Someone here printing mechanical parts of Polycarbonate? I mean serious stuff you use? What printsurface does it take and what extruding temperatures?
Have you watched Tom’s video on printing it??
Well yeah but its very general
To be a bit more specific, PC performs much like ABS on steroids, and likes to stick to all of the same surfaces. An enclosed or even a heated build chamber is a must for any larger parts and matters much more than the build surface itself.
I have printed a single part from polycarbonate that i actually use (a puller for decorative wheel bolt covers), but find it too cumbersome to print with regularly.
@Polymaker 's PC-Plus is supposed to perform better for day-to-day use, but i haven’t tried it myself yet.
@Thomas_Sanladerer thx for the comment. I ordered a sample. Iam looking for a filament which does not deform over time (3D Printer parts like pulleyholders or such). Both ABS and PET deform when under tension (yes my printer is enclosed and heats up inside really good for just the heatbed and the nozzle heating it, which contributes to the deformation of parts).
@VolksTrieb if you’re in the US micro center carries it for actually a pretty good price
I print a fair amount of PC, don’t even bother if you can’t get your build chamber to 60C or higher. I print on gluestick at 120C bed with a big brim and low stress infill. It’s still very, very difficult to print. The newer PC blends like Esun’s ePC and PC-Plus give up a lot of mechanical integrity but are similar to ABS in printability. (For example, ePC’s Tg is about 120C vs 150C for virgin PC.)
You might try a composite ABS or PET if dimensional stability is your goal. Adding CF or glass makes it stiffer (although not stronger).
I printed a boat prop in PC and work amazingly well https://youtu.be/dSV1mpVnSUw