Thanks! Engineering materials are largely under-reviewed, looking forward to having a full comparison of all possible permutations of PC, CF, GF, PA6/12, ASA/PETG 😂 I used PA12/CF in the past and it has been great, but it's too elastic. Would love to find a stiffer material, yet not brittle and high temperatures / UV stable.
I spent quite some time comparing technical datasheet of PC-ABS and Polymax PC by Polymaker. They seem almost identical in regard to stiffness, strength (impact and tensile), temperature resistance. I really wonder why choosing one over the other. Thej in their Discord I got a reply: PC-ABS can be more easily coated and painted, it's meant mostly for car parts.
If the suggested video is ever going to happen, I suggest printing a series of bars with increasing length, to check which one warps first at 65C: it could be that the short impact test samples stay flat, but once the length is increased by 20, 40, 60, 80% either PolyMax PC or PC-ABS warp. No idea which one will warp first, but I would say PC-ABS, which is not even a "consumer" material, but industrial with the requirement of a heated chamber.
My eyes came out on stalks when watching the load impact test. If the layer adhesion test was slightly better, I'd be placing an order right now. The layer adhesion, load imapct & temperature deformation tests are my favourites
I have good success on my SV-06 and wrapping my enclosure in a blanket and letting it heat soak for a good 45 minutes at least. That way the interior temp gets to around 55c, maybe slightly higher (ambient temp 21c). I also put a false ceiling made from insulated reflective bubble wrap in my enclosure to minimise the volume I have to heat and put the spool inside the chamber on a seperate holder, not the usual holder that comes with the printer. Before that I struggled to get above 45c.
Still my favorite printing channel! I appreciate all the work you put into these tests. They have been very helpful when i go to select filament for different projects.
DO not forget if you want the strongess part possible you can increase the minimum layer time so you can deactivate part cooling but it can be quite long to print
Thank you for testing these so we don't have to! Re: your comments about layer adhesion and temperature, please be aware that printing faster generally reduces the layer adhesion strength. If you want to run a test "in spec", then you should ideally try using both temperature AND print speed from the manufacturer. THEN, after you have that baseline, you can have a look at the impact of today's high speed printing on the material properties advertised by the producer. Thanks, again.
Great review as always I have some filament, from Filament PM, but I have newer come to try it out just jet. Thanks for sharing your expirences and messuments of the print you have made yourself 🙂
Interesting filament and great data. Thank you so much. As a side note it is possible to drive the Qidi up to 70C chamber temp within the gcode. The printer.cfg actually has the limit as being 70C. It's the on-screen UI that limits it ro 65. It is unknown though how well the printer handles 70C, but if you wamt to push the limits that is an option
Good to know. I worry about the electronic on that temp, my version don't have that small fan on extruder cover (you can buy it separately from Qidi website)
@MyTechFun I bought that for my X-Plus 3. The part cooling ducts are also redesigned on those ones. It fixed the part cooling issues that would sometimes occur on the left side of prints. For the X-Max 3 though I'd heard that if you ask Qidi Support nicely that they'll send you the new covers with those fans for free. Can't hurt to at least ask them.
Yeah, had to print at 300C with 120C bed temperature on my Bambu X1C to get decent layer adhesion with Protopasta PC-ABS. It permanently marked my build plate (Bambu Engineering Plate).
I print PACF, CoPA, PCABS, PCCF, and even PP with no enclosure, textured PEI plate or Garolite and Magigoo. Don't be afraid to try these kinds of 'Engineering Materials". Take your time with the slicer settings, use some common sense, start with small parts, and print slow. You'll be amazed at what you can print without a heated chamber or enclosure.
Hello Dr. Gaspar, in the future videos, could you test layer adhesion for pla filament with 45-50 C chamber temperature and 210 C nozzle temperature, maybe if you reduce the printing speed severely, cooling from the fan can be enough, also reducing or disabling the retractions will be necessary to prevent heat creep in the nozzle probably. ( there will be a risk of clogging the heatbreak.) I am curious how well the layer adhesion can be if the ambient temperature is close to the polymers glass transition temperature, but I can't test it myself. Thank you.
TearTime (UP2+, UPMini ..) use ABS+PC as a secret recipe from day1, they call it ABS but the secret of their ABS and why it works much better than regular ABS and why it is printed at 270C is high % of PC in the mix. Printing on the high temp side (270C) works great. Much better support separation than pure ABS. Main difference from regular ABS that I noticed are better bridges and better / easier support separation
This was quiet good testing, but they say that for the best results you should "bake" it at 100 celsius for 2 hours after printing. That would be nice to see
Thank you for this video. I'm happy you showed the print next to your hex wrench to show that It was straight and not warped. I am struggling with ASA and it seems to warp (especially with prints that much of the build plate (BL X1C). Do you have warping issues with ASA also?
No, ASA is easier for printing compared to ABS. Looks like it depend a lot from the ASA type. By X1C is still in the box, so I don't have experience with this printer so far (only with P1P, but thats not for ASA)
Try slowing down the printing speed (i.e. limiting flow to 5mm3/s) and preheating the chamber keeping the bed at maximum temperature for 15-30 mins before starting the print
Another great evaluation. Which filament would you recommend for small components (< 10mm) that will last a long time, and will remain rigid without bending or creeping? Have been looking at PC, or perhaps PC-CF.
Isn’t printing the objects one by one better for layer adhesion than printing them all by layer? I intuitively use printing “by object” instead of “by layer” in bambu studio when I need better layer adhesion. It would be interesting to compare the two methods in every tyoe on material.
Ever more difficult torture filaments, but everyone ignores simple cheap and relatively easy HIPS? Consider most of the print weakness is not due to even fundamental material properties but due to faults introduced by 3D printing process, such as layer adhesion, voids, internal stress, inconsistencies and stress risers etc. HIPS is not the highest performance material but it looks very attractive with its matte surface and it bonds fairly well. It's not too troublesome in heat, in UV sunlight, etc, and can be chemically welded and smoothed. It can emit hazardous fumes but it's not prone to emitting nearly as much uncured monomer as ABS.
HIPS is great material and can be smoothed with limonene, you can't vapour smooth it though as limonene doesn't vapourise, although there could be a way to mist it I haven't tried personally. Dipping it or lightly brushing it works but can melt the surface too much so you have to find that fine line between smoothing and melting your print. It goes kind of tacky and takes a while to harden again. I only tried this a couple of times a few years ago, might revisit it and see if I can improve on it, or perhaps a mix of acetone and limonene might work?
Hips is a great support material for ABS/ASA since it has similar temperatures and you can disolve it with limonene afterwards. As an actual printing material, I'd rather just use ASA
@@user-nx1fp6fv6r If you are referring to the temperature test starting at 8:48 , the one furthest to the left seems to be Extrudr Flex Hard CF. Going from left to right should be Flex Hard CF, Flex Hard, Flex Medium and Flex Semisoft Maybe @MyTechFun can confirm. I've been looking forward to the review of these 4 TPU filaments!
15:14 contact QIDI, since new versions DO use inductive probe and have a large magnet sheet instead of separate magnets to hold the build plate (so it is much more secure). If you contact them they will send you the upgrade parts for free (they have done so for many people that I saw). I have the latest version of the printer and it's pretty impressive for the price.
@@MyTechFun That is quite disappointing honestly. I know a lot of normal/private people (not influencers) had a pretty good experience with QIDI customer service, so this was unexpected. My printer came with a hole in one of the plastic panels (frame was ok, everything prints fine, I just have a hole around a screw). The customer service offered me a 100 EUR refund, and since everything works fine and I can just tape it (or print a plug), I took the refund. This printer for 799 EUR is a really good deal in my opinion.
I assume this is because his machine is free and the upgrade kit comes free to those who purchase the machine. I think this is understandable.@@MiChAeLoKGB
8:26 When the printed piece scrapes along the hammer quite a lot of energy goes into that friction and bending that unbroken piece, so the end result is completely invalid.
I'm wondering if the more exotic filaments are actually worth it, barring some niche use cases. They seem to be significantly more expensive to buy, require a more expensive / complex setup to print whilst offering not much more than standard filaments. But that said I'm still glad you did the tests though; very informative! Also (and I know I'm being pedantic here) but the singular for "dice" is pronounced "die" and is that cracking or _creaking_ noises?
Ironically ABS is one of the absolute easiest plastics for me to print, But i cant print it because of warping. PETG is the hardest filament I have ever printed, But I can and do print it a lot, cos it has no warping... I find that kinda funny cos "Difficulty" is guaged differently from person to person... Dont mind me though.
Check the playback resolution (sometimes it reduces if internet slows down). Check it on bigger screen too. Or you can always download the excel and zoom in (link in description)
@@MyTechFun max res - it's just much too small even on my 65" QD OLED or on my 14" laptop. Please make the text larger for us glasses wearers (presumably much of your audience)
You know you can raise the chamber temp by just changing the value in your printers config file, right? Just add aome cooling to your MCU and electronics so they dont overheat so do it at your own risk
Thanks! Engineering materials are largely under-reviewed, looking forward to having a full comparison of all possible permutations of PC, CF, GF, PA6/12, ASA/PETG 😂
I used PA12/CF in the past and it has been great, but it's too elastic. Would love to find a stiffer material, yet not brittle and high temperatures / UV stable.
Have you tried ASA-CF? It's the only material i know with a reasonable price and these characteristics, PVDF or PPS are way more expensive.
@@paolobernardoni4663 I'll have to try!
I appreciate your style of filament testing, especially on these less common materials. Thank you.
I spent quite some time comparing technical datasheet of PC-ABS and Polymax PC by Polymaker.
They seem almost identical in regard to stiffness, strength (impact and tensile), temperature resistance.
I really wonder why choosing one over the other.
Thej in their Discord I got a reply: PC-ABS can be more easily coated and painted, it's meant mostly for car parts.
Oh, this is very useful, thanks for the info!
@@MyTechFuna 1 to 1 comparison video could be useful, especially since now you have the Xmax3 to make chamber temp identical
If the suggested video is ever going to happen, I suggest printing a series of bars with increasing length, to check which one warps first at 65C: it could be that the short impact test samples stay flat, but once the length is increased by 20, 40, 60, 80% either PolyMax PC or PC-ABS warp. No idea which one will warp first, but I would say PC-ABS, which is not even a "consumer" material, but industrial with the requirement of a heated chamber.
My eyes came out on stalks when watching the load impact test. If the layer adhesion test was slightly better, I'd be placing an order right now. The layer adhesion, load imapct & temperature deformation tests are my favourites
I've been able to print PC-ABS without a heated chamber...but it's quite challenging - definitely wants to warp like crazy!
I have good success on my SV-06 and wrapping my enclosure in a blanket and letting it heat soak for a good 45 minutes at least. That way the interior temp gets to around 55c, maybe slightly higher (ambient temp 21c). I also put a false ceiling made from insulated reflective bubble wrap in my enclosure to minimise the volume I have to heat and put the spool inside the chamber on a seperate holder, not the usual holder that comes with the printer. Before that I struggled to get above 45c.
Still my favorite printing channel! I appreciate all the work you put into these tests. They have been very helpful when i go to select filament for different projects.
Thanks, I really appreciate the time and effort you put into your videos.
Glad you like them! This really motivates me to continue creating in this direction too.
DO not forget if you want the strongess part possible you can increase the minimum layer time so you can deactivate part cooling
but it can be quite long to print
I love the rigorous scientific testing, well done.
Thank you for testing these so we don't have to! Re: your comments about layer adhesion and temperature, please be aware that printing faster generally reduces the layer adhesion strength. If you want to run a test "in spec", then you should ideally try using both temperature AND print speed from the manufacturer. THEN, after you have that baseline, you can have a look at the impact of today's high speed printing on the material properties advertised by the producer. Thanks, again.
Great review as always
I have some filament, from Filament PM, but I have newer come to try it out just jet.
Thanks for sharing your expirences and messuments of the print you have made yourself 🙂
Interesting filament and great data. Thank you so much.
As a side note it is possible to drive the Qidi up to 70C chamber temp within the gcode. The printer.cfg actually has the limit as being 70C. It's the on-screen UI that limits it ro 65. It is unknown though how well the printer handles 70C, but if you wamt to push the limits that is an option
Good to know. I worry about the electronic on that temp, my version don't have that small fan on extruder cover (you can buy it separately from Qidi website)
@MyTechFun I bought that for my X-Plus 3. The part cooling ducts are also redesigned on those ones. It fixed the part cooling issues that would sometimes occur on the left side of prints. For the X-Max 3 though I'd heard that if you ask Qidi Support nicely that they'll send you the new covers with those fans for free. Can't hurt to at least ask them.
You videos are so great and very helpful
Please include the Filiment profile for us qidi owners. Awesome video!!
This is amazing info thanks for the comprehensive testing
Yeah, had to print at 300C with 120C bed temperature on my Bambu X1C to get decent layer adhesion with Protopasta PC-ABS. It permanently marked my build plate (Bambu Engineering Plate).
I print PACF, CoPA, PCABS, PCCF, and even PP with no enclosure, textured PEI plate or Garolite and Magigoo. Don't be afraid to try these kinds of 'Engineering Materials". Take your time with the slicer settings, use some common sense, start with small parts, and print slow. You'll be amazed at what you can print without a heated chamber or enclosure.
Can you make a video comparing ePA-CF and ePAHT-CF from eSun ?
Hello Dr. Gaspar, in the future videos, could you test layer adhesion for pla filament with 45-50 C chamber temperature and 210 C nozzle temperature, maybe if you reduce the printing speed severely, cooling from the fan can be enough, also reducing or disabling the retractions will be necessary to prevent heat creep in the nozzle probably. ( there will be a risk of clogging the heatbreak.)
I am curious how well the layer adhesion can be if the ambient temperature is close to the polymers glass transition temperature, but I can't test it myself. Thank you.
👍 Kool research thanks for sharing.
TearTime (UP2+, UPMini ..) use ABS+PC as a secret recipe from day1, they call it ABS but the secret of their ABS and why it works much better than regular ABS and why it is printed at 270C is high % of PC in the mix. Printing on the high temp side (270C) works great. Much better support separation than pure ABS. Main difference from regular ABS that I noticed are better bridges and better / easier support separation
I bought the xplus3 for the purpose of high strength materials. Today started printing and it is great!
The xplus3 doesn't have the bltouch!
No BL Touch? Thats new, and big improvement. So they are continuously improving their printers. Nice.
@@MyTechFunQidi has a new probe for x-max 3 too, on their website - a proximity probe instead of bltouch.
@@MyTechFunThey told me that xplus3 from beginning didn't have the Bltouch
Thanks
Thank you! I am glad that you find the video useful.
This was quiet good testing, but they say that for the best results you should "bake" it at 100 celsius for 2 hours after printing. That would be nice to see
Thank you for this video. I'm happy you showed the print next to your hex wrench to show that It was straight and not warped.
I am struggling with ASA and it seems to warp (especially with prints that much of the build plate (BL X1C). Do you have warping issues with ASA also?
No, ASA is easier for printing compared to ABS. Looks like it depend a lot from the ASA type. By X1C is still in the box, so I don't have experience with this printer so far (only with P1P, but thats not for ASA)
@@MyTechFunThank you! I am using Sunlu ASA. Ok, I will try new calibrations and try again. 🙏
Try slowing down the printing speed (i.e. limiting flow to 5mm3/s) and preheating the chamber keeping the bed at maximum temperature for 15-30 mins before starting the print
@@PaoloBernardoni Thanks. Will try!
Another great evaluation. Which filament would you recommend for small components (< 10mm) that will last a long time, and will remain rigid without bending or creeping? Have been looking at PC, or perhaps PC-CF.
I've been battling with PM PC-ABS, jnust can't get it printed properly on K1 Max
hi, thank you for this very good review. do you have a document with à summary of résults of all materials you have tested please ?
Yes he talks about it at the end of every video... it's for his Paytrion's (sp?)
Isn’t printing the objects one by one better for layer adhesion than printing them all by layer? I intuitively use printing “by object” instead of “by layer” in bambu studio when I need better layer adhesion. It would be interesting to compare the two methods in every tyoe on material.
Is this the only PC-ABS you tested? since it's expensive and there are cheaper ones, it could be interesting to compare. For example Fiberlogy PC/ABS!
Ever more difficult torture filaments, but everyone ignores simple cheap and relatively easy HIPS? Consider most of the print weakness is not due to even fundamental material properties but due to faults introduced by 3D printing process, such as layer adhesion, voids, internal stress, inconsistencies and stress risers etc.
HIPS is not the highest performance material but it looks very attractive with its matte surface and it bonds fairly well. It's not too troublesome in heat, in UV sunlight, etc, and can be chemically welded and smoothed. It can emit hazardous fumes but it's not prone to emitting nearly as much uncured monomer as ABS.
HIPS is great material and can be smoothed with limonene, you can't vapour smooth it though as limonene doesn't vapourise, although there could be a way to mist it I haven't tried personally. Dipping it or lightly brushing it works but can melt the surface too much so you have to find that fine line between smoothing and melting your print. It goes kind of tacky and takes a while to harden again. I only tried this a couple of times a few years ago, might revisit it and see if I can improve on it, or perhaps a mix of acetone and limonene might work?
Hips is a great support material for ABS/ASA since it has similar temperatures and you can disolve it with limonene afterwards.
As an actual printing material, I'd rather just use ASA
@@caramelzappa why actually. What are you getting out of ASA that you're not getting out of HIPS?
Besides ASA costs actual money.
@SianaGearz Most color choice and availability from more manufacturers. But also, hard to use hips as a dissolvable support if you're print is in hips
@@caramelzappa have you considered using ABS as dissolvable support for HIPS using acetone?
What was that material in the heat test that didnt deform? I want to print with that stuff.
No deform during annealing? That was PC blend CF by prusament
@@MyTechFun awesome thank you. Ive been looking for that.
@@user-nx1fp6fv6r If you are referring to the temperature test starting at 8:48 , the one furthest to the left seems to be Extrudr Flex Hard CF.
Going from left to right should be Flex Hard CF, Flex Hard, Flex Medium and Flex Semisoft
Maybe @MyTechFun can confirm. I've been looking forward to the review of these 4 TPU filaments!
@@lukas_berger thank you. Ill check them out. I need prints with super high heat resistance
@@user-nx1fp6fv6r Just keep in mind they're all TPU, so varying degrees of flexible.
15:14 contact QIDI, since new versions DO use inductive probe and have a large magnet sheet instead of separate magnets to hold the build plate (so it is much more secure).
If you contact them they will send you the upgrade parts for free (they have done so for many people that I saw).
I have the latest version of the printer and it's pretty impressive for the price.
I tried (as a private person, not influencer) I didn't got the parts for free.
@@MyTechFun That is quite disappointing honestly. I know a lot of normal/private people (not influencers) had a pretty good experience with QIDI customer service, so this was unexpected.
My printer came with a hole in one of the plastic panels (frame was ok, everything prints fine, I just have a hole around a screw).
The customer service offered me a 100 EUR refund, and since everything works fine and I can just tape it (or print a plug), I took the refund. This printer for 799 EUR is a really good deal in my opinion.
I assume this is because his machine is free and the upgrade kit comes free to those who purchase the machine. I think this is understandable.@@MiChAeLoKGB
Why don't you have the "youtube join" , it is much simpler than Patreon ?
I would join, I give the occasional "super thanks" in the meantime.
8:26 When the printed piece scrapes along the hammer quite a lot of energy goes into that friction and bending that unbroken piece, so the end result is completely invalid.
ABS is hard to print, not UV/outdoor resistant and it smells /releases bad stuff in the air. I'd rather see some reviews of PC/CF PETG or ASA
I have 5-6 brands here waiting for the review. There will be petg, nylon, pc too..
I'm wondering if the more exotic filaments are actually worth it, barring some niche use cases. They seem to be significantly more expensive to buy, require a more expensive / complex setup to print whilst offering not much more than standard filaments. But that said I'm still glad you did the tests though; very informative!
Also (and I know I'm being pedantic here) but the singular for "dice" is pronounced "die" and is that cracking or _creaking_ noises?
Ironically ABS is one of the absolute easiest plastics for me to print, But i cant print it because of warping. PETG is the hardest filament I have ever printed, But I can and do print it a lot, cos it has no warping...
I find that kinda funny cos "Difficulty" is guaged differently from person to person... Dont mind me though.
impossible to read text in your results sections
Check the playback resolution (sometimes it reduces if internet slows down). Check it on bigger screen too. Or you can always download the excel and zoom in (link in description)
@@MyTechFun max res - it's just much too small even on my 65" QD OLED or on my 14" laptop. Please make the text larger for us glasses wearers (presumably much of your audience)
All you gotta do brother is hold down your CTRL key and use your mouse scroll wheel at the same time. You're welcome
You know you can raise the chamber temp by just changing the value in your printers config file, right? Just add aome cooling to your MCU and electronics so they dont overheat so do it at your own risk