Taulman Alloy 910

So I finally got around to testing this. Been on the list for a bit @Printed Solid got it here a while back, I have just been distracted.

Here are my initial impressions/notes. Nothing fancy just did a quick Deprime Test object for reference.

Overall it prints well (even with the Volcano adapter) at 245 on the extruder and 45 on the bed. I can almost certainly go a lot faster on the print speeds and likely tune the temperatures a bit as well.

Mine seemed a bit 'wet' right out of the bag, probably some time with desiccant will help that, but regardless it did not affect the printability of the filament (as expected with wet filament).
It likely did impact the visual aspects, but this was a print test I did not care ...

It has a bit of ooze (like NijaFlex or SemiFlex) so I'd say turn off retraction (or minimize it) and allow for it to overshoot a bit when extruding.

The model when printed (and cooled) is quite strong and stiff. Much stiffer than other nylon filaments I have used and a lot stronger than what I expected as well.

 

P.S. for whatever reason it also looked like I was getting a touch of over extrusion with that. I will probably dial down the rate by 5% next time I try it. It was not terribly over, but a bit. Not sure why that would be other than the different material properties are affecting the extruder enough to be noticeable.

 

Yes, that's another aspect of calibration.
The need to adjust extrusion ratio is due to die swell. Die swell is due to compressibility of the different polymers when melted. Thermoplastics are viscoelastic materials; you can stretch and compress them when they are melted. Molten PLA does not compress much (one of the many things that make it easy to print with) so you typically use a ratio of around 1 and even above one for some of the filled materials. I believe the advised ratio for ABS is .92. For XT, I use .97.
Not sure where nylon is in general or 910 in specific as I haven't printed anything with it requiring close tolerances.

 

As a S.W.A.G. from what I did print I would say low to mid-90 percents. Very close to ABS in that regard.
Oh, speaking of comparison to ABS, did I mention warp and curl?

Nope, because there ain't any.
Big win there. I did nothing to control the temperature in and around the bed either.
Even Bridge did a small (but noticable) amount of warp if you weren't careful, this... not even a tiny bit.

If I need something stronger than PLA, this is going to be what I grab next.

 

I have included them both. It has been a long time since I printed bridge, but those were the settings I used at the time. It worked OK.
I was still using Repetier host at the time so I imported all of those settings into Simplify. This profile matches what I was using in Repetier for bridge. The Alloy 910 is current and tested in Simplify those worked perfectly for me.

 

In fact, alloy 91o is now my current favorite. If I need something beyond PLA, that is the first thing I grab.

Bridge was decent, but tended to be a little bot more flexible for smaller parts than I needed most of the time.

 

P.S. don't just default to using my profiles without checking the nozzle sizes. Unless you are using a Volcano kit with the 0.8 nozzle, then carry on .

 

No and I have handled a lot of it.
Check the MSDS and see, there may be something you are allergic to (linked for your convenience).

https://devel.lulzbot.com/filament/MSDS/taulman/msds_taulman_alloy_910.pdf

 

It is Nylon and some folks do have allergies to various forms of it..
So hopefully that is all it is and you can just use gloves or wash up.

 

Okay, so my last four prints with this filament have all warped badly enough to make the parts unusable. So much for an unwarpable filament. Not as much as ABS but still significant. Last attempt was even with a raft and it still warped. Last thing I am going to try is lower the bottom layers and perimeters and increase infill, was printing .25 mm layer, 3 perimeters, 4 bottom and 6 top layers, 20% infill. Going to try .25 mm layers, 2 perimeters 2 bottom and 3 top layers with 30% infill to see if that helps the corners stay down. It seems like anything big and rectangular has issues and round doesn't.

I am going to try @mark tomlinson's profile to see if that makes a difference. Likely will still need to print on a raft to make sure it stays down.

One more thing I noticed, is that Taulman seems to be all over the place with filament diameter. I have two rolls and one averages 1.59 mm and the other about 1.68 mm diameter, that's pretty bad for a company on the leading edge of nylon filaments. I have also read on a lot of other forums that there is inconsistency with their 3 mm filament also, with some getting filament as large as 3.15 mm. So I don't believe I am an isolated case. One thing that is good, the parts, once printed are stronger than any other filament I have and are nearly impossible, short of cutting or melting, to destroy.

 

You should contact Taulman (or whoever you bought the filament from) and see about a replacement. Mine have not been nearly that far out and it might help explain some of the differences you are seeing. The 1.68 is at the edge (below really) of what I would call tolerable. Mine have been 1.72-1.74mm at worst case.

 

Lowering the number of perimeters and bottom layers solved the warping problem, as well as printing on a Raft, but even with just 50% raft infill Nylon really likes to stick to itself, wasn't easy pulling it off, but it was clean when it finally gave way. I will likely contact taulman tomorrow about a replacement roll.