"Bridge" Filament

Hi all, I received an order from 3DFilaPrint today and with it was a free 10m sample of a Nylon Filament called "Bridge".
Just curious if anyone else had come across this material yet and tried it ?

3DFilaPrint Bridge Info

Hi KevM,

have a look at my post here - Some notes on Bridge

Steve

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Steve - RS Ormerod - 7th Feb 2014
"... the clouds looked as if they had heard about snow and were considering the idea." - (Terry Prachett, The Light Fantastic)

Thanks for that Steve, I'll have a little play with it at some point too, seems it's no more difficult to work with than ABS, just the quality is a little off ?

Hi KevM,

Well my sample was not dimensionally very good. Taulman have indicated that the process of manufacture involves some post-extrusion stretching that they are still working on to get best consistency. I have another sample on its way so will be able to do some more testing. I would suggest that you take the trouble to run a micrometer over your sample (I do about 50 samples in 10 Metres) and also try to rotate the measurements so that your answer reflects any ovality; calculate an average and use that for your filament diameter setting in slic3r.
If you want to be a little more accurate still then raise Z to the top, set your hot end temperature and extrude some filament v-e-r-y slowly, letting it fall under its own weight. (Do a fast retract of 50mm at the end so that you don't clog the hot end) turn off and go measure the result. It's almost guaranteed that it will mic up bigger than the 0.5 (nominal) nozzle as there is often some expansion due to the pressure relief once out of the nozzle. On PLA I get 0.62mm for example. Enter this as the nozzle diameter in slic3r too, and you'll get a much more accurate extrusion. (I also use this value as the wall thickness for any single wall test pieces, that way the printer doesn't have to move fast to stretch it or slow to squash it, giving optimum quality I believe).
Temperatures are not too bad being somewhere between PLA and ABS so eminently achievable. I used Gorilla glue (its a woodworking PVA) neat on the bed glass. The adhesion is so good one of my next experiments is to try thinning the glue with water so that I can flood the glass easier (using a credit-card squeegee a tthe moment). Surface has lasted for three sets of prints without renewal, but when the time comes the glue re-hydrates well in hot water and then peels off like a rubber sheet.

Let us know how you get on.

Steve

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Steve - RS Ormerod - 7th Feb 2014
"... the clouds looked as if they had heard about snow and were considering the idea." - (Terry Prachett, The Light Fantastic)

Quote
Polymath
... it will mic up bigger than the 0.5 (nominal) nozzle as there is often some expansion due to the pressure relief once out of the nozzle. On PLA I get 0.62mm for example. Enter this as the nozzle diameter in slic3r too, and you'll get a much more accurate extrusion. (I also use this value as the wall thickness for any single wall test pieces, that way the printer doesn't have to move fast to stretch it or slow to squash it, giving optimum quality I believe)...

Hi Steve

I'm a bit confused about whats' the best setup in slic3r, esp. the nozzle diameter vs the real dimension of the extruded material - your "I also use this value as the wall thickness for any single wall test pieces", from your example, how would your your setup then be in slic3r/print settings/advanced/"Default extrusion width" and "Perimeters"?

Erik

Hi Erik,

Quote
Ormerod168
how would your your setup then be in slic3r/print settings/advanced/"Default extrusion width" and "Perimeters"?

Cowardice and cheating probably! I'll attach the ini files that I use for the test cubes. I leave the default width settings all at slic3r discretion except for first layer at 150%. By using the settings at 1 perimiter and the nozzle width at its true extrusion then the printed shell open box emerges with a wall thickness exactly that (in my case 0.62). I'll have to brave it soon and see what happpens if I set the wall thickness down (e.g. to 0.5) as I guess the printer then has to move faster to stretch the filament out (not sure?). Thicker seems more obvious, it pumps more filament and moved slower to push more out at every point.

You'll spot a 'con trick' I am trying on the printer. I have set the return after retraction (retract restart extra) to -0.075, yup, a minus figure. (i.e. return just less than 0.1 mm short of what it withdrew). I am hoping that it will further reduce that annoying blob when it pauses at the end of each layer. I have tried using 'spiral vase' on this empty cube but it doesn't run the perimiter continuously, it runs the Y sides at one speed and the X walls 3 times faster, so they end up different thicknesses (but curiously with an overall average that is correct) and still stops and blobs at the start corner.

Setting the 'random' start point doesn't work either, it always starts at the same corner. Speed settings are pretty basic, and the top layers = 0, bottom layers =2, no fill is what actually makes the box. I've incuded a tiny brim (0.25mm) as I found that adhesion to Polyimide tape wasn't enought to prevent some corner curling and I didn't want to crank the bed any hotter. Photo is of most recent box (blue) and a slightly earlier one (white), I seem to have a few of these....

Hope this helps
Steve