Nylon filament 3D printing tips

Nylon filament is a strong and semi-flexible material that is wear and impact resistant. It is the right choice for durable parts. Nylon is also known as Polyamide. Nylon has long been a popular material in the plastic industry. Because of its flexibility and wear resistance. In general, nylon filament is printed at a temperature around 250°C. A temperature that cannot be achieved with every hot-end. So you may need to upgrade your hot-end first.

Another challenge with printing Nylon filament is moisture. Nylon absorbs moisture from the environment very easily. Unfortunately, moisture in the filament is very bad for the print result. Therefore, Nylon must be stored carefully. For example, in a PolyBox .

Advantages

✔ Strong and fairly flexible.

✔ Good impact strength

✔ Very wear resistant.

Cons

✘ Prone to warping.

✘ Keep airtight because of moisture absorption.

✘ Moisture in the filament causes poor print quality.

Hardware requirements.

Before you order Nylon filament. It is advisable to check whether your 3D printer has the correct hardware. So that you too can achieve optimum print quality with Nylon.

Bed

Heated bed is needed.

Temperature: 70-90 °C

Closed printer is recommended.

Construction area

PEI sheet
printafix

extruder

Temperature: 225-265 °C.
All-metal hotend is sometimes necessary.

cooling

Fan not needed.

Pro Tips.

When you cannot store the nylon filament airtight. Is it possible to dry the filament before printing. This can be done by drying the filament in the oven.

Nylon is also suitable for cleaning your nozzle. You can use a technique called " cold pulling " where you let the Nylon adhere to debris in the nozzle and then, after it has partially cooled, pull the filament (and debris) out of the hot end.

Avoid problems when printing.

With these tips you will reduce the most common problems when printing with Nylon filament.

Storing nylon filament.

One of the biggest challenges is preserving Nylon. When you leave the filament on and exposed, it will absorb moisture very easily. This results in a rough finish, small holes in the print or even bubbles on the outside. In addition, the properties such as wear resistance and strength also deteriorate. We therefore recommend that you keep the filament in the sealed packaging with moisture absorbers. This can be done, for example, in a zip-lock bag or the polybox. The advantage of the polybox is that you can print while the spool is in the polybox. This means that the filament is always well protected.

Avoid warping with a closed print chamber.

Also warping is a common problem. Especially with the Nylon filaments that are printed at a high temperature. A heated bed offers a (partial) solution here. But a closed room is even better. This way you ensure that the temperature remains constant during printing and that the filament does not cool down too quickly.

Use a brim and/or raft.

If you do not have a closed room, it is wise to use a raft or a brim. This will promote first layer adhesion.

Overview different filaments