Extruder for High temperature Plastic?

Can you buy an extruder for high temperature plastic or is there any plans for one?

Have anyone here any experience and success with it?

I would like to 3D print molds that I can inject plastic into.
PLA molds will just melt. If necessary I'm sure the Development lab I'm using will fund it, since they just invested in a small quality used injectionmolding machine.

Maybe some extruders for copper?

... I've done some testing with melting metal wires, but this is a pretty special toolhead.

There are some high-temp plastics like PEEK or ceramic or metall filled filaments which will withstand higher temps.

But the easiest way would be printing with normal plastic+head ... then remold it with ceramic slurry ... and then remold it again with metal ...

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Viktor
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The E3D v6 can probably get to about 600 C if you play things right and swap out the thermistor, since that's when the aluminum heater block melts.

Thanks for your answers.

I got a quick question is there any high temperature flexible filament used in 3D printing now?

... the material with the actually highest temp seems to be PEEK ...

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Viktor
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Yes, the only problem with PEEK is warp. It does not want to stay in shape, while printing.

So getting it printed right will need an enclosure with temp control.

Lykle

I guess polycarbonate is the highest temp of the 'common' filaments? Haven't tried it yet.

the 3d printed molds that have been made before were made of the polyjet material, not FDM, this is a big difference. unless you are doing some kind of liquid silicon molding in that unit, an FDM printed mold will probably not last in an injection molding machine. I will spare the details in full, but on the injection molding side, with the clamping pressures(1 ton per square inch), injection pressures(1X,XXXpsi), and plastic temperature, i honestly think the mold would explode. If not explode, it would be a solid block of what ever you printed + what ever you injected. On the 3d printed side, z axis layer lines would make the part have unintended undercuts and probably not eject,l that is if the part does not completely fuse/weld it self to the mold. if all those factors aside, it will probably be a 1 time use mold cavity.
If you are deadset on using an FDM printed mold, please be careful. A better option is to make an epoxy casting of the mold cavity and use those. An FDM mold would require a lot of post processing to be usable (all ridges/layer lines and undercuts removed, super smooth surface), and an epoxy mold of the mold would save the master mold, Epoxy or thermoset resin, can handle the temperatures involved with injection molding , as it does not remelt, and is a much more suitable option for making a mold,
Best case scenario is making one out of aluminium, Your development lab seems to have some kind of funding, so if they have a CNC then you should use that and make aluminium molds
aluminium mold would be an actual usable option as a prototype mold.

The other big problem, aside from all the other things ive mentioned , is actually using the mold. assuming you can get more than one shot from your FDM mold cavity, the cycle times involved with 3d printed molds are in the 30min- to 1 hour range. Plastic retains heat 30 times more than metal. Before the part can be ejected from the mold, it needs to cool to a state where , it can be ejected. Other wise the part will be either destroyed upon ejection, or it will be warped/distorted and/or continue to warp days down the line.

This is all assuming you have a real injection mold already, because you will only be making a mold cavity.

[www.instructables.com]
This is a good guide for home made mold options

[www.javelin-tech.com]
This is a company that does 3d printed Injection molds near me. Their facility is nice and I have seen some of their mold cavities.

[www.protolabs.com]
This is a blog talking about the pro/con of 3d printed mold cavities. They are reffering to the polyjet type printed mold, out of their digitalABS (not Acrylonitrile butadiene styrene )

Thanks for your answers.

I am making some rollers and will injection melted TPU filament into the mold and create flexible rollers. I tried Casting one with Resin just too see if the fit was good. Turned out to be perfect. See the picture here [drive.google.com]


I have found out that a CNC mill will be available later and I'll use this for making the mold in aluminum.

... look at this "handy incection-moulder" - [www.orbi-tech.de]

I'll get one for testing the next days, but can't show images for NDA's

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Viktor
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#VDX

I've used one similar also a handheld injection handgun. Injection at 6 bar airpressure.

This was the result with an ABS Brick:

[drive.google.com]

[drive.google.com]

[drive.google.com]

Have in mind all the scratches are from storage in my drawer so some things has scratched it. It was clean like the mold at first

You'll make some fine smaller parts with that injection gun, enjoy.

Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 02/13/2017 10:37AM by dynamitetalks.

You can extrude high temperature filament with an allmetal extruder, that is not a problem. Also you can get not very expensive Ultem filament. However you will not have success only with these because printing with high temperature filaments require a very hot printing surface and I don´t know how to get there. I know that even at 90 ºC doesn´t work ( 300 to know this was the price).

I also look for an answer to this question.

Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 02/21/2017 03:40AM by sliceheart.

... some years ago I've tested with preheating and "additive manufacturing" with metal and ceramic materials for microsensors.

The highest temperatures for "preheating" the surfaces was around 500°C with metal and up to 1100°C with ceramic ... the "printing" temperature was up to 900°C with metal (pure gold melts at around 800°C) and up to 2000°C with ceramic.

But this was a more "scientific based feasibility test", so potentially usefull, but not for the common user or developer without proper background.

I have most (if not all) of the needed parts at home, but won't discuss this here, because of an actual project

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Viktor
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Aufruf zum Projekt "Müll-freie Meere" - [reprap.org] -- Deutsche Facebook-Gruppe - [www.facebook.com]

Call for the project "garbage-free seas" - [reprap.org]

It's probably better to look at Formlabs SLA printer, since it is cross linked and has a very smooth surface.

Is there an open source effort for sla?

... search for DLP-printers - there were several projects with blogs and OS ...

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Viktor
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Aufruf zum Projekt "Müll-freie Meere" - [reprap.org] -- Deutsche Facebook-Gruppe - [www.facebook.com]

Call for the project "garbage-free seas" - [reprap.org]