Five points that FDM printers must pay attention to when choosing 3D printing materials
Of course, filaments are essential equipment for 3D printing. The filamentous thermoplastic materials used in FDM printers are the most commonly used ABS and PLA plastics. Evaluation and selection methods have become problems that plague many beginners.
How to judge the pros and cons of filaments, I provide many printing enthusiasts with the following five aspects of reference.
1. Look
Before unpacking, please ensure the tightness of the vacuum packaging and whether it has a safety certification star. Filaments are sensitive to moisture and easily get damp. And it will produce bubbles during the printing process. Then take out the filaments and observe carefully.
First,check for visible spots, bubbles or other impurities, such as the small black dots in the red circle in the picture below.
Second, check whether there is a difference in color, especially transparent filaments, to see if the color is uniform.
Third, check whether there are obvious protrusions or areas that are too thin, and visually compare the diameter of the filaments with your eyes.
2. Measurement
Use vernier calipers to measure the diameter error of filaments. Take out a 1-2 meter long filament and select some measuring points to see if the consumable has a large diameter deviation. Finally, rotate each point several times to test whether the consumables are really "round". Generally speaking, the tolerance of high-quality consumables can be controlled within 0.05mm.
3. Bending
Bend the filament with your hand, if it breaks, it means that the quality is average. Cut a few sections of about 5cm wire, first visually check for cracks, and then bend it about 120°. If it breaks, it means that the material's bending resistance is low.
Filaments with poor craftsmanship may be very fragile, with obvious scratches, such as cracks. Therefore, it is common for fractures to occur in transparent, shiny PLA materials, especially because the higher the purity of PLA, the more brittle it is. Opaque PLA is usually modified PLA, which is relatively rare.
4. Printing
If the filament passes the previous test and still meets your requirements, please try printing. For example, in the picture below, if you have enough consumables (about 30g), you can perform a print test without support (usual time: 0.5-1.0 hours). You can compare the performance of the wire in each area in the figure and comprehensively evaluate the quality of the wire.
5. Smell
The lower the quality of the raw materials, the more additives are added to the filaments. Generally, the more vaporized gas during heating and melting, the stronger the odor. If a pungent smell or discomfort occurs during printing, stop immediately.
There may be a little smell when printing the model with FDM printer, so it is recommended to print in a well-ventilated place during use. If you need to keep warm during printing, you need to consider
Material development is an important factor hindering the rapid popularization of 3D printing. While developing new materials, we can continuously improve existing materials so that more people can use 3D printers conveniently and safely. So most industries. Let us pass through the vast sea of people.
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