R3 Extruder printed in polycarbonate
Thought I would give eSun ePC a go at printing the new extruder. Very happy with results after a little (but not a lot) of profile tuning.
The biggest annoyance I found with ePC was bed adhesion. Putting down glue to aid in the part sticking didn't seem to be working all that well. So I did a (very) little experimenting and just gave the printing section of the bed a very good clean with acetone. I was surprised at the results. It took a bit of effort to remove the body, again just with acetone as the bed adhesive. This will be the way to go for me now, no more stuffing around with glue.
There is always a caveat though 🙂 This was printed using a stock standard Mk2s. The profile I've created is attached if anyone wants to try it out. Probably could do with some more tuning to get rid of a bit of stringing. Thing to note with the profile though is there is nothing really radical in the settings.
Re: R3 Extruder printed in polycarbonate
Looks superb. I may have to give this a try.
Re: R3 Extruder printed in polycarbonate
What color is it? Black? (looks brownish in the image).
Any comment regarding the functionality of the part compared to PETG?
The print quality looks excellent too.
Re: R3 Extruder printed in polycarbonate
Always difficult to get black showing as black, especially with a camera phone. It is eSun ePC black. They currently only do 3 "colours" in polycarbonate, black, white and clear.
From a functional perspective, there probably won't be too much difference with PETG in this case (extruder body). Though it would probably be less prone to deformation running the hot end and consistently high temps when compared to PETG.
I did however print the nozzle fan duct in ePC white. This was a requirement for the same reason.
Re: R3 Extruder printed in polycarbonate
Nice! I've only done my fan duct in PC. The whole extruder is impressive.
Re: R3 Extruder printed in polycarbonate
Thanks. The only reason I decided to give it a try was to fine tune the settings on something rather complicated. That, and I will be upgrading a mk2s to mk3 soon, hopefully (Prusa, get a move on :))
Re: R3 Extruder printed in polycarbonate
Yes, temperature resistance is definitely one. But what about overall rigidity and flex, especially the thin flaps?
One part that I feel like could definitely benefit from a stiffer material is the L bracket for the Y motor mount.
Re: R3 Extruder printed in polycarbonate
I've not looked at the overall structural integrity, but it is quite possible there would be benefits. I suppose a longer term project could be to reprint all parts in PC. But I already have a long list of projects both personally and for work so ... 😉
Re: R3 Extruder printed in polycarbonate
Rob, do you have the newer version you mentioned elsewhere, that reduces stringing for the Slic3r-pr ? have you tried the Alpha Versions of slic3r? if so what do you think of it?
Re: R3 Extruder printed in polycarbonate
I have some PC. I had the opposite problem. I could not get it off the bed and had to soak it and to get it off and it left a mark on the bed. I now only print PC on painters tape.
Re: R3 Extruder printed in polycarbonate
Appreciate you posting the config.
Swear this is the best looking PC print yet. I'll attempt your Acetone method this weekend.
Currently prepping my heated enclosure. The MK3S files were released today, so I'll be attempting these in PC. Good timing!
Re: R3 Extruder printed in polycarbonate
Rob, do you have the newer version you mentioned elsewhere, that reduces stringing for the Slic3r-pr ? have you tried the Alpha Versions of slic3r? if so what do you think of it?
I just compared my latest profile and I have only changed 3 settings. Reduced top solid infill speed by 50% (which I assume would not change stringing) and reduced retraction length and z lift (I have found the lower the better for these seems to reduce stringing, but of course can introduce other issues). Still using 1.41.2+.
Re: R3 Extruder printed in polycarbonate
Currently prepping my heated enclosure.
Just in case you weren't aware, my prints were all done without an enclosure. However, ambient room temp was quite high.
Re: R3 Extruder printed in polycarbonate
excellent Rob Thanks changes noted and added
Re: R3 Extruder printed in polycarbonate
Went to try your profile with my MK3 and it didn't work. Don't know if you have the ability to make a MK3 profile or not. Very eager to try your settings.
I opened the config up in notepad and it would take me all day to change all the values manually for my mk3
Re: R3 Extruder printed in polycarbonate
Yeah, still waiting on some "script kiddy" to make a gcode comparison tool. 😉
Re: R3 Extruder printed in polycarbonate
Yeah, still waiting on some "script kiddy" to make a gcode comparison tool. 😉
I bit. Just about finished it.
Only differences I'm not sure what to do with, is the MK2S has a singular jerk, acceleration, and feedrate values.
The MK3 has 2 default values for each one. What do I do here?
I'll test it and post my results and config if I get good results.
If I don't hear back on why there are 2 values for the MK3, I'll leave them as is and run the config that way.
Re: R3 Extruder printed in polycarbonate
Gave it a shot didn't work at all. Going to bump the temp to 270. I'm using polmax PC so it might need a little higher temp maybe.
Re: R3 Extruder printed in polycarbonate
Gave it a shot didn't work at all. Going to bump the temp to 270. I'm using polmax PC so it might need a little higher temp maybe.
Hi Tyler, what happens if you try the stock settings from Prusa for PolyMax PC?
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MK3 kit B7-R3 / custom FW v3.5.1 with 7x7 MBL
Slic3r PE v1.41.2
Re: R3 Extruder printed in polycarbonate
Gave it a shot didn't work at all. Going to bump the temp to 270. I'm using polmax PC so it might need a little higher temp maybe.
Hi Tyler, what happens if you try the stock settings from Prusa for PolyMax PC?
I believe that profile will work fine, if you override the Auto Fan option to on. It's defaulted to off which is weird.
Also bridging fan speed 100% is nice.
Was using somebody else's profile now though which is working fine. Using Guy.k2 settings here
https://shop.prusa3d.com/forum/how-do-i-print-this-printing-help--f63/mk3-polycarbonate-print-help-t27962.html#p130457