More Durable filaments

[ColosTommy]

So i love my new printer the ender 3 s1 pro, and have been printing non stop since getting it.

I've designed and prototyped a load of parts in PLA, but it is nowhere near durable or flexible or strong enough for 90% of my parts on an RC car.

So i have a few questions, what is the best suited filament for the parts im printing that can be printed on my printer with no mods, im guessing a TPU or a Nylon, but i don't know enough (and there seems to be a million different TPU and Nylons) and was hoping some of you more experienced people, who have been there and tried these things can help.

Secondly is there a better filament that could be used with just a few mods to my printer?

I've attached a picture of the parts so you can advise better on suitable filaments.

 

[dure16]

Nylon. Overture Easy Nylon to be exact, especially for someone new to nylon.

Nylon is durable, impact resistant, and a little bit flexible. It’s my choice for most RC-related prints.

I’ll use 95A TPU for any parts that need extreme impact resistance. You can’t break TPU. But it’s too flexible for many applications.

 

[Surchaufeur]

Nylon needs an inclosure and is highly hydroscopic. Nothing cknpared to PETG. My main filament i use is PETG on almost everything now.

I printed a 6s wheelie bar mount in tpu at almost 100% layers and its still too flexible. Printing it on petg atm. 30$ a wheelie bar its get pretty pricy when they break in a few packs. I have mudguards on my felony made in pla+ of low quality and they held up upgraded the side skirts to PETG because shiny.

I also made 2 splitters for it in petg. Waiting for spring to test them out. Petg is very springy and retains its shape when bent.the stock splitters bend out of shape at the slight impact

I believe those parts would be fine printed in PETG.

 

[ColosTommy]

What tpu did you use for the wheelie bar? i see things from 40d to like 125a i think.

Seeing as one of the sideguards is right by the battery and the battery tray itself is 3d printed and this is an off road basher i thought stronger more impact resistance would be better or am i just overthinking things?

I have a home made enclosure so that wont be a problem, otherwise the Overture easy nylon would print ok, maybe a dehydrator as well or is that not needed?

 

[Surchaufeur]

What tpu did you use for the wheelie bar? i see things from 40d to like 125a i think.

Seeing as one of the sideguards is right by the battery and the battery tray itself is 3d printed and this is an off road basher i thought stronger more impact resistance would be better or am i just overthinking things?

I have a home made enclosure so that wont be a problem, otherwise the Overture easy nylon would print ok, maybe a dehydrator as well or is that not needed?

Yeah you need something to dry the filament and keep it in a sealed bag/box
My tpu wheelie bar is way too flexible

 

[dure16]

Overture easy nylon would print ok, maybe a dehydrator as well or is that not needed?

Yes you'll have to dry the nylon. Especially before a print, but I always dry nylon during printing as well. Nylon soaks up moisture real fast and it has a major effect on print quality.

Nylon is definitely a more advanced filament. It can be hard to print. Always use a brim and a skirt. First layer very slow (~15 mm/s) and remaining layers also pretty slow (<40 mm/s). Print on the low end of the manufacturer's suggested temp range. Fan off. Bridging is hard. Overhangs are hard. It'll warp if a cool draft gets into the enclosure.

Be patient and you'll figure it out. It's not impossible. And the trouble is totally worth it IMO. I prefer it over PETG, ABS, ASA for basically any application, and even over PC for most applications. I've printed quite a bit of all those plastics.

 

[3d-rc.myshopify.com]

Pla +, pctpe, petg, tpu and asa are 99% of what I use

 

[ColosTommy]

What is PC or pctpe and what are their qualities strengths and weaknesses. I'm not aware of them.

 

[dure16]

Pla +, pctpe, petg, tpu and asa are 99% of what I use

I have yet to try PCTPE. I actually tried to find some the other day and couldn’t.

What brand do you use and where do you buy it?

What is PC or pctpe and what are their qualities strengths and weaknesses. I'm not aware of them.

I think of PC as PLA on steroids. It’s about the same rigidity, much more durable, and has great temp resistance. Good dimensional integrity as well. It likes to warp though.

I’ll let someone else talk to PCTPE.

 

[3d-rc.myshopify.com]

Poly carb and Tpe mixed. It’s very durable and ridged enough to support well and take impacts. 100% infill is not a good idea in my experience 50% infill is more durable then 100%
I get it from taulman your machine has to be dialed in and in an enclosure to even have a chance at it. It’s probably my favorite material I always have a roll on hand. FYI black is actually more a purple color. Also you only get two or 3 colors. You need a dryer capable of 65c min to keep it dry. It’s not for everyone but is fun trying to get it dialed in because once you do. Everything else just seems easy lol

 

[RedOctobyr]

I've only printed PLA and PETG on my Ender 3 Pro. Haven't tried printing any RC parts yet, PETG is what I plan to start with on those. But I also have some TPU.

Does the S1 have an all-metal hotend? I don't think my Ender could print the high-temperatures for nylon without changing to an all-metal hotend. Same for ABS.

Interesting about the PCTPE! I hadn't heard of that one. It sounds nice, albeit challenging.

 

[ColosTommy]

I think i'd like to give these two filaments a try. I found a dryer capable of 65 degrees, SUNLU 3D Printer Filament Dryer S2.

Nylon. Overture Easy Nylon to be exact, especially for someone new to nylon.

Poly carb and Tpe mixed. It’s very durable and ridged enough to support well and take impacts.

Can i ask you both this same questions regarding printing...

This will print ok on my Ender 3? Full-metal dual-gear direct extruder with an extrusion force of 80N, 110*C heat bed, 300*C Nozzle, 0.4mm nozzle, PEI coated spring steel print bed.

Any modifications necessary. Is a print bed adhesive required or advised?

Anything else you think i should know or be aware of as a 3d printing noob?

This is my enclosure, just a homemade thing, its not airtight, there are gaps around the door and where the power cable comes in, should i draft exclude these areas?

Sorry for all the questions, but i appreciate the help.

 

[Tex Koder]

I think i'd like to give these two filaments a try. I found a dryer capable of 65 degrees, SUNLU 3D Printer Filament Dryer S2.









Can i ask you both this same questions regarding printing...

This will print ok on my Ender 3? Full-metal dual-gear direct extruder with an extrusion force of 80N, 110*C heat bed, 300*C Nozzle, 0.4mm nozzle, PEI coated spring steel print bed.

Any modifications necessary. Is a print bed adhesive required or advised?

Anything else you think i should know or be aware of as a 3d printing noob?

This is my enclosure, just a homemade thing, its not airtight, there are gaps around the door and where the power cable comes in, should i draft exclude these areas?


View attachment 286316



Sorry for all the questions, but i appreciate the help.

Is your printer kept on the floor?

 

[ColosTommy]

Yes, is that an issue im not aware of, or just weird?
It's not it's long term home, but it's the only space currently available till i sort it where its supposed to go long term. But it will be there for a number of months i guess.

 

[dure16]

I think i'd like to give these two filaments a try. I found a dryer capable of 65 degrees, SUNLU 3D Printer Filament Dryer S2.









Can i ask you both this same questions regarding printing...

This will print ok on my Ender 3? Full-metal dual-gear direct extruder with an extrusion force of 80N, 110*C heat bed, 300*C Nozzle, 0.4mm nozzle, PEI coated spring steel print bed.

Any modifications necessary. Is a print bed adhesive required or advised?

Anything else you think i should know or be aware of as a 3d printing noob?

This is my enclosure, just a homemade thing, its not airtight, there are gaps around the door and where the power cable comes in, should i draft exclude these areas?

View attachment 286316



Sorry for all the questions, but i appreciate the help.

Sorry but I don’t know the answer to your questions about the Ender. I have no experience with that brand. It’s popular though so I’m sure the info is out there somewhere.

Regarding the enclosure - yes I would try to find and close the gaps. It doesn’t take much cold air to warp a sensitive filament. You don’t have to get fancy with it though - just put some packing tape over the remaining gaps you find.

 

[3d-rc.myshopify.com]

Yes you can print it on that setup. With an enclosure it doesn’t need to be 100% air tight just as long as a breeze can’t effect it. Wouldn’t hurt to preheat the bed for a little just to heat up that enclosure a bit prior to printing

 

[RedOctobyr]

This will print ok on my Ender 3? Full-metal dual-gear direct extruder with an extrusion force of 80N, 110*C heat bed, 300*C Nozzle, 0.4mm nozzle, PEI coated spring steel print bed.

Any modifications necessary.

Just to avoid making assumptions, is it an all-metal hotend? Like, there's no teflon Bowden tube down inside the hotend? A high-temperature nozzle is great, but it's still bad (edit: for running high-temperature filaments, like needing >240C or so) if there's any Teflon tube down around the heater and nozzle.

My Ender 3 Pro does not have an all-metal hotend, and would need an upgrade before running these temps. I'd need to install the bimetal heatbreak that I bought but haven't tried yet (though there are other solutions too). Note that I'm not talking about the extruder itself (the mechanism grabbing the filament, and feeding it into the hotend).

 

[ColosTommy]

is it an all-metal hotend?

I have absolutely no idea. I've looked on the official site and can't find anything more specific than what i posted earlier in the thread. Is there any way to find out with out stripping parts off teh printer?

 

[Tex Koder]

I have absolutely no idea. I've looked on the official site and can't find anything more specific than what i posted earlier in the thread. Is there any way to find out with out stripping parts off teh printer?

If it is the S1 PRO ,then it does have the all metal hotend.
What makes it that is the solid heatbreak(titanium alloy tube) ,higher temperature thermistor, higher temperature heating element.

All of which you can purchase separately and upgrade your standard S1 up to that spec. For not much more $.

The one thing I did notice what was Better in the S1 Pro is that there is the Metal clamp lever and shroud on the extruder (it seems) than the plastic components.
That I don't know if you can get separately...