cura 4.5) and tried many different combinations of temperature and fan settings as per several suggestions on the 'net
-installed a glass bed with glue stick and retried the different settings.

If anyone has suggestions that could help me sort this and figure out what I'm missing would be awesome.

BTW...It was a brand new sealed package so I don't think I need to "bake" it and dry it out, or do I?

 

[Alexander]

I rub my printer bed with a glue stick. That being said I haven't had any luck printing nylon because my extruder doesn't get hot enough. It does help ABS stick.

 

[Brian H]

I rub my printer bed with a glue stick. That being said I haven't had any luck printing nylon because my extruder doesn't get hot enough. It does help ABS stick.

I did try glue stick on the glass bed but not on the mat provided with the printer. The supplied mat has a slight texture and I wasn't sure if it would damage it or not.

I am able to get to 245 deg (that's what the default nylon setting is) The max extruder temp for my machine is 250. Does it need to be hotter?

 

[Janger]

Pictures of symptoms? I find gluestick does help a lot. Try it hotter. I've never had plugging issues that makes me think the filament is wonky? how about trying to bake out the water as a test too, pull off 10m of filament and cook it in the oven 300F?

 

[Janger]

I'm interested in printing nylon too.

 

[Brian H]

Pictures of symptoms? I find gluestick does help a lot. Try it hotter. I've never had plugging issues that makes me think the filament is wonky? how about trying to bake out the water as a test too, pull off 10m of filament and cook it in the oven 300F?

I didn't think of taking pictures, I was busy using some rather rough language. The first layer will go on fine, but, as it started printing the second layer the corners were curling up and before long the first layer was travelling around stuck to the extruder.

I could try to dry some, however, from what I understand it is supposed to sizzle and pop if its got too much humidity in it. Do you know how long it should be baked for? I've seen quite varying temps and times.

I just found a video that suggested phenolic paper to print on so I'm going to investigate that a bit. This fellow didn't even heat the bed at all and it appeared to stick really well.

 

[Janger]

I was having problems with the print curling off the bed and found somewhere somebody suggested turning off the cooling fan for the print. On my machine this is putting this GCODE in the print settings - I just told it to turn off the fan on every layer - ;M107 . When I print with ABS I take the leading ; out and when I'm printing normally I leave the semi colon in. This is the on/off switch. This helped a lot with ABS.

 

[Brian H]

Yes. I can turn all the cooling fans off with Cura. I did find some "phenolic paper" on mcMaster Carr website for under $10. I'm going to try source some locally and try it

 

[Proxule]

I was having problems with the print curling off the bed and found somewhere somebody suggested turning off the cooling fan for the print. On my machine this is putting this GCODE in the print settings - I just told it to turn off the fan on every layer - ;M107 . When I print with ABS I take the leading ; out and when I'm printing normally I leave the semi colon in. This is the on/off switch. This helped a lot with ABS.

View attachment 8734

Can you explain what the if layer z max height in your end gcode actually means, Some sort of math equation >?
Thanks

 

[Xyphota]

I don't have experience with Nylon, but just a quick comment on temperature. When I was hunting around for a printer 3 or so years ago I distinctly remember warnings about if your extruder has a PTFE liner, it will start off-gassing neurotoxins temps above 250C LOL. I'd just double check that your specs say its fine to go higher. Assuming your printer runs on Marlin firmware and the manufacturer was diligent about the parameters, there should be a max temperature pre-programmed in. Setting a higher temp in Cura will not give you a higher temp at the hot end if this is the case.

If it is similar to printing ABS as far as curling goes, your printer would benefit from an enclosure if it doesn't have one already. The print bed likely needs to be much hotter, and keeping the entire part warm will reduce warpage while printing. The enclosure makes it easier for the printer to have an extremely hot bed, and of course keeps your part nice and warm.

 

[Janger]

Can you explain what the if layer z max height in your end gcode actually means, Some sort of math equation >?
Thanks

That's the default code from Prusa not my code. I think yes it's some math to feed a move command. Reading it I *think* it is moving the print head up a bit out of the way after the print is done. I'm not familiar with those variables in the math but I think it's moving it up above the part but not whacking the head into the top of the print area.

The G1 Z command is telling the print head to move the Z direction (up) and the rest of the math is returning a number of how much to move in mm. So the printer would get a command like:
G1 Z 37
and move up 37 mm

G1 means move, Z is the direction to move, and 37 the distance. CNC machines use the exact same commands to move the lathe carriage or mill head around.


When the printer is done a job the head does move up a ways above the part - perhaps 80mm or 100mm or so.

 

[Janger]

Note the next line moves the carriage to the very left (X direction ) and pushes the table all the way out. (Y direction)

G1 XO Y200; home X axis

 

[phaxtris]

i haven't had much luck getting a successful print with nylon, mine usually fail by the 5th or 6th layer, i think retraction problems, i gave up with the nylon for that project

i was able to nail down the first couple layers, glue stick, glass bed, initial layer's needed to have a much higher extrusion temp than the normal printing temp, as well as the bed temp on the initial layers needed to be much higher than the printing temperature, you can find those settings in cura, i think i was 15-20 degrees hotter in the initial extrusion temp and bed temp

you also really need to be bang on with your initial height, nylon isnt very forgiving

that filament sucks up the water fast, within a day or two, just listen when its extruding, if you hear a popping noise, it needs to be dried out

 

[Janger]

I've heard popping when printing some filaments - it was not printing well. The popping is moisture exploding into steam? How are you drying your filament? There are some filament dryer appliances. I tried to use a toaster oven once on the above filament that was popping. I ruined the spool - all the filament melted all together.

 

[phaxtris]

The popping is moisture exploding into steam?

that's what i understand, with high temperature filament anyways

usually pla gets extra brittle as it absorbs moisture, then you end up with a filament runout half way through a print because the filament broke

i have used my big powder coating oven to dry filament, it has a pid temp controller so i can set it to what ever temp i like, its not ideal....its huge....but i already have it. I haven't had many moisture related problems, my house is quite dry and cool, i also store the extra filament in ziplock style bags

 

[Matt-Aburg]

I've heard popping when printing some filaments - it was not printing well. The popping is moisture exploding into steam? How are you drying your filament? There are some filament dryer appliances. I tried to use a toaster oven once on the above filament that was popping. I ruined the spool - all the filament melted all together.

You can buy filament drying containers, or make your own. They are rather simple. I will likely have to make on to accommodate 5 KG plus spools soon. I got a couple new workhorses coming in that are going to be dedicated to performance higher temperature filaments. I have a huge print that is going to be 3 parts at about 5 KG each. I am debating on PETG, or ASA , since they MUST be UV stable. I am looking at ASA because it it much harder than PETG. But higher temperature and can separate easier. I will be going to https://Digitmakers.ca soon to get some tips.

 

[Tom O]

Couldn’t you put them over the heat register for a while it works for boots.

 

[Doggggboy]

I've heard popping when printing some filaments - it was not printing well. The popping is moisture exploding into steam? How are you drying your filament? There are some filament dryer appliances. I tried to use a toaster oven once on the above filament that was popping. I ruined the spool - all the filament melted all together.

My wifes food dehydrator works like a charm. Good temperature control.

 

[Janger]

You can buy filament drying containers, or make your own. They are rather simple..

A bucket with a tight fitting lid and bunch of desiccant beads?

 

[Doggggboy]

They are slower than a heated container but will work.
If you have an electric oven, not vented, try turning on the light and check the temperature after a few hours. My wife can de-crystalize honey in ours but the dehydrator is faster.