Cold Weather Filament Advice

  • I am in search of a filament that will have the following characteristics:

    1. Usable in below freezing temperatures 0 degree F and up (-18 degree C)
    2. UV resistant
    3. Impact resistant

    Thank you in advance!


  • @squirrel79 Nylon fits that bill

  • @mpirringer thank you for the advice! What about moisture exposure after Nylon is printed? Does Nylon take on moisture?

    Thank you


  • @squirrel79 Yes it does depending on the Nylon it might "grow" between .5 and 1% thereabouts. This is something to figure in. Freshly printed Nylon can be a little brittle but will get tougher after it rehydrates. To print it you have to dry it well. To rehydrate either just leave it and its going to be fully hydrated after about 7-10 days or you can throw it into a bucket of water overnight. Some people sometimes boil it to rehydrate it quicker but I don't suggest that as it can overhydrate which in itself is not a problem but it could mask defects during QC process and then when it levels out at its default hydration the part might then show the defects (fail). That happens not only with 3DP nylon but also with casts and any other manufacturing method that uses nylon. If a real good fit is needed (like gears) start off with a guess (make them 1% smaller than intended and then after proper rehydration measure it before making the final adjustments. When using injection molds for example you get a part that is solid Nylon and it will grow evenly in each direction (%age wise) if you 3Dp you might get slightly different results depending on your infill. I - whenever possible - for that (and other) reason(s) will print it solid. That also gives you better results on mechanical parts with most filaments and prings 3DP pretty close to injection molding in performance If you don't need a solid junk and want to save material design holes into it instead of using infill. That way you can also control the direction of the filament as its layed down

    Here is an example of some gears printed in Taulman 910 fresh of the plate before brim removal Printed with a .8 nozzle. If you look close you can see the way the filament is laid down and this is a solid part.

  • @mpirringer again thank you for the information!

    I did not know about rehydrating nylon. It looks like i have some experimenting to do. What brand and type of Nylon do you recommend to start out with? I have used esun in the past and work ok, but what are your thoughts? Once I have dialed in the use of Nylon I will try the more expensive and quality filaments.

    It also looks like I need to get out the larger nozzle (0.6) that I bought awhile ago and give that a try.


  • @squirrel79 Easiest is Taulman Bridge Nylon, Taulman 910 is a good choice for harder/stiffer stuff and gears and so is Hobbykings CX12 They used to have a cheap Nylon - extremely tough and very hard to print I called it Fishing line Nylon but too many had a tough time with it so they stopped selling it but it was pure Nylon 6 - fishing line lol. The other Taulmans are good too but we use them extremely rarely. The gears in the pic are most likely 910

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