How Easy is It to Warp Polycarbonite

How to Succeed when 3D Printing with Polycarbonate Filament

Follow these helpful steps to start successfully printing with this extremely tough, professional class textile.

Polycarbonate, also denoted as PC, is a strong, durable, and tough fabric. It'due south a naturally transparent thermoplastic with high impact resistance and excellent estrus resistance. Equally a 3D printing filament, it'south heat resistance is both a benefit and a problematic feature, as information technology is even more prone to warping and splitting than ABS filament. As such, this fabric needs loftier temperatures in order to extrude and have proper layer adhesion. Once it'due south all said and done though, successfully press Polycarbonate filament can enable you lot to print some stellar and almost indestructible RC cars, drones, or anything else you lot can imagine.

What is Polycarbonate Plastic?

Yous may have seen diverse printer manufacturers showing off their Polycarbonate, or, "PC" prints, simply not all Polycarbonate filaments are created equal. Some are actually co-polymers to make PC easier to print, but in doing then substantially tones down the capabilities of pure PC. MatterHackers Polycarbonate is based on the aforementioned course found in water bottles, sports equipment, CDs, and DVDs, making it among the purest PC filament on the desktop 3D press market place.

Finding Quality Polycarbonate 3D Printing Filament

Quality Polycarbonate filament is a necessity if you desire a adept Polycarbonate impress. Polycarbonate filament that isn't sufficiently dry earlier printing or manufactured poorly will non print properly and tin cause defects and issues that volition waste your time.

Polycarbonate is also hygroscopic, which means it will actively absorb moisture from the air. For this reason, Polycarbonate should be stored in a cool, dry place and dried if exposed to humidity for too long. What constitutes "too long" depends on the relative humidity in the air, just when it comes to 3D printer filament, it is all-time to err on the side of making the filament "likewise dry out" rather than assuasive information technology to be a "footling wet." After opening a spool and when not in employ, make sure to keep Polycarbonate filament in vacuum-sealed or resealable storage bags with desiccant packs.

Printing wet Polycarbonate can lead to hydrolysis which will permanently alter the filament on a molecular level, making it significantly weaker than information technology would exist if it were printed dry out. Check out our in-depth article on how to Crush Moisture Before It Kills Your 3D Printing Filament and how you can successfully dry and maintain your Polycarbonate filament.

What Is The Right 3D Printer?

The bottom line is this: information technology is hard to print Polycarbonate filament. As well the fact that high temperatures are necessary, Polycarbonate just doesn't stick to annihilation. In fact, the best surface to use when press with Polycarbonate is Polycarbonate. A plastic cutting board or a sail of garolite will practise. On other surfaces, eastward.g. borosilicate glass, massive amounts of adhesives like Cyanoacrylate is essential. Without these adhesives, the Polycarbonate print will warp and easily pull off the heated bed.

A high temperature heated bed is necessary for printing with Polycarbonate

As far as press temperatures get, you demand a 3D printer with a hot end that can accomplish and maintain a minimum of 290°C. The printer should also be able to estrus and maintain a minimum bed temperature of 135°C, with 145°C - 150°C beingness preferable. Even with a bed temperature of 110°C, the printed function will separate or cleft between the layers of degradation and will easily break autonomously by hand. Therefore information technology is essential that the printer be able to reach and maintain high hot end and bed temperatures. Ofttimes times an enclosure is necessary to keep the ambience heat around the printer stable (please reference How To Build An Enclosure For Your 3D Printer ).

To notice a suitable desktop 3D printer to work with MatterHackers Polycarbonate , several printers were tested to include the Ultimaker 3 , Raise3D N2 and the Lulzbot TAZ vi . The one that produced the all-time prints was the Lulzbot TAZ 6 . This was most probable due to the ability of the printer to maintain a consistent bed temperature of 135°C.

How Practise I Print With Polycarbonate Filament?

Polycarbonate filament volition typically flow well in the range of 290°C - 310°C. We exam printed at 290°C. Tests were run to determine the optimal bed temperature for layer adherence and curing. Test prints were run with the bed temperature ranging from 110°C - 135°C. These exam prints were completed with non-modified stock printers, so the maximum bed temperature achieved was 135°C. Preferably the bed temperature should be between 145°C - 150°C.

Getting the Starting time Layer Right.

As with any type of filament, getting a good first layer is essential to a successful print. Without a skilful kickoff layer y'all will likely need to reprint the item, and so it'southward imperative that yous know what it takes to start a print off correct so it tin can build to completion. This is especially truthful with Polycarbonate since a mediocre get-go layer will result in a impress failure due to warping and the print peeling from the bed surface. The central to getting a good first layer is a direct result of printer calibration and a skillful printing speed. Information technology is recommended that an overall printing speed, including infill, should not exceed 20mm per second.

Cooling Fans and Retraction

Finally, recall to disable the filament cooling fan(s) during printing. Filament cooling fans adversely affect curing of the print and should not be used. Likewise, retraction distance should be kept under 10mm while printing.

Below is a list of the test results while printing with MatterHackers Polycarbonate on three popular printers. These printers were "out of the box" and not modified in any style to ascertain true performance while printing Polycarbonate.

Raise3D N2 Dual:

• Hotend Temperature: 290°C
• Bed Temperature: 110°C
• Printing Speed: 20-70mm/due south
• Infill Percentage: 30
• Raft: ABS Raft
• Bed Type: Borosilicate Glass
• Bed Adhesion: None
• Result: Warping; some layer separation - See Figure ane

Figure ane

Raise3D N2 Dual:

• Hotend Temperature: 290°C
• Bed Temperature: 110°C
• Printing Speed: 50mm/due south
• Infill Pct: 50
• Raft: ABS Raft
• Bed Blazon: Borosilicate Glass
• Bed Adhesion: Cyanoacrylate*
• Event: Layer separation around surface - See Figure two

Figure two: Layer separation at the surface

Raise3D N2 Dual:

• Hotend Temperature: 290°C
• Bed Temperature: 110°C
• Printing Speed: 50mm/s
• Infill Percentage: 90
• Raft: ABS Raft
• Bed Type: Borosilicate Glass
• Bed Adhesion: Cyanoacrylate*
• Upshot: Layer separation - Encounter Figure three

Figure 3: Layer Separation

Raise3D N2 Dual:

• Hotend Temperature: 290°C
• Bed Temperature: 110°C
• Printing Speed: 50mm/s
• Infill Percentage: 20
• Raft: None
• Bed Type: Borosilicate Drinking glass
• Bed Adhesion: Cyanoacrylate*
• Result: Layer separation - See Effigy iv

Figure 4: Layer separation

Raise3D N2 Dual:

• Hotend Temperature: 290°C
• Bed Temperature: 110°C
• Press Speed: 20mm/s
• Infill Percentage: 30
• Raft: Polycarbonate Raft
• Bed Type: Borosilicate Glass
• Bed Adhesion: Cyanoacrylate*
• Result: Layer cracks and separation - See Effigy 5

Figure 5: Layer cracks and separation

Raise3D N2 Dual:

• Hotend Temperature: 290°C
• Bed Temperature: 110°C
• Printing Speed: 20mm/south
• Infill Percentage: 50
• Raft: Polycarbonate Raft
• Bed Type: Borosilicate Glass
• Bed Adhesion: Cyanoacrylate*
• Result: Warping; layer cracks - Run across Figure 6

Figure vi: Warping and layer cracks

Ultimaker 3 Dual Extrusion 3D Printer:

• Hotend Temperature: 290°C
• Bed Temperature: 110°C
• Printing Speed: 20mm/south
• Infill Percent: xxx
• Raft: Polycarbonate Raft
• Bed Blazon: Borosilicate Drinking glass
• Bed Adhesion: Cyanoacrylate*
• Event: Layer separation - Meet Figure vii

Figure 7: Layer separation

Ultimaker 3 Dual Extrusion 3D Printer:

• Hotend Temperature: 290°C
• Bed Temperature: 110°C
• Press Speed: 20mm/s
• Infill Per centum: twenty
• Raft: Polycarbonate Raft
• Bed Type: Borosilicate Glass
• Bed Adhesion: Cyanoacrylate*
• Upshot: Layer separation - Run into Figure 8

Figure 8: Layer separation

Ultimaker 3 Dual Extrusion 3D Printer:

• Hotend Temperature: 290°C
• Bed Temperature: 110°C
• Printing Speed: 20mm/due south
• Infill Percent: 50
• Raft: Polycarbonate Raft
• Bed Type: Borosilicate Glass
• Bed Adhesion: Cyanoacrylate*
• Result: Layer separation - See Figure 9

Figure 9: Layer separation

LulzBot TAZ vi 3D Printer:

• Hotend Temperature: 290°C
• Bed Temperature: 135°C
• Press Speed: 20mm/south
• Infill Percentage: 30
• Raft: Polycarbonate Raft
• Bed Blazon: PEI on glass
• Bed Adhesion: PVA Gluestick
• Issue: Adept print - See Effigy 10

Figure 10: Good Polycarbonate impress

LulzBot TAZ vi 3D Printer:

• Hotend Temperature: 290°C
• Bed Temperature: 135°C
• Printing Speed: 20mm/s
• Infill Percentage: 90
• Raft: Polycarbonate Raft
• Bed Type: PEI on glass
• Bed Adhesion: PVA Gluestick
• Event: Adept print - Come across Effigy 11

Effigy 11: Skilful Polycarbonate print

LulzBot TAZ 6 3D Printer:

• Hotend Temperature: 290°C
• Bed Temperature: 135°C
• Printing Speed: 20mm/southward
• Infill Percentage: 100
• Raft: Polycarbonate Raft
• Bed Type: PEI on glass
• Bed Adhesion: PVA Gluestick
• Result: Some layer separation; some burned rest - See Effigy 12

Effigy 12: Layer separation and fire remainder

^{*Use extreme caution when press with Cyanoacrylate since the heated liquid compound produces fumes that are an irritant to both eyes and lungs.}

From the test results, one can see that printing Polycarbonate well takes a good agglutinative, a good print surface and a bed temperature of at least 135°C. If you endeavour to print Polycarbonate on a printer that cannot heat the bed to at to the lowest degree 135°C, you are almost probable wasting your time.

Changing Filament

To Polycarbonate

When changing filament from whatsoever other cloth to Polycarbonate, you'll want to rut the hot finish to at least 260°C. Once the Polycarbonate filament is flowing nicely and all remaining traces of the previous filament is no longer deposing, increase the hot end temperature to 290°C.

From Polycarbonate

When changing from Polycarbonate filament to another filament, heat the hot end to at to the lowest degree 260°C. Brainstorm deposing with the new filament until there is no Polycarbonate visible in the deposed material. Next, suit the temperature on the hot end to match the new filament's printing temperature.

How Do I Gear up Parts When Press With Polycarbonate?

The greater the surface surface area of the model that comes in contact with the print bed, the greater the gamble for printing success. With that in mind, it is commonly meliorate to impress with a raft or with a large skirt that comes into contact with the edge of the model surface. Side by side, be sure to go on all your impress speeds throughout the part at or below 20mm per 2d. Third, if you need supports then print with an air gap below .4mm. This may make the supports challenging to remove, but it helps to mitigate layer separation throughout the impress. Finally, use a canvas of garolite or practiced adhesives to foreclose warping and to make sure that the print adheres to the bed.

Bringing It All Together

As mentioned, Polycarbonate is hard to impress only not impossible. What is required is a skillful printer that heats to and holds loftier hot finish and bed temperatures, a good print surface, the right adhesive and the ability to partition and/or control the ambient temperature effectually the printer. In one case mastered Polycarbonate yields the strongest and most durable desktop 3D printed parts from filament that exist today, merely only through continual impress iterations to maximize the results.

If you have any comments or contributions, please drop us an email or give us a phone call. We are always looking for tips and best practices - and would love to hear from you. Feel free to attain out with whatsoever specific questions near your Polycarbonate 3D printing feel.

Happy Printing!

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Source: https://www.matterhackers.com/articles/how-to-succeed-when-printing-with-polycarbonate-filament