Okay 3D guru’s, I’m asking for your knowledge. I’m an old 3D printer but fairly new Bambu H2D owner. Love the printer, so much simpler than any of the others I’ve used in the past. You do, in fact, get what you pay for. I’ve never had a machine that would print PA (Nylon) until now. My first attempts resulted in failure. Never more than 3 layers before it slides off the board. I’ve tried 3 different build plates and 2 different adhesives and no love. Everything else prints fantastically. ASA, ABS, PETG, TPU and PLA (of course) with rarely any issues.
For any of you that have the magic dialed in, please do share. I would love to master this material.
Not really enough information, we don’t know the specific nylon filament you’re using, or what you’re trying to print. Pictures tell a thousand words.
I will say, if your print is altogether sliding off the plate, your build plate is dirty. Wash it with hot water, dish soap, and a nylon scrub brush. Dry with paper towel afterward.
Also, from the other post in the past hour about nylon printing, I wrote this:
OK, first up, part geometry has a big role to play here. If you have many walls enabled, you’re increasing the propensity for shrinksge significantly.
Next, try printing a PETG raft under your PA6 parts. Use the textured plate for that.
There are also better plates for nylon than the ones Bambu sells. Darkmoon sells many specialist plates that would be worth checking out.
Good point. The part was a very simple piece, never made it to any vertical walls. Plate(s) were well cleaned and work like champs. Only one is the original Bambu. One is a Comgrow that has never failed me and the other was a no-name (UniTak3D Store) plate which has also worked better for me than the factory textured plate.
It is some generic nylon though. I don’t even see it in my Amazon orders so uncertain where I got it. When the printer is done with its current job, I’ll check the spool. I’ll also definitely try the whole petg raft. petg prints great on my setup.
I’ll try a few things and report back with more/better details when I have some.
Nylon needs to be dried exquisitely before printing always, and it isn’t enough that it’s fresh out of the package. Make sure you do that before your next attempt.
Is it a fiber filled nylon or just pure nylon?
I should also state that some offbrand filaments just may never work, either.
I can say that nylon on the H2 machines is totally possible, although nylons are one of the trickier classes of materials to print. It’s even driven one forum member insane, although he likely was already well on his way. I think his latest suspension will be up soon…lol
But I digress.
Just a thought, if you bought the printer to specifically print nylon, have a look at either PPA-CF or PPS-CF, they have some excellent mechnaical properties and I find they print easier than nylons, generally. May be useful for your specific application.
Nylon prints best on a dedicated PA build plate or a G10 (Garolite) plate. I recommend the later. Also do you own a filament dryer? An AMS HT will work as well. If not, then you shouldn’t attempt printing nylon it until you do. Nylon (especially PA6) is extremely hygroscopic and not only needs to be dried before printing but it also needs to be drying while printing for long prints.
Also, after you print it, it will absorb moisture from the air and creep. Did you have something in mind you want to print with it or are you just experimenting? It’s not a beginner friendly filament.
I know the H2 printers have a chamber heater, and the PA preset is supposed to wait for a 60° chamber temp, but it may help to delay the print for another 10 minutes or so to be sure everything is fully up to temperature.
I have also found that printing PA requires glue on all of my plates (Bambu PEI Smooth and Textured, Engineering, and BIQU Glacier) to resist warping.
Pure nylon, new out of pack, dried in a commercial food dehydrator for 12 hours before placing in the AMS. Although RH here in Portland, Oregon is constantly around 55% in the summer, I had it down to about 17%. I did just order one of the Darkmoon build plates specific for nylon and some adhesive specifict to the high temps. I realized that the JT17 I used was not rated for nylon temperatures and probably failed its job.
It is unlikely this won’t drive me any further into insanity than I already am, it isn’t a need at all, just the next challenge I would like to tackle. It’s all about the education. I will next, pick up a roll of Bambu Nylon as well as some PPA and PPS to see what that does for me.
Yes, I have 2 AMS units and a commercial food dehydrator I use on a regular basis. Between those I can get RH down to 17%-ish for a few days before it creeps up.
It’s nothing in particular I need to print; this is just a bucket list item to tackle the finicky nuances of nylon. I think it is the oppositional defiance in me. I’ve got it bad. If they say you can’t then I absolutely must tackle it It’s a curse, really :-).
Just a note on that, some nylons require higher temperatures to knock absorbed moisture loose - up to 195 in some cases, which is likely higher than even commercial food dehydrators can manage.
Nylon needs to be dried for 8hrs or so at 85° with the spool rotated. Then transferred immediately to a dry box or printed from the dryer. The 17% RH you are reading is the humidity of the air inside the box and not how dry the spool is.
Yeah, pure nylon is going to be the hardest. The big reason that most nylon blends have a CF or GF component is because they resist warping.
Only thing that I don’t think anyone else has mentioned so far is raising your bed temp to 110C. I have always used an engineering plate with some Nano Polymer adhesive.
There is no such thing as pure nylon in a filament. It’s: PA6, PA66, PA11, PA12, HTPA, PPA, or a copolymer like Polymaker Easy PA. Each one has different characteristics and sensitivity to moisture with PA6 being the worst. Also, with any filament “new out of pack” does not mean it’s printable, i.e. dry. PLA, PETG etc are probably fine but hygroscopic filaments like: PA, PC, TPU are not. I’ve rarely pulled one of these out a factory sealed back that was printable right away.
If you are going to venture into engineering filaments then you need a proper dryer. A food dehydrator just won’t cut it. You will need something that can maintain 80-85° (175-185F) for 6-8hrs. You will also need dry storage for these filaments. Especially PA6, which if left out in the open becomes unprintable after only a few hours.
I also only recently printed pure nylon (PA 12) for the first time. The AI suggested using the “Bambu Lab Generic PA” profile with a few minor adjustments, mainly a reduced volumetric flow rate and a higher bed temperature.
Overall, the prints were completely trouble-free, both on the old Engineering Plate and on the Smooth PEI Plate. I used liquid glue in both cases. As others have mentioned, cleanliness of the build plate seems to be particularly important when printing nylon.
Ugh, am i the only one that has had no issues with nylon? I use the max bed temp (100-110), pre heat the chamber 30 min and use default profiles. I use polymaker PA
I use the max bed temp (100-110), pre heat the chamber 30 min and use default profiles. I use polymaker PA