Some experiments in pointing microscopes at hotends. Really pleased with how well our #E3D Everyday ABS/PLA formulations are performing, particularly in regards to lack of ooze and consistency in behaviour across the colour range.
If you’ve done a lot of printing you’re probably very familiar with seeing an idle hot nozzle ooze plastic. Particularly as the polymer melt degrades and off-gasses. Much of this comes from cheap pigments/master batches that degrade very easily. By working closely with our supplier and a lot of testing we’ve arrived at a point where even very long stretches of idle ABS in the nozzle doesn’t result in filament bubbling from the hotend.
The result of this is exceptionally clean prints, even with modest retractions. It’s also really nice in dual extrusion systems with two nozzles where the significant reduction in ooze is a big advantage.
Are there any Australian distributors? I support you guys every chance I get, I just cant justify the shipping costs buying filament from the UK.
EDIT: Curious on any AU distributors of your hotends also.
@David_Gray No distributors for filament as of yet, but more than happy to consider some.
You can get our hotends in Aus from 3 different distributors!
https://www.doodaddoes.com/product-tag/e3d/
http://aus3d.com.au/printer-parts/hotend
I was hoping for a cheaper product from local distributors, turns out all of them are at least $15 AUD more than buying from you directly (including shipping). If I were to recommend a filament distributor in AU, the only 1 I currently use is http://3dprintergear.com.au . Their premium ABS is the best I have tried (which turns out to be Korean Plasil filament)
EDIT: $15 refers to universal 1.75 v6
I have observed this first hand with E3D PLA, ABS and PC-ABS filaments. Lower ooze, no gassing, good stability and print-ability at higher or lower temperature extruding.
On any machine where it’s difficult / impossible to control/change the temperature or retraction (Like the UP!/Afinia for example), these properties, especially lower oozing makes a BIG difference to the output print quality.
@Sanjay_Mortimer1 What specifically do you think is different about your filament that makes it do this? Because I could see this sort of difference coming from having a higher optimal printing temp, IE the filament that oozes more is just being extruded hotter than its “sweet spot.”
@Ryan_Carlyle , Its all about the masterbatch. The masterbatch (colorant) is made with a base plastic and powder pigment. Generally, the base plastic is a “generic” plastic, like PS, so, when mixed with abs or pla, it can change its properties.
So, a good filament is made with a custom made MB.
@Nicolas_Arias I can believe that would cause some issues with material properties with PLA, but I’m not sure why a little polystyrene content would cause oozing specifically? PS is one of the most well-behaved polymers available, it’s what they purge injection mold equipment with between nastier plastics.
@Ryan_Carlyle The difference is indeed mainly in masterbatch, as @Nicolas_Arias says. There’s also the obvious matter of a good input resin, we also use some additives that increase toughness and layer bonding.
By using resin, custom master-batch, and additives that are all thermally stable you can control more predictably the behaviour of the melt and reduce off-gassing due to heat induced breakdown. It also means that your colours won’t “cook off” - a lot of cheap chinese red filament is really bad for this, becoming pink or even white if held hot for too long.
We also play some tricks with the viscosity when the polymer is molten, which further helps with ooze prevention and allows for nicer overhang and bridging performance. It’s not so much about moving the “sweet spot” as it is about controlling the properties of the fluid when it is at the sweet spot. 3D Printing has significantly different requirements to injection moulding or classical extrusion, so it makes sense to alter the behaviour to meet those needs.
@Sanjay_Mortimer @Nicolas_Arias Very interesting, thanks for taking the time to explain.
