[Zack], in addition to being a snappy dresser, has a thing for strange 3D printing filament. How strange? Well, in a recent video, he looks at filaments that require 445 C. Even the build plate has to be super hot. He also looks at filament that seems like iron, one that makes you think it is rubber, and a bunch of others.
As you might expect, he’s not using a conventional 3D printer. Although you might be able to get your more conventional printer to handle some of these, especially with some hacking. There is filament with carbon fiber, glass fiber, and more exotic add-ons.
Most of the filaments need special code to get everything working. While you might think you can’t print these engineering filaments, it stands to reason that hobby-grade printers are going to get better over time (as they already have). If the day is coming when folks will be able to print any of these on their out-of-the-box printer, we might as well start researching them now.
If you fancy a drinking game, have a shot every time he changes shots and a double when the Hackaday Prize T-shirt shows up.
Can confirm the third paragraph. The last thing i want to do is experiment with the limits of the printer, so i used PLA for a decade and barely gave ‘advanced filaments’ like PETG or Nylon a glance. The heated bed, the stronger and more-constrained extruder, the high-temp hot end…all too much for me. But now the cheapest printer i could find does a great job at PETG and it’s the only thing i use.
Ahhh, remember when ABS was what we all printed with, and PLA was the tricky new filament on the scene?
No
Yeah, me neither. There were reasons to use ABS instead of PLA, but ease of printing was not one of them.
Since my journey into 3D printing started with a Monoprice Select Mini printer after reading an article about it on this very site, no.
I remember one of my main criteria for a printer being ability to print more difficult filaments like ABS for functional prints, PLA being the baseline. (In the end, I’ve only ever bought one spool of ABS, by mistake, and have mostly used PETG for functional prints.)
Heh, apparently you’ve been 3D printing since before the rest of these guys knew 3D was a thing.
And 3mm filament? I seem to remember PLA was adhering too well and was tearing chunks out of the glass build plate when it was removed. Probably 2011 or 2012?
Interesting. I never gave PETG or Nylon a glance and went through hundreds (if not more) of rolls of PLA.
I tried printing ABS once. Once. What a mess. Even using gluestick on a PEI bed it just didn’t work. I have cryogrip buildplates now so I should try it again. Maybe I should try some PETG too. So far, PLA has hold up great, even outside. I even fixed the inside of the water tank of my toilet with PLA parts a year or 2 ago and that’s still working fine too.
Today, I see little reason to put up with the styrene fumes and other headaches of ABS. You’ve got PETG, nylon, various polycarbonate blends, etc…
ABS needs a hot enclosure to keep it from warping. PETG is much easier to work with. You can print it without an enclosure as long as the room is warm.
You must not live in a cold or hot climate because here in New England PLA turns to mush in average summer temps and shatters from the cold in average winter temps. The entire reason I started printing with PETG and other filaments is simply so I could leave the tool holders I print in my work truck and not have them deform or shatter.
Don’t get me wrong, I love PLA for indoor things that won’t take much abuse but you really can’t even use it for moving parts on printed toys. For example, the skeleton on every Dummy 13 model should be printed in PETG or better because PLA wears and fails in short order. In fact, that specific warning is right in every variant of the Dummy 13.
You’re missing out on PETG. It is not an advanced filament at all. Very easy to print. You just need a direct drive extruder. It’s only hard to print if you are using an old ender 3 bowden setup which is probably why some people think it’s advanced. Not good for bridges though, but other than that, it prints as easily as PLA and can be used for prints that hold/carry or are used underwater/in aquariums.
PETG is as easy as PLA to print. In fact it prints easier and better than PLA Silk filaments.
ABS is almost as easy. As long as you have an enclosed printer and adequate ventilation, Once you get your settings dialed in to prevent warping in the first few layers, I would say that ABS is also easier to print and prints more reliably than Silk PLA.
see glasshole in video, instantly stop video and ignore everything about it even if there is good data I just do not care any more.
It’s a split Lenovo headset screen he modded as a teleprompter. Dude seems legit. What have you built that works?
Give it a look actually, it’s a great bit of custom repurposed hardware.
This is not the Zucks or Googles privacy invading face hugger its a custom build by an awesome dude.
https://youtu.be/qAuwW7Wzrng?si=M7QThwPa-U0fCPta
Way to miss out on a great and informative youtuber based on your preconceptions and wrong identification of his headwear.
the other replies are better to mine but i enjoyed mine too:
you understand that his anti-privacy-eye-wear can’t see through the youtube screen, right?
Not a glass hole, it’s a custom headset that he made.
I like that Zack was on of the few people online to cover Fishy Filaments recycled fishing net nylon filaments.