Review: Prusament PC Blend
Prusament PC Blend
Company: Prusa is a widely known company for high-quality 3D printing. Although it is not an American company, it is known for its high reliability and top-notch products with near-perfect support. They are located in age Czech Republic.
Products: Prusa is not a one-product wonder. They offer a wide variety of 3D Printers and printing materials that are unequal in quality and have a large variety of colors. This review will be of the PC Blend.
Price: The current price is $49.99. Link: Prusa PC Blend in Urban Grey.
Introduction: To be honest, I am a huge user of Prusament filament so when I saw this new product, I jumped on a purchase ASAP. It is being billed as PC Blend is perfect for stronger, more durable 3D prints. It is reportedly an excellent choice for printing mechanically stressed parts. Compared to other materials, PC Blend is high-temperature resistance. This means that is would be perfect for parts exposed to heat such as fan shrouds on the 3D Printers. It would also be an idea where impact resistance or tensile strength is needed. The following graph is from the Prusa website and gives a good comparison of the properties possessed by the different filaments they sell.
I have only printed it for a weekend. I started off with the generic PC Blend settings on my Prusa MK3S and they never needed adjusting. I did have several failed prints at first because I had to turn in my printer to the new filament. It warped like crazy until I got the right settings on my Z level. So far, I have replaced my parts for my Prusa Mosquito with Urban Grey PC Blend.
Color: It comes in Urban Grey, Galaxy Black, and Natural.
Filament quality: The quality is top-notch. This stuff is tough as nails. The part above is printed in PC Urban Grey. I chose this product because I need a tough Pinda Probe attachment. I could not get any bend at 25% infill and the parts I printed at 40%, you can forget it. It is hydration sensitive so, you will want to keep it in a bag. Near 100% uniform diameter.
Ease of use: Once you get it dialed in with a Z value, it prints perfectly. Each roll comes with a glue stick. Never print without a coat fo glue stick. This stuff is very sticky once you Z is dialed in.
Packaging: I love the recyclable and reusable spools. They had a contest early on to encourage users to find another use for their spools. There are a lot of options available on their website.
Print quality: None of the test prints failed once I nailed in the Z level. The surfaces turned out to be smooth and slightly shiny. The grey color came out a little bland, but It allows me to see which parts are the original black or orange vs. PC Blend. The color and print consistency are perfect in my book. I printed about 8-10 small prints with the filament. I had zero jams and 100% print success. Zero quality concerns with the filament or prints it produced.
Approval: I would purchase this product in the future. In fact, I have three new spools on the way! I rate this as 98/100. I would have rated it better if the price was better. It is a premium product at a premium price.
I standby for your questions.
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Chuck H
3D Printer Review Blog
RE: Review: Prusament PC Blend
I am worried that the PETG parts on the printers would not survive the print. Should I make some replacement parts from PETG first?
RE: Review: Prusament PC Blend
@obeliks
The reason I am switching to PC on two printers is the same concern. On my Mosquito Prusa printer, I am going through my 4th pinda mount in 5 months. PETG just did not hold up to the heat. I will post an update in a few months if this holds up better. I could nto break it with my hand so I think ti will.
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Chuck H
3D Printer Review Blog
RE: Review: Prusament PC Blend
I doubt the price will come down much. This is right in line with other polycarbonates. Polycarbonates and PC blends are premium filaments.
Examples:
I have used these and a couple more. I have never been able to get the results I am getting with Prusament with any of them. This stuff is amazing! I do like the 3DMAX stuff. If might be close to Prusament, but ti is also $43-46 a 0.5 Kg spool. I guess it is not that expensive.
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Chuck H
3D Printer Review Blog
RE: Review: Prusament PC Blend
From what I have learned from the Prusament PC Blend, I am better Able to print 3DXMAX PC-ABS. I had serious warping but using the glue stick has helped.
PC is very sensitive to Z levels.
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Chuck H
3D Printer Review Blog
RE: Review: Prusament PC Blend
@charles-h13
Have you tried it on you MINI ?
RE: Review: Prusament PC Blend
@charles-h13
Have you tried it on you MINI ?
No. That is my next test print.
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Chuck H
3D Printer Review Blog
RE: Review: Prusament PC Blend
I just got the roll yesterday. Any more advice?
Because I have a feeling that I will need to print extruder parts first, as the PETG ones will get destroyed in the process.
RE: Review: Prusament PC Blend
@obeliks
Print extruder parts. Start with fan shrouds. This stuff is great. Never print without glue stick. Consider a dedicated print sheet.
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Chuck H
3D Printer Review Blog
RE: Review: Prusament PC Blend
@charles-h13
Have you tried it on you MINI ?
I will try but the Mini is limited to 100 C bed temp and PC Blend require 110.
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Chuck H
3D Printer Review Blog
RE: Review: Prusament PC Blend
I tried the Prusa Blend today. A Benchy and pretty happy what my old MK2.5 can do.
It stuck nicely to the bed and was easy to get off.
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Gert
RE: Review: Prusament PC Blend
@gert-l
It will nto be until the 3-5 print that you will start having difficulty.
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Chuck H
3D Printer Review Blog
RE: Review: Prusament PC Blend
@charles-h13
Hmm, a couple of more Benches then 🙂
No, i will put a bigger print on and see what happens.
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Gert
RE: Review: Prusament PC Blend
@charles
Hi, What are you printing onto?. the textured sheet or smooth PEI covered sheet or something else?.
I have problems with too much adhesion onto a buildtak surface with PC, admittedly not the new Prusa PC blend, but the now no longer available RIGID.Ink Clear PC. I still have 2 rolls left.
Normal people believe that if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. Engineers believe that if it ain’t broke, it doesn’t have enough features yet.
RE: Review: Prusament PC Blend
@chocki
Textured, i use that for almost every thing.
I only print petg and maybe now the new PC.
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Gert
RE: Review: Prusament PC Blend
@chocki
I print on an older textured pei sheet from Prusa. I have printed Rigid Ink also. Kores Glue Sticks works well to lower adhesion.
I use a glue stick to reduce adhesion. It works well. I order them from Amazon. It is a little expensive but after a lot of fo testings, I prefer it. Kores Glue Sticks.
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Chuck H
3D Printer Review Blog
RE: Review: Prusament PC Blend
Thanks Charles, I'll give it a go, I've still got my unused glue stick from Prusa.
Normal people believe that if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. Engineers believe that if it ain’t broke, it doesn’t have enough features yet.
RE: Review: Prusament PC Blend
I have printed all of the replacement MK3S parts (except the electronics box and LCD cover) in jet black and natural. I'm using the stock MK3S Prusament PC Blend profile. Some of the parts were printed on the MK3S/MMU2S, no enclosure, with a textured plate by Thekkiinngg (aftermarket one on Amazon here). Some parts were perfect, some started to warp. No brim or glue stick used. Parts came off easily.
So I switched to the MK3S that I have inside an insulated enclosure with a textured build plate by BCZAMD (also aftermarket on Amazon here). Kept the enclosure temp around 45ºC and the parts are perfect. Again no brim or glue stick used. Parts stuck very well until plate cooled to around 70ºC at which point I could pry them off without issue or damage to plate or part. Zero warping or stringing.
The reason I am using aftermarket plates is because the recent Prusa official textured plates don't seem to stick as well. The BCZAMD plate is very highly textured and I like the resulting look of the parts that it produces.
When Prusament ASA was released, I was excited to try it out because I needed something that was a good ABS alternative. But the layer adhesion really sucks for ASA so when Prusament PC Blend came out, I was equally excited...more excited. I have tried printing with PC before (3DXTech PC Max) and had minimal success. I have tried filament from basically every manufacturer and have a few hundred spools in my shop. So far, I am really loving Prusament PC Blend and hope to see more colors (military colors like olive, dark grey, etc. would be superb!)
As a side note, @charles-h13 the black is jet black not galaxy black, and according to Prusa the PC Blend is not particularly hygroscopic so no need to keep bagged or dry. Also, I have not noticed any odor at all when printing.
RE: Review: Prusament PC Blend
@chocki
I print on an older textured pei sheet from Prusa. I have printed Rigid Ink also. Kores Glue Sticks works well to lower adhesion.
I use a glue stick to reduce adhesion. It works well. I order them from Amazon. It is a little expensive but after a lot of fo testings, I prefer it. Kores Glue Sticks.
Do you or anyone know of a good domestic (US) source for the Kores glue stick? I ordered a bunch of them from Amazon and they came from India and took FOREVER to arrive. I've also used the 'K' 'Disappearing Purple Glue Stick', which came with some Mika3d packs, and had good luck with it as well.
Thanks.
RE: Review: Prusament PC Blend
@jsw
I had the same issue. I ordered a bunch and it was not the same. I just order them from Prusa.
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Chuck H
3D Printer Review Blog