Filaments, in this case PC/CF ...
(Perhaps I've not looked in the right place, but I find it strange that there seems to be no forum/group for things that are printer-independent, in this case: filament.)
I printed the parts for my CoreOne+ upgrade very successfully using (for some parts) PC/CF. Looking more closely at them now I can see that they suffer from a small amount of 'elephant's foot'. It's not going to affect their function, however.
But I'm about to print a lot of gears for a clock, and elephant's foot would be very bad news. I printed a trial gear (in PC/CF) and found significant elephant's foot. The default setting in the slicer is 0.2mm. I have printed the same trial gear in both PLA and PETG with no elephant's foot problem. So are the slicer defaults for PC/CF good, I'm wondering?
Anyone with insight and/or experience with PC/CF and elephant's foot?
Another path to follow possibly is the heatbed temperature. Elsewhere I've read that reducing it 5-10 degrees might fix the problem. But why is it so high in the first place (100C+) ? To get the plastic to adhere I guess. It certainly isn't necessary for the rest of the printing as the filament guide ( https://help.prusa3d.com/filament-material-guide) says that no enclosure is needed for printing.
RE:
(Perhaps I've not looked in the right place, but I find it strange that there seems to be no forum/group for things that are printer-independent, in this case: filament.)
I printed the parts for my CoreOne+ upgrade very successfully using (for some parts) PC/CF. Looking more closely at them now I can see that they suffer from a small amount of 'elephant's foot'. It's not going to affect their function, however.
But I'm about to print a lot of gears for a clock, and elephant's foot would be very bad news. I printed a trial gear (in PC/CF) and found significant elephant's foot. The default setting in the slicer is 0.2mm. I have printed the same trial gear in both PLA and PETG with no elephant's foot problem. So are the slicer defaults for PC/CF good, I'm wondering?
Anyone with insight and/or experience with PC/CF and elephant's foot?
Another path to follow possibly is the heatbed temperature. Elsewhere I've read that reducing it 5-10 degrees might fix the problem. But why is it so high in the first place (100C+) ? To get the plastic to adhere I guess. It certainly isn't necessary for the rest of the printing as the filament guide ( https://help.prusa3d.com/filament-material-guide) says that no enclosure is needed for printing.
The reason why there is no filament specific sub-forum is that the behaviour of a filament is directly tied to the hardware that prints it: the type and diameter of the nozzle, type of print bed, type of extruder, chamber or no chamber, the fan speeds... etc etc.
You will notice for example the the elephant's foot compensation is tied to the print settings and the not the filament. The 0.2mm is default for the Core ONE. One thing you can try is a different print bed material like the CryoGrip Pro and reduce the temperature 15-20C. Or simply play around with the compensation setting. Here is an article that explains: https://help.prusa3d.com/article/elephant-foot-compensation_114487
I suppose the point though is you can't take Prusa's profile settings at face value and will need to tweak them to optimize for your setup and project.
But back to your project. PC-CF is fine/OK for gears but I would personally use PA (nylon) since it's self-lubricating. Or if you are really adventurous Iglidur i150 which is better. Or POM/Delrin which is way better but it's super hard to print.
RE: Filaments, in this case PC/CF ...
Ah, ok all understood, thanks. I've been doing trial prints of gears in PLA, PETG, PETG-CF and PC/CF and will decide soon which to use. I've got ASA but I think not. Also not quite advanced yet to nylon and such materials, though I'd love to give them a try in due course!
I'd love to think that Prusa's settings are 'plug and play' in order to avoid waste etc. TBH they are a lot of the time, but I do take your point about tweaks.
RE:
Ah, ok all understood, thanks. I've been doing trial prints of gears in PLA, PETG, PETG-CF and PC/CF and will decide soon which to use. I've got ASA but I think not. Also not quite advanced yet to nylon and such materials, though I'd love to give them a try in due course!
I'd love to think that Prusa's settings are 'plug and play' in order to avoid waste etc. TBH they are a lot of the time, but I do take your point about tweaks.
If you are printing benchys, dragons, gridfinity boxes or fidget toys then the provided settings are totally fine. Once you start doing more functional/technical parts then the Prusa provided settings are really just a starting point. In this case, you will need to calibrate the filament for optimal temperatures, flow, shrinkage and extrusion rates (to name a few).
As for nylon, it's easy to print. However you must use a filament dryer. You need to dry it before printing with it and either print from the dryer or a dry box. However, it's the best material for gears. It's also a better material than PC for printing gears.
RE: Filaments, in this case PC/CF ...
I take your point about nylon - one day. I also note the price - ouch! Other materials to try soon include PP, but I've enough small projects to be going on with at present ... thanks.