Polycarbonate Filament Alternative For 3d Printing (PolyHex)
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 13 ต.ค. 2023
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In todays video we take a look at PolyHex brand new 3d printing filament aimed at being a replacement for polycarbonate. We will cover the materials properties, what is required to print with it, and I will share what my printing experience has been like.
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If I have a weird filament that doesn't fit in my box, I slap something together out of cardboard, and use the heating element from a food dehydrator.
My kind of maker
I just respool it onto standard spools.
Stream Of Consciousness from a Teleprompter.
Thanks for introducing this new filament. Sounds very interesting. I would like to know more about the creep performance, layer adhesion and resistance to warping on large prints?
I was about to recommend the micro swiss CM2 after using it, but you beat me to it. I am really impressed with whatever coating they went with, ABS just wipes away like nothing I have seen before, literally one swipe with an old rag and it was 100% clean again. Filament also seems to flow better so you don't get the hooking effect soon as it exits nozzle while under high pressure. This is the first nozzle I have raved about...
I use a large PP Foam box (the black ones used by food delivery services aka Pizza boxes). It can withstand 120°C and offers very good insulation. My heat source are 2 300 Watt PTC Elements, each with its own all metal fan. Controlling is done by an Arduino running custom code and utilizing a industrial temperature/humidity combo sensor. Over all build cost ~300 Euro, but i can dry 4 3Kg Spools at once and heats up very quickly + you make up for its cost rather quickly in saved energy compared to the mostly not at all insulated stuff used in the 3D printing space (like food dryers or even the sunlu dryers).
perhaps you could share the details of your project with the community se we can replicate it
Sounds like an efficient solution, but why did it cost so much? Was it the industrial sensors or the cost of the insulation material? PTC heaters and microcontrollers should amount to about $50. SHT71 are very accurate temp/humidity sensors and cost $5. So theoretically this project should be doable with a budget of under $100.
I'm gonna have to try this stuff out when I get my Magneto X. Great video!
I used a product with was a PC CPE CF blend which is similar to this. I found the drybox preheating the material was also a factor. (so consider that if you get your drybox sorted out in the future). These materials are ballers man! I actually made machining fixtures for a customer from it. That's how strong they are!
Enjoy and thanks for the great video!
I often use tough PC by inland from Microcenter. It's one of the easiest filaments I've used with great layer adhesion. It definitely requires an enclosure.
My big spool drying setup is just a food dehydrator with adjustable temp. After cutting out the middle of the trays I can get a 5Kg spool in there. Just make sure to check the actual temp as mine runs about 5C hotter than the dial indicates.
As you know we run our own spool holder enclosures from LSE and also we use the Cyclone where we can dry 5KG spools without any problems.
I've been using PETG+ lately for anything load bearing. It does need some drying but otherwise prints as well as non silk PLA and it's very strong and resilient. Supposedly it's blended with polycarbonate. Plenty strong enough for my latest design for a flex drive outboard motor.
The filament seems interesting, but it does NOT seem like a replacement for PC. When I think about PC (not PC blends), I think of heat deflection temps of ~135C and high impact strength. The HDT of this isn't directly comparable to the PC I use (3DXTech) due to the differences in testing methodology you mentioned, and they don't cite an impact strength on their data sheet (but PETG is generally quite poor with respect to impact strength). When it comes to drying filament, I have a heated chamber printer (which is the only way to print larger PC pieces at high infill), so I can dry in that, but I also use a NuWave Brio 15.5 qt air fryer, and IIRC the inside will fit about a 10.5" spool (and air fryers are also really handy for regenerating silica desiccant and annealing prints). Also for spools I use a cheapo lazy susan with a 50mm tube glued in the center (so the spool is horizontal). Filaments are stored above the printer in plastic boxes advertised as 'water proof' (not really but they have weather striping) with a tub of silica desiccant.
Some good tips there thanks! I use Home Depo's white buckets that come with air-tight seals to store the spools. Each one holds 5. I toss a silica bag in each one (aquarium filter media bags with zippers so I can empty it to dry it & fill back up)
What printer do you print their PC on, just a regular FDM printer?
At the end of the video I was left with the question: "So, what the heck is it?" because it's not comparable to PC to me. I'm looking for my next baby step up from all the ASA I print and besides real/pure PC I'm not sure there is anything better without going to crazy engineering grade stuff that I need to modify my hotend and bed to print.
@@mjodr Polyamide PA6 + CF might be a good choice ^ Doesn't need anything special to print it (I think it even sticks to cold beds) and super strong from what I gather
Im running the PrintDry system with 5kg spools from Polymaker. I keep the filament in the dryer always when printing.
I use a PrintDry with an Expansion Pack. It allows me to print with up to 10kg spools directly from the dryer.
its a great material prints on a bambu X1C with the bambu PC material settings and PETG/ASA print speeds settings. 100m/s to 60m/s. has good wear resistance so I've printed gears with it and they have held up well.
Awesome that is great to hear 😊
"My interested was PEEKed" - haha, get it?
Thanks for a great video as always buddy.
hi dan i usualy use a big food dehydrator for my big 2kg prusament spools or multiple smaller spools work great
I pre dry my filament in a pesto food dehydrator with the center grates cut out. I feel like the heated spool holder filament dryers don't dry filament they just keep it dry. You can get any sized spool into the food dehydrator you just need enough rings/grates.
I think that’s still the most cost effective & efficient way to dry filament 😊
I dry my filament as well in a food dehydrator, but I bend a aluminum sheet in the circular form and do not need any grates anymore. Very easy ans cheap
i'd love this with long CF strands !
IC3D is where I have got all my filament since I entered the hobby. I have never had a clogged nozzle or any print failure due to the filament. I know I could get cheaper filament, but I just want to print without dealing with drama.
I buy 5kg spools when available, but on filaments that need drying I typically dont dry on the original spool. I respool them onto steel 1kg spools instead. I usually do the typical 4hrs@90c in a repurposed food dehydrator.
I'm printing large spools directly from the dehydrator with the PrintDry Pro w/ the extendo
For functional parts and when great layer adhesion is neccesary I prefer PCTG. And you could print it much faster than PETG. Layer width of 0.6mm with a 0.4mm nozzle is no problem even on high speed printing.
what brand of pctg do you use and what speeds do you say are high speeds?
@@landerhoolsteens Fiberlogy
ah the expensive ones yeah out of my budget for filament @@Technikfreak72
Looks good. I may test it if I can buy it here in Germany when my PC blend from Prusa runs out.
Interesting filament at a reasonable price.
I’ve had my eye on high temp filaments for heat ducting for a diesel heater project for a while. Figured I’d use either a PC blend or PCTG filament so this may be in the running.
I strongly suggest to use high temp PA-CF which should be able to withstand 150 °C continuosly for thousands of hours.
It prints very easily
I use the EIBOS Cyclops for a filament dryer. It can hold large spools.
May be worthwhile to try this stuff out once I enclose my Microswiss hotend Ender3
this reminds me of the CPE-HT i got from Fiberlogy
Yah, that was my first thought too. I looked at the data sheets for both and they're extremely similar. There are some differences in the suggested printing settings/environment but the mechanical properties of the resulting parts are supposed to be nearly identical. Overall it looks like the PolyHex is cheaper whereas the CPE-HT is supposed to be a little bit easier to print. Not sure how much of a difference there actually is in practice.
The rated temp values look closer to ABS. Wondering how this would compare to ABS/ASA rather than PC.
Good question. Similar to what I was wondering.
Thanks! great vid. Is Polyhex UV resistant? Which of these UV resistant filaments > ASA, PCTG & PETG are 'strongest'? Speaking of those which UV resistant filament would you recommend for functional parts... eg a shed door handle?
I'm interested in layer adhesion, if it adresses those problems but introduces stringing, that might be a hidden gift 😅
PC is amazing, but with zero part cooling, 45mm/s print speed (volcano nozzle) and 0.12mm hieght that normally make mold like parts.. PC still splits at the layers when i test break parts (Black PC).
Side thought; i never tried white PC which is colored with oxidized titanium powder that tends to improve thermal conductivity and thus layer adhesion. Opposite of carbon that is added to make the filament black 🤔
Polymaker's PC is black magic, prints well and seems to retain the physical properties of PC.
Eibos Cyclopes can fit up to a 3kg roll of filament. I have never personally done so, but that's what it says on the tin and it should be able to hit good high temps for drying that filament.
I have the cyclops and I don’t doubt that but there isn’t exactly standard spool sizes for bigger spools so this one is longer vs wider.
@@ModBotArmy Oh! Yeah, that...wasn't obvious from the video I guess 🤣. Clearly needed a banana for scale!
@@Geoff_W haha will work on providing a banana for scale 😂
Use case for PC is mainly high impact strength, not so much high temp.
Yep. When I think of PC I think of my helmet visors
I typically print with 5 kg spools of polymaker asa, there are no commercial filament dryers to accommodate such large spools so I was forced to build my own out of a food dehydrator.
DEFINITELY make a desktop injection molding machine!!
Is the heat deflection temp enough to try some in-the-engine-bay car parts?
It’s been on my list for a while. The one I have been watching has evolved a few times but I think it’s in a really good place now.
How hot do you think it gets in the engine bay worst case scenario??
@@ModBotArmy idk maybe 150-200c if you had a turbocharger and not a lot of air movement??
I’ll do some testing next time we go Jeepin’ to see what underhood temps look like in our “worst case” scenario.
Hmm, I wonder how well this stuff will work with 2A printed parts. I'll definitely give this a try sometime.
Do you have a list of the tests you run for a new filament?
I'm a PETG-main, and I want to dip my toes into engineering filament. I had some good results with Matterhackers Ryno (albeit, with major over-retraction issues before tuning).
If I run a retraction tower, temp tower, and flow test (hollow box, comparing printed wall width to slicer), is there any other test I should throw into my "New Filament Testing/Tuning" lineup before committing to a project with said filament?
Cool!
Should i use the petg slicer preset but bump the nozzle and bed temps?
A printer with enclosure should be able to print comparable PC (blend?) filaments. Maybe you could try the PC from two years back and test it with current printer?
290/110 does not sound "print simple like PETG" ;) Deflection temperature and drooping aside, is it even close to PLA or PLA+?
I have designed a device that is used in the boating industry, picture a bracket for deploying a trolling motor…. What filament do you recommend for high strength and high UV resistance, along with low water absorption and low shrinkage?
I am making a basher RC car. I wonder if this stuff would work for its strength capability? I am using regular PETG for now. Haven't tested it yet because still printing stuff...
Got a sample of this from their booth at ERRF, this video makes using it a lot less of a mystery- thanks as always!
My drying setup is that I live in Colorado.
I use Polymax PC and its more easy to print than PLA on Bambulab X1C
I used a dehydrator that I customized for 3K Spools.
I own an injection molding machine, would I be able to inject polycarbonate into molds made of PolyHex? Or am I limited to lower temp plastics?
Man! That stuff ain't cheap!!!
Yeah its definitely something for functional printing haha
Hi, was there any warping of the surface that was on the bed on the big part?
None at all. Adhesion has been great. It does require the mentioned high bed temps but yeah no warping at all.
@@ModBotArmy tnx, when I print 300x300mm sized parts it lift's build plate from bed in corners.
@@Davor_3D_ZrAMuse some clips to hold the bed down or get a better magnetic sticker (fysetc hard stickers are my fav) or try a different bottom fill
Yeah idk about this being a PC replacement/alternative
Print Dry Pro for large spool drying
Shrinkage is just half percent less than ABS, heat deflection temperature also similar (Polymaker ABS). It may be better for chemical resistance but what about stiffness? if it's a copolyester it may be quite less stiff than ABS. Is it really competing with PC? it seems a competitor to ABS, since very few ABS are as stiff and as heat tolerant as Polymaker, and this one would end up being equivalent or better in every way (and more expensive).
What about humidity? is it as sensitive as PETG and other copolyesters are? this would be a BIG downside vs high quality (Polymaker) ABS. Stringiness may be caused by that: once I dry PETG very well, stringing is mostly nonexistent (Fiberlogy PETG).
"Is it really competing with PC?" - No
"it seems a competitor to ABS" - yes, closer. ABS/ASA..but with all the stickiness and stringiness problems that made me throw my PETG spool out the window
Cool
How does it handle high temperatures?
I use a Fixadry dryer for my 3KG PETG rolls i use. for $100 its a great buy IMHO. Can fit 2x1KG or 1x3kg... or likee 5x250g lol
Does this filament need to be filtered for fumes? Does it have a strong odor when printing?
Does the fillament produce any fumes or microplastics?
Wonder if this will work for drone props
I've never seen a printed drone prop stay together for more than a few seconds. Have you ever blackbox logged your RPM's or turned them on in the OSD/end flight stats? I would reconsider.
Not exactly sure what the use case is for this material. Not much that can replace Prusa PCblendCF as my goto material for higher spec prints so far.
Does this filament require fume extraction or is it relatively safe to print like PLA and PETG?
Edit: it doesn't look like an SDS is published yet which is something of a non-starter for me unfortunately.
"Objects printed with PolyHex will have the same strength, rigidity, durability, and chemical resistance of legacy polycarbonate without the typical PC troubles of warping, smell, BPA exposure, degradation caused by moisture, high printing chamber temperature, and cost" maybe not, but probably still have a certain amount.
I personally have a fully enclosed printer with a recirculating internal HEPA filter with a carbon basket in front of it. And always leave the printer on and filter running for 10+ minutes after each print with ABS or PC
No TDS for it on their website, might just be a PC-PETG blend.
How does it Print like Petg. It sounds more like sbs?? Hot and enclosed..
The slight stringiness, the slight stickiness, the drying, the really good adhesion, it even looks a lot like PETG with the glossy/reflective surface. ABS smells and is warp prone but I hardly have stringing/sticking to nozzle issues and have never ran into issues caused by moisture even when opened for months.
Polymaker PC is super easy to print on the bambulab x1
Has anyone tried annihilating to see how that changes the tensile strength?
Do you have a filament machine?
Was a little disappointed with the "high temp". 90°C isn't even close to what PC, PA, or PET can take. It maybe interesting for things that don't need to stand up to an autoclave.
I’m looking to make boat fittings out of long strand carbon fiber and epoxy, like cleats, clew stays and blocks. Maybe…just maybe deck hinges and hatch latches as well. This might be just the thing to print moulds from!
40 bucks for a kilo, not bad for a material that tries to combine aspects of PC and PETG.
Not feeling great about the waste/recycling problem, but that seems to come with the territory...
This filament is a good petg nothing more. It way below my fiberlogy CPE filament and the CPE is definitely not pc.
You recommend drying it and claim it will print better when dried, but don't test that theory? Why not test it out while dried and printed from a dryer?
I dried it initially using the printers bed heated at 70c for a couple of hours. It’s a less than ideal method of drying but what I was limited to due to spool size. With it being a copolyester the dryer the better. It wasn’t wet enough to cause any steaming or popping which I have experienced with very wet petg but stringing definitely happens more on wet filaments.
@@ModBotArmyWhy not invest in a filament dryer?
@@RobertCowanDIY I have 3. This is a massive 2.5kg spool. It doesn’t fit in even my largest due to its size. Even the cyclops which is a larger dryer was too small.
@@ModBotArmyGotcha, that's a bummer then, it would have been nice to see it properly dried, since it's hard to evaluate as-is.
@@RobertCowanDIY I really wish they had sent a standard sized spool. It does print well though. Don’t use a brass nozzle and keep it in active dryer the whole time would be my recommendation. Do you have a project in mind for it? I actually just saw you video on the XL flex membrane.
I use a printer that prints PC all the time. It's an 80k unit with heated chamber.