jmone
Posts: 38
Joined: Thu Sep 13, 2018 6:35 pm

'Exotic' Filament Thread

I really like the Simplify3D Filament Guide and because of it I got a range of different types to experiment with. I thought however I'd start a thread for some of the more "Exotic" filaments out there and thought I'd kick it off with:

Dupont Hytrel: It's a Shore D 60 - TPC-ET thermoplastic elastomer. I've not printed with these sorts of filaments before and can not belive how tough and resiliant they are. I can not rip or break apart the Benchy though it does hold some deformation from the plyers. Normally you can just snap off the funnel but not with this stuff.

I tried 3 different prints (pics of 2 attached)
- Benchy: Needs to print slow (20mm/s) and cool (220 nozzle and 50 bed) else you get curling on the front of the Boat's overhang. With these settings there was hardly any stringing and bridging was OK. The pic shows how it went straight from the printer bed. What stringing was there was cleaned up with a pass of a heat gun.
- Tyre: Printed a tyre for the bearing and this was much faster (60mms) and hotter (250 nozzle and 85 bed) else the extruder would slip at this speed. Given the shape (no overhangs etc) it printed quickly and cleanly. Probably not a great material for a tyre as it is too hard and slippery but it is still flexible enough to put onto the bearing.
- Bearing: This also printed using the above settings but the material is not a great choice as there is too much play and the bearing does not freely spin and tends to bind.

Apart from that it was easy to print. Nothing special at all.

So if you want a tough filament with some flexibility for functional parts, this one is worth looking at. Comes just the one colour - Cream.

Expensive at around US$100 per KG
Attachments
Hytrel2.jpg
Hytrel3.jpg
Hytrel1.jpg
Prusa MK3
jmone
Posts: 38
Joined: Thu Sep 13, 2018 6:35 pm

Re: 'Exotic' Filament Thread

Dupont Zytel : After my success with Hytrel, I got a roll of Zytel (same price as Hytrel). It is a Nylon 66 type filament and is also easy to print with little stringing and good bed adhesion..... I just followed the instruction sheet in the box for Temp and Speed, with functional part being able to print faster and hotter and stuff like Benchy needing slower and cooler. I also added some fan (25%) which helped with overhang curl (even though it is not recommended). It comes in one colour, a crisp white. The printed bunchy is tough as but if you take to it with pliers then you can break bits off. The harder bit was getting a dimensional setting working for functional parts like the planetary gear. I needed a ended up using -0.2 so parts would not fuse together bun then the gear had too much slop in it.
Attachments
Zytel.jpg
Prusa MK3
jmone
Posts: 38
Joined: Thu Sep 13, 2018 6:35 pm

Re: 'Exotic' Filament Thread

eSun Silk : It really is just PLA but with a "silk" shine to it. Comes in a range of lustres. Just print with std PLA settings. Here is a pic of a cup in Vase Mode. Looks great and was watertight.
Attachments
eSun Silk.jpg
Prusa MK3
jmone
Posts: 38
Joined: Thu Sep 13, 2018 6:35 pm

Re: 'Exotic' Filament Thread

For fun, I "annealed" the PLA cup and this is how it turned out.
Attachments
eSun Silk 2.jpg
Prusa MK3
SweHogelid
Posts: 57
Joined: Wed Aug 03, 2016 8:01 am

Re: 'Exotic' Filament Thread

Thank you for sharing!
One of these days I'm going to start testing some less common filaments my self, but until then I very much enjoy reading about them and from people who actually have printed with them.

Cheers!
jmone
Posts: 38
Joined: Thu Sep 13, 2018 6:35 pm

Re: 'Exotic' Filament Thread

eSun Bamboo : I've printed a few different "wood" filaments without issue, but this one was a bit trickier as it kept clogging. In the end, I had to step up to a 0.60 nozzle, increase layer height to 0.2, print temp +10c, turn off retraction, turn on coasting etc. I also went through a bit of cleaning filamament to try to get all the carbonised muck out between prints.

The following are pics of a Fail (almost made it!) with a 0.40nozzle and 0.15 layer height and the final result before and after clean up. It is stringer than usual PLA, but cleans up ok. It has a nice textured wood(ish) feel to it.
Attachments
Groot_Pre.jpg
Groot_Fail.jpg
Groot_Post.jpg
Prusa MK3
frts
Posts: 1
Joined: Wed Sep 11, 2019 4:53 am

Re: 'Exotic' Filament Thread

Dear jmone

Would it be possible to get your fff for the Hytrel material?

Many thanks and best regards
frts
jmone
Posts: 38
Joined: Thu Sep 13, 2018 6:35 pm

Re: 'Exotic' Filament Thread

Here is the FFF I used for Hytrel
Attachments
Prusa - HYTREL.fff
(10.97 KiB) Downloaded 249 times
Prusa MK3
Preetisharma
Posts: 1
Joined: Fri Sep 13, 2019 12:29 am
Contact: Website

Re: 'Exotic' Filament Thread

Excellent thread! Thank you!
Carlbosson
Posts: 10
Joined: Fri Oct 04, 2019 9:35 am

Re: 'Exotic' Filament Thread

Has anyone printed with Nylon 66. I am using Gizmodorks brand. My question is what temps and times do I use for Annealing the prints. Gizmodorcks tells me " the glass transition temperature, is about 72 C"

Return to “General Discussion and Tips”