Hey guys! Especially @Christian I’d love to give 3d printing Polycarbonate (especially the Polymaker PC Max) a shot on a Prusa i3 before we potentially buy one for work. I have lots of experience working with PC Max on my Ender 3.
Would it be okay if I did this? I’m not sure what the space’s policy on working with non-makerspace filaments is.
PC needs 290°To 310° to flow successfully
Will our machines be able to create and maintain those temps?
Polycarbonate is also hygroscopic, which means it will actively absorb moisture from the air.
Just suggesting a plan to keep it dry
Thoughts @Christian
More specifically, PolyMaker PolyMax PC is a blend and not pure PC. So it prints at closer to 260-270.
My work is considering getting a Prusa, and I was just was hoping to find out how it printed on that machine without much tuning
It should be okay for a few test prints, but please read through this document if you haven’t already: Prusa Knowledge Base.
The biggest potential issue is excessive adhesion. We only have the smooth PEI bed, so you will need to apply glue stick before printing as a release layer, start small, and keep an eye out for bed damage. I would also ask that you purge the hotend with PLA when you are done so the next person doesn’t have issues with the leftover higher temperature material.
Max temp for the stock setup is about 295C; the limiting factor are the thermistor and the aluminum heater block. If you upgrade with the nickel-plated copper block and thermocouple the e3d V6 hotend can go up to ~400C, though I’m not sure how well the fan shroud and other nearby plastic pieces would hold up.