Help me guys! Nylon sticking problems with small parts…
I’m making these tiny cams for a customer, 10mm diameter… We tried abs but its too weak and crushes so, I’m trying nylon ones…
Printing 225-235 deg on a blue-tape bed - slow first layer, then faster to avoid drooping… Tried with and without fan… Cool bed, 60 deg bed…
It just won’t stick down, or rather, it starts to warp heavily and becomes unstuck… Lots of contact with the bed (squished) - I’m out of ideas except trying “poplar wood” (translation anyone? Is this MDF?)
I suspect my filament is a LITTLE moist… Dried a bit but I’m not convinced… But the problem isn’t adherance as much as it is warping, anyone have any ideas? Thinner/thicker layers? What are ideal conditions for nylon NOT curling? Heated bed or not? Fan or not? Fast or slow? Thick or thin? I’d like to start at the ideal end of the spectrum, get it to stick and not warp, and then tweak toward quality and speed…
Thanks in advance for any help!
I add a 3mm single layer brim (an option in Slic3r and most other slicers) that I cut off and print on cold glass covered in a single layer of gluestick (uhu brand from amazon, I’ve heard the elmers ones work too) and it’s worked just great for me even on parts 10mm wide by 200mm long. The gluesticks I use are: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001PMJYAO/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B001PMJYAO&linkCode=as2&tag=rpgtab-20
Oh, he needs a couple hundred of these - I too would normally print with a brim but I’m trying my hardest to avoid it if possible!
Nylon on glue-stick yeah? I have only tried that with abs, worked well, not quite as good as kapton for me but no lines from the tape…
But if its recommended for nylon I might give it a shot… Cheers for the info 
Buy some garolite dude. Also keep that nylon dry as you can. I’m printing fingers with 618 on lightly sanded garolite right now, sticks very well.
Garolite - I read that somewhere too actually - I’ll look into it - Cheers @Tim_Rastall
Yes nylon requires garolite - its expensive but you can get a thin sheet and epoxy it to mdf . it also helps to have a heated or at least enclosed chamber - keep the whole thing warm not just the bottom with heated bed. Larger parts ate going to shrink if you can get it to all shrink at the same rate you’ll get nice large parts.
So… What is garolite? I’d love to get some pronto if its the right tool for the job… Would a hardware store have it or is it special-order stuff? What are its other uses so I can try hunt some down locally?
McMaster… They make cutting boards out of it but that seems to be different stuff that doesn’t work as well. At McM they have both the glass and cotton fiber stuff. Get the cotton stuff. Also called g10 and F4
Mcmaster Carr if you’re in the states, it’s a phenolic board, you want garolite Le.
Without garolite brim is pretty much essential. I do extra loops to start and space them so they overlap the brim. Also print as slow as you can. Poplar is not MDF. It is a fine grained deciduous wood but soft. Similar to Birch.
Machinable Garolite (LE) McMaster Carr PN 8474K141, 8474K151, 8474K161, 8474K171
@Tim_Rastall Is a heated bed needed for Nylon+Garolite ? If yes, at what temp ? Thanks.
Have you tried roughing up the tape with coarse sandpaper before printing?
No I haven’t @Wylie_Hilliard , I might try that in the interim because I can’t find garolite here in AU…
Is it the same as Bakelite?
That’s the exact part I bought from rs nz btw.
@Jarred_Baines Yes it is the same as Bakelite. I got some from eplas (http://www.eplas.com.au/3129050/eplas-engineered-industrial-plastics-canvas-b.htm) in Australia. In fact’s I’m printing on it right now. 
Does anyone heat their Garolite? Mine is working OK, but there is still a bit of lifting.
You also need to really really really dry out your nylon before use. At least a hour in the oven at 120 degrees C. Probably longer would be better.
@Ben_Jackson
Ha that’s exactly where I was looking for it! And it sounded a lot like Bakelite but I couldn’t find anywhere explicitly saying the two were the same…
@Tim_Rastall I’m going to go with RS cos that’ll be easier.
Thanks a stack guys
Wait…
There’s a few grades of Bakelite on eplas website AND a few grades of tufnol on RS…
What do you guys suggest? There’s an “LE” bakelite, or 2 grades of tufnol?
