What filament/material for Printer Head plastic parts?  

RE: What filament/material for Printer Head plastic parts?

I used ASA for those parts, and that works extremely well. PLA and PETG are not heat-resistent enough, as you already assumed.

RE: What filament/material for Printer Head plastic parts?

@micha, thank you, I'll look into that.

It would still be nice to hear directly from Prusa to know what they use for those parts.

RE: What filament/material for Printer Head plastic parts?

As you can see here: https://www.prusa3d.com/en/product/fan-shroud-mk3s/,
they seem to use ASA, too, for parts like the fan shroud.

Most other parts, where heat is not a problem, are from PETG.

RE: What filament/material for Printer Head plastic parts?

The simple answer is, all parts are made from PETG, with the exception of the fan shroud, which is ASA (or ABS, not sure). On the Mk4, just judged by the looks of it, the shroud might be made of PCCF. 

RE: What filament/material for Printer Head plastic parts?

Posted by: @micha

As you can see here: https://www.prusa3d.com/en/product/fan-shroud-mk3s/,
they seem to use ASA, too, for parts like the fan shroud.

That link goes to a 404 error.

Most other parts, where heat is not a problem, are from PETG.

RE: What filament/material for Printer Head plastic parts?

OK, we have one fellow saying PETG is not heat resistant enough and another saying PETG is used almost everywhere except for the fan shroud.

My question was about what's used near the hot end, which would need to be heat resistant.
So PETG or ASA?

RE: What filament/material for Printer Head plastic parts?

https://www.prusa3d.com/en/product/fan-shroud-mk3s/

Yeah, I spoiled the link because of that comma in the original post. Sorry.

FYI, here you find the complete range of plastic parts: https://www.prusa3d.com/en/category/mk3-s-plastic-parts/

RE:

My question was about what's used near the hot end, which would need to be heat resistant.

So PETG or ASA?

To put this to rest: From Prusa's own https://www.printables.com/model/57217-i3-mk3s-printable-parts

PrusaSlicer's default PETG 0.2mm presets.

For fan-shroud part, we recommend Prusament ASA / PC-Blend with default settings and 5mm brim if necessary.

Now, whether printing EVERYTHING from PETG is actually a good idea if you intend to print a lot of stuff that requires higher temps is a different issue...

On two Mk3S's I've had to replace the PINDA holder and the heatbed connector cover after printing a bunch of ASA and/or PC-CF. I reprinted both parts with PC-CF, and I now do this for all printers. (The Mk4 obviously doesn't need a PINDA holder).

...and even the fan shroud can be printed from PETG in emergency.  It will last long enough for you to order in higher temperature filament and print a permanent replacement.

I now use BioPro from 3Dtomorrow for the fan shroud on my Mk3 and I havent melted one yet.

Cheerio,

RE:

I've printed all materials up to PC-Blend on my Mk3s inside of my BROR enclosure. Other than my fan shroud I did not see any part suffering. The fan shroud I reprinted in PC-Blend which settled that once and for all as well. 

In the end it depends of course what temperatures you get inside of the enclosure. I guess I never get more than 45°C. 

PS: I hate it when producers supply us with no safety data sheet. I couldn't find any information on what's even the main component of that BioPro filament either. Is it one of those PLAs with technically high temperature resistance, or is it something entirely different?

I couldn't find any information on what's even the main component of that BioPro filament either. Is it one of those PLAs with technically high temperature resistance, or is it something entirely different?

They are very cagey about it, all they publish is:  https://3dtomorrow.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/3DTomorrow-BioPro-TDS.pdf

I picked up a sample at TCT3Sixty, bought a spool, bought three more spools, and a few moments ago when I dropped into the site to get the url above - I ordered some more.

I keep it for light engineering parts and things for outdoor use, it's resistant to UV light but I usually paint it in any case.  It's almost as easy to print as PLA and tougher but not quite as good for print-in-place mechanisms as it needs more tolerance - it really feels like a cross between PETG and ABS without the pong.  It's not as resistant to chemical attack as PETG, a part used in a marine engine-room scavenge pump showed erosion but I've no idea what caused it, those pumps handle everything.

Cheerio,

RE: What filament/material for Printer Head plastic parts?

If it were some fancy PLA (like those heat stable variants), I'd be very concerned regarding creep. No matter what kind of PLA its usually pretty bad at creep. However, their are other "bio"-polymers around. For example Durabio from Verbatim. That is a polcyarbonate (itself a rather diverse group) but not based on bisphenol-A. I doubt it is that though, given how ridiculously expensive Durabio is and probably patented so there is probably just one supplier of granulate. 

I get it that companies guard the detailed composition but if they are not even giving us an SDS, which should be good practice in any case, I am not ready to support that with my money. 

RE: What filament/material for Printer Head plastic parts?

There are other biopolymers. PHA for example is quite interesting as it is one of the few that are actually halfway compostable (unlike PLA which needs harsh industrial composting conditions). Seems to have also interessting features like UV resistence and being quite thermostable. It does seem to be an absolute nightmare regarding warping though, like unmodified PET. 

RE: What filament/material for Printer Head plastic parts?

Posted by: @fuchsr

My question was about what's used near the hot end, which would need to be heat resistant.

So PETG or ASA?

To put this to rest: From Prusa's own https://www.printables.com/model/57217-i3-mk3s-printable-parts

PrusaSlicer's default PETG 0.2mm presets.

For fan-shroud part, we recommend Prusament ASA / PC-Blend with default settings and 5mm brim if necessary.

Now, whether printing EVERYTHING from PETG is actually a good idea if you intend to print a lot of stuff that requires higher temps is a different issue...

On two Mk3S's I've had to replace the PINDA holder and the heatbed connector cover after printing a bunch of ASA and/or PC-CF. I reprinted both parts with PC-CF, and I now do this for all printers. (The Mk4 obviously doesn't need a PINDA holder).

 

 

I'm going to back fucher here.  When I upgraded my Mk2 to Mk2.5s the upgrade came with a small roll of Prusament PETG, the first step in the upgrade was to print out all the new extruder parts.  The Extruder used by the Mk2s.5s is the same as used by the Mk3/s/s+.  As other have said the fan shroud should be a higher temp plastic, the upgrade kit came with one printed out of ABS, but the rest was PETG.

Cheers

-Bob