Hi all,
It seems like I've been printing with Polymaker PC-Plus White almost exclusively lately. I feel like I finally have an engineering-grade material to work with in PC-Plus (and ePC from eSun using the same FFF). Haven't tried the natural-color PC-Plus yet.
That said, I bought some PC-Plus Black expecting the same kind of results but it seems to behave rather differently. PC-Plus White sticks well to the black side of Zebra with lots of brim at 100C. The same settings with the PC-Plus Black (on the white side of the Zebra) yields unviable prints because it shrinks/curls like crazy, peeling right of the Zebra even with the big brim. The black version also seems to be more gummy and stringy.
So if anyone is trying PC-Plus don't judge it on the black version. I'm going to try again on the black side of the Zebra so it's truly apples to apples. Maybe the white side's been in contact with the hot aluminum HBP for so long that the microstructure changed? Don't know.
In any case jimc is making me one of these bead blasted MIC6 plates so I'll be excited to try that next.
~Justine
Polymaker PC-Plus White vs. Black, Very Different
Re: Polymaker PC-Plus White vs. Black, Very Different
I also noticed a difference in sticking on the black vs. white sides on the Zebra - but i just put it down to the white surface material on the plate being thicker than the black surface. (It's visibly farther away from the embedded copper sheet on both of my zebras.) Also white is reflective of heat, while black absorbs and retains it better, so I just upped the bed temp by a few degrees when printing on the white side and it seemed to even things out fairly well. (Wasn't printing PC though - this was on PETG and PLA.)
It might stick better on the black side - most of my printing did. Worth experimenting with for sure.
It might stick better on the black side - most of my printing did. Worth experimenting with for sure.
Re: Polymaker PC-Plus White vs. Black, Very Different
Ahh excellent points. And I wasn't even thinking of the emissivity difference, that could do it too. Okay, will try the same print tonight on the black side.
Re: Polymaker PC-Plus White vs. Black, Very Different
Hmm, this is good to know Justine. I only have experience with the "true black" pc-plus. Although I did find it tricky to print with on larger parts, the pieces I was able to make were so strong and light that its worth dealing with the difficulties. Good to know that if I need to use white down the road that I might have an easier time with it though!
I have a new spool of black pc-plus coming this week and I have a couple prints I need to get done with it, so I'll post up how the buildtak on PEI theory works in practice.
I have a new spool of black pc-plus coming this week and I have a couple prints I need to get done with it, so I'll post up how the buildtak on PEI theory works in practice.
Re: Polymaker PC-Plus White vs. Black, Very Different
Nevermind!
I ran the exact same gcode on the black side of the Zebra last night and the adhesion was just as good as the white. It still seems more stringy but adhesion appeared to be identical.
Lesson: Run PC-Plus black on the black Zebra side (until my MIC6 plate from jimc comes in anyway).
I ran the exact same gcode on the black side of the Zebra last night and the adhesion was just as good as the white. It still seems more stringy but adhesion appeared to be identical.
Lesson: Run PC-Plus black on the black Zebra side (until my MIC6 plate from jimc comes in anyway).
Re: Polymaker PC-Plus White vs. Black, Very Different
Good deal! I'll be trying it one of these days, so it helps to see what other folks have success with.
Re: Polymaker PC-Plus White vs. Black, Very Different
Indeed!
And Jules, your point about the color mattering for the Zebra, I realized it might also be a significant effect for the filament itself and might explain why the black appears more gummy to me... just retaining heat longer.
As a result I just generated a separate FFF for black and white. I bumped white up to 272 and black down to 268. Other anecdotal evidence suggests to me that this is a good idea: I did have some delamination with some white parts but none of the black parts look like they would ever delaminate. I'm also bumping ePC up to 275 (from 270).
I was seeing how far I could push the limit and have an ePC part acting as a dovetail adapter bracket between a telescope mount and a radio dish. It's not a place I would ever have consiered using metal before. Anyway, the ePC part broke pretty quickly, snapping right along layer lines were a thumb screw makes contact with the side. I really don't think the black PC-Plus prints I have would do that. I have lots of ePC so I'm going to reprint that with the higher temperature. I might also glue in steel rods to reinforce it though so this won't be a good test per se.
And Jules, your point about the color mattering for the Zebra, I realized it might also be a significant effect for the filament itself and might explain why the black appears more gummy to me... just retaining heat longer.
As a result I just generated a separate FFF for black and white. I bumped white up to 272 and black down to 268. Other anecdotal evidence suggests to me that this is a good idea: I did have some delamination with some white parts but none of the black parts look like they would ever delaminate. I'm also bumping ePC up to 275 (from 270).
I was seeing how far I could push the limit and have an ePC part acting as a dovetail adapter bracket between a telescope mount and a radio dish. It's not a place I would ever have consiered using metal before. Anyway, the ePC part broke pretty quickly, snapping right along layer lines were a thumb screw makes contact with the side. I really don't think the black PC-Plus prints I have would do that. I have lots of ePC so I'm going to reprint that with the higher temperature. I might also glue in steel rods to reinforce it though so this won't be a good test per se.
Re: Polymaker PC-Plus White vs. Black, Very Different
Chuckle! Yeah, when i first got the machine, I set up a separate profile for each spool. (Gave that up when i got a little more comfortable with what caused what, and the stash grew to several dozen spools! )