What filaments can you print with.

#1
I know you are okay for printing ABS and PLA. But what about nylon 618, nylon 645, t-glase, or even that wood filament (which requires the 0.5mm nozzle)? I'm really just interested in printing with nylon, but it would be good to hear about the others, as I have uses for them all. Thanks!
 

GORDON.LAPLANTE

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#2
We have experimented with colorfabb woodfill (30% fine) and it works amazingly with no tweaks (see our latest blog post on 2/20/14). We are currently looking into all-metal hotends which support nylon filaments but we have no results to share as of yet.
 
#3
GORDON.LAPLANTE said:
We have experimented with colorfabb woodfill (30% fine) and it works amazingly with no tweaks (see our latest blog post on 2/20/14). We are currently looking into all-metal hotends which support nylon filaments but we have no results to share as of yet.
I've heard good things about the E3D Hotends. Worth looking into. It was actually suggested to me to use that instead of the J Head.
 
#5
Thanks for your response! I'm looking to pre-order and am new to 3D printers. After reading more about dual extruders, I'm sure I want one for using support material. Is it better to have one .5 and the other .35 so there are options? My specific goal is designing things to use in aquariums and terrariums, which is why I'm interest in Nylon. Based on the fact your getting one in, can I assume in the future I might be able to switch out the J heads with the E3D Hotends for working with Nylon?

Thanks again. I've been doing quite a bit of research on 3D printers and yours has a design quality I think some forget about. But does this mean I can also pre-order in lilac? I did look at the blog! :D
 
#6
konton said:
Is it better to have one .5 and the other .35 so there are options?
It is truly a matter of preference, both will put out great looking prints. The .5 will put down more plastic than the .35. The .35 allows for finer control at the cost of print speed.

If you are planning on making things for aquariums they will be of a reasonable size so a .5 may be of more benefit to you but in the end it is your decision. :)
 
#7
Thanks. I guess I'm just asking if having a dual-head with 1 head being .5 and one being .35 will cause problems. I'd like to have the option to choose between the two (finer vs faster) for printing, but the main reason I want it is so I can quickly put down support material for the build. I thought perhaps simply two .5 would be less confusing to the printing program. But maybe it doesn't matter.

Also are all the gMax printed parts printed in PLA or something else? I'm trying to decide if it's worth even getting the Colorfabb PLA with the printer. I plan to use ABS for all aquarium parts. But it might be cool to try to print other printers with the Colorfabb PLA. The whole concept of printing printing more printers is cool.

Thanks all the info. I plan to order today and am excited to be one of the first customers to order the Dual-Head Extruder from you! Or maybe I'm not.

J_
 
#8
Gordon, i too am looking at the e3 hotend, would like your input on modifications, if any, need to be done with the gmax. Will it be plug and play, doubt it's that easy, but it would be nice. I had a rocky start when i first got my gmax, but things are getting better, working on making the bed frame more rigid, and moving to simplify3D for slicer was night and day compared to Slic3r. Keep up the good work with the post's, Ray and Julia thanks for your posts also, it's good to see more people on here. Really look forward to the dual extruder progress.

Thanks
 
#9
I sell E3Ds in the US through printedsolid.com and Alex (frequent commenter on the KS campaign) bought one and installed it on his GMAX. Theoretically it should just drop in as it is a standard j-head mount. Alex reported he had to do some shimming to get it to fit securely, but that installation was pretty simple. Some modification my be required to the part cooling fan bracket as well.

IMO, it is a nice upgrade if you are doing low temp materials, but not mandatory. For high temp materials such as nylon, polycarb, or even some PETs, the E3D or some other type of all metal hot end really should be installed.

I'm out of stock right now, but am probably going to be placing an order within the next week or so. If anyone wants to preorder, I will sell it at distributors pricing. PM me or contact me through printedsolid.com.

-Matthew Gorton
 
#10
i think that the "all metal extruder" would have the same performance as the e3d extruder but with a easier way of changing the noze and more acurate ones.
But in if the gmax would able to suport the kraken extruder of e3d...i dont know how to expres it in english , awesome.

with both the gmax would be able to print anny kind of matherial.
 
#11
I upgraded Vision 3D printer to an E3D metal hot end and it's been fabulous. Can't say enough good things about them.

If the dual-head had an option to upgrade to E3D hot end I would pay!
 
#12
Don,

Tell me more about this upgrade you did, please.

Soon I will receive my dual head machine and I wish to have it running and producing as well as it can.

Don Bedwell
 
#13
Upgrade was relatively simple swapping of metal hotend. I was lucky and did not have to print a new X-axis/extruder mount to fit the new hotend, although the fan was a tight fit.

I did lose a couple inches of Z-axis print volume, but I went from 1 out of 4 prints completing to 100%, worry free printing.

The gMax has been doing good so far, so its unclear exactly what the improvement would be, but I'm willing to find out! (Not great, but my problems are bed sag and oscillation in one of the Z-axis threaded rods)
 

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#14
GORDON.LAPLANTE said:
We have experimented with colorfabb woodfill (30% fine) and it works amazingly with no tweaks (see our latest blog post on 2/20/14). We are currently looking into all-metal hotends which support nylon filaments but we have no results to share as of yet.
 
#15
Good day! My name is Jorge Acosta and I'm pretty interested in purchasing one of your printers (gMax 1.5), but I've been looking on the specs and I can't find the diameter of the fiilament required for the printer anywhere. I will appreciate if you could provide this information to me before I make my purchase.
- Thank you"
 
#16
Jorge: I was looking for this too, I am 99 percent sure I read somewhere it was the standard 1.75.

Don and anyone: If you upgrade to the all metal hot ends which is assuming you want to print at a higher temperature; wouldn't you have to change the acrylic bed also: 1. sagging issue mentioned 2. would it melt the bed? 3. wouldn't you need a heated bed?
 
#17
It's all material specific. I only use E3D from now on. The differences between their hotend and the standard jHead are night and day. In fact, I just ordered 4 more E3Dv6 units.

I don't want to print with higher temp materials. I'm happy with PLA, some flexible materials, and soon will dive into dissolvable supports with PVA. These are all low temp materials.

The acrylic bed is good for PLA as it doesn't require heating. I print on glass, I find that the best way to go. Justin (koonton) print ABS on acrylic with moderate success, no heated bed.

Printing higher temp materials has implications for every printer, not just this one. Nylon requires a garolite bed, etc...
 
#18
I can vouch for Ray's comments regarding the E3D hotend. I'm sure the standard Jhead works great on Colorfab PLA and many other filaments. But after buying the cheapest stuff I could find on ebay I suffered through countless jams with the standard Jhead. When I switched to the E3D V6 these issues stopped. My pain-in-the-butt gMAX suddenly became the greatest 3D printer on earth.

I've got some nylon and some PET that require higher temps. I'll get to those someday. But for now I'm enjoying the great prints I'm getting from the cheap PLA I'm getting on eBay. In short, switching to the E3D hotend will allow higher temps but the main reason to switch is to improve printing at the temps you are already using.

Chris
 
#19
Ray do you have the gMax also and if so how did you switch to glass? Did you just buy a glass pane?

Thanks for the info on e3d. Makes me want to get one too. Did you guys have to mod anything extra or just a relative switch? Do I need to buy the full kit or just the metal head?

Thanks.
 
#20
I can't find the diameter of the fiilament required for the printer anywhere. I will appreciate if you could provide this information to me before I make my purchase.
I'll convert Mikeng's 99% to 100%. The gMAX uses 1.75mm filament.

how did you switch to glass? Did you just buy a glass pane?
I switched to glass as well and use glue stick to get the PLA to stick to the bed. There are a few posts in this forum regarding how to make this conversion. People have used various thicknesses of glass and have mounted it to the bed chassis in various ways. Since it's hard to drill holes in the glass you have to secure it to the bed some other way, that's the hardest part of the conversion. I even bought a glass chess board from a thrift store and used that for awhile. A few advantages of glass include: no bed sagging and less problems with prints fusing to the bed.

Thanks for the info on e3d. Makes me want to get one too. Did you guys have to mod anything extra or just a relative switch? Do I need to buy the full kit or just the metal head?
I bought the full kit. You need the fan and shroud to cool the metal heatsink and I didn't want to take any chances with a mismatched thermistor. I have a Kickstarter version gMAX. I needed to add a washer/spacer/shim at the top of the head and make the wooden securing brace a bit thicker. These steps are documented in other posts in this forum. Since the e3D is slightly longer than the standard Jhead you need to modify the print cooling shroud to lower it a bit. You also need to wire in the heatsink cooling fan. I wired it to leads from the light, which means it is always on when the light is on.

I've recently converted my gMAX to a 1.5, which involves changing out the whole print carriage. The new version does not have the wooden shim mentioned above but you still need to insert a small metal shim/washer to fill a gap at the top of the head mount.

Chris