I purchased Polymaker S1 Dissolvable support material to use with their PA6-CF because using PA6-CF as support really makes the surface quality terrible. I’m printing functional parts that are visible to the end user in a car cabin so they need to look good. Wherever the tree supports touch, it looks bad.
Now that I have the S1 filament, I realize that PA6-CF is not to be used in the AMS. How am I supposed to use the PVA as interface material? Am I going to have to continuously manually swap filaments?
Example of the bad surface quality. This is the bottom of an overhang.
My settings (printing with door and top glass open):
Thank you in advance for your help.
PS: I am not the designer of the part and cannot modify it. This is almost a 1 for 1 design of an OEM part.
EDIT: Well, Bambu Studio told me printing with the two materials was not possible due to the temperature differences. I probably just need to choose a different material, other than PA6-CF.
Yes.
You can optimise (reduce the number of filament changes) by reorienting your model and using the S1 filament only at the interface:
Otherwise, it would require continuous intervention.
2 Likes
I don’t think the Polymaker S1 is compatible with PA6-CF any way. The temperature differential is too high and even Bambu Studio complains.
I never used it, but they claim to be the suitable material for their PA6-CF. The only recommendation is to remove the support material right after the print to avoid bonding due to air moisture.
If you are not confident, print a small piece (maybe a part of the original print) and check how it works. If something goes wrong, you learn, and don’t waste too much filament and time.
2 Likes
I switched to Atomic Filament to see if that is a better brand to commit to for engineering grade filaments. If I go back to Polymaker testing, I will give it a try.
1 Like
Hello. How can I smooth out the bottom of this part on the rounded portion? You can see from the slicer that the lines come out pretty funky. This is reflected in the print and it looks unacceptable. I’ve tried re-orienting the part a different way so the rounded portions are vertical instead of horizontal, but I’m having other issues there with pieces of the part flying off. Not sure if the nozzle is hitting it.
Thanks in advance!
Edit: The front of the bezel is not flat. It has a slight curvature to it. This means it will end up with supports and that will mar the surface.
The part is a bezel for the push button ignition of a vehicle and needs to look relatively pristine since that is customer/driver facing.
For added information, can you explain why you are not printing this on the large flat side down, rather than the flat point of two thin locking pins?
Of course. The front of the bezel is not flat. It has a slight curvature, like a very wide “U” to it. This means it will end up with supports and that will mar the surface.
The part is a bezel for the push button ignition of a vehicle and needs to look relatively pristine since that is customer/driver facing.
If you have a different idea, I am open to it. Thank you.
FDM printing isn’t optimal for this part. Have you looked into other technologies?
I was afraid of this. I saw SLS printing can do it, but that would be vendor provided of course. Is it because the part is too small?
The parts size, finish requirements and overall design isn’t where FDM shines.
