MakerGear Forum

Hello, does anyone have any suggestions to the best carbon fiber infused filament and the best settings?

I may want to stay away from ABS due to the high shrinkage and the smell.
Not sure what other substrates they are offered in.

eSun gave me a small sample of their Carbon Fiber filament in CES, but not sure of the best settings on the M2.

any great opinions on types, manufacturers, and best settings would be greatly appreciated!!!!

Try 3DXTech. They have a full line of chopped CF filled filament and at least PETG with chopped fiber glass. All seem to print with the same settings as the regular stuff, but I always use a steel nozzle to avoid erosion.

I've done some limited printing with 3DXtech's CF reinforced PETG. it prints fine, and has a neat "rough matte" finish, but it would really depend on what application your planning to use it for, as its quite brittle and as I said, prints have quite a rough surface texture.

Thanks do you thing the CF enforced PLA is better? Which is more resistant? Easy to use, better finish?

I just received a spool of 3DXTech Carbon Fiber PETG,
the filament is soooooo brittle, it broke in my hands as I was trying to free the end of the spool.

If it is this brittle what advantage does it have over other materials?

My PETG is already super strong and resistant, PLA is less brittle than the 3DXTech Carbon Fiber PETG,

why use 3DXTech Carbon Fiber PETG?

It is also very expensive, at $40 for a 0.5 kg that is almost 4 times the eSun PETG at $26 for kg.

Or should I use a Nylon with CF or other brand?

I am not seeing the logic of spending more for a seemingly inferior product???

Ok I did a few test prints and it is very stable, great dimensional accuracy and better surface finish than PETG it is strong but brittle. If stressed will snap not flex like PETG. used for the right prints can give great tolerances and surfaces but I think it's best to print with thicker surfaces like 2-3 mm minimum. Supports also break away cleaner and easier. Printed with Jules' PETG settings very well

Welcome to the hype that is carbon-filled filament. There is nothing stupider, except politics.

I spent years molding airplane parts from fiberglass, carbon, fiber, and Kevlar. The delusion that chopping up fiber into dust and sprinkling it into filament makes it stronger is insanity, but folks buy it up and recommend it to their friends.

That is not how it works.

Composite structures work because of loooooong unbroken fibers that distribute stress throughout the form.

Composites structures are strong and stiff because these long fibers are in intimate contact with each other through proper control of the ratio of fiber to adhesive and pressure generated via vacuum or clamping if possible. The orientation of these long fibers whether uni-directional or woven, is crucial to distributing load.

Composite parts made from carbon fiber will fail catastrophically, because they want to be stiff, not flexible. They bend a little, then literally explode. So, to chop the carbon up into short pieces, mix it in incorrect ratio with a flexible bonding agent, to provide no control of fiber orientation or precise control of the layup process is a recipe for failure.

You know why everyone complains their carbon prints are brittle? Because there is nothing about carbon filament that makes it tough. It was doomed from the start to fail!

Even that ridiculous Markforged continous printer is a spectacular piece of Bullcrappery. One strand of 1K carbon fiber tow, imbedded in plastic, does not create "magical" composite qualities in your design.

You know what else is carbon? Pencil graphite. Is it strong and tough? Would you build an airplane or car from it? Of course not! I am pretty sure that is all that they are dumping into the filament mix vats. It's carbon ain't it?

So, uh...yeah.

You want strong? Use ePC or straight polycarbonate filament. You want tough? Go nylon.

And OMG, CF filled nylon? That is peak carbon filament BS right there. I just better stop now.

[/attachment]Hi Will,
I tend to agree about the brittleness and lack of extra strength, the carbon fiber just becomes another buzz word and carries no extra strength as a chopped up filament, other than:::::::: it does give great dimensional tolerance and shape stability, it printed great!

I am attaching images of test prints, in the first it is a part of a very small hinge element, and with PETG (right side and very shiny) I had surface defects, the holes were filled with support that I had to drill out and eventually ruined the precision of the part. The CF PETG (left side matte finish) gave great dimensional accuracy and supports removed cleanly.

I also tried some prints of objects which needed a great surface finish and blasted the pure PETG print out of the water (sorry I cropped this image but the product is in development now, will publish full images once the client goes public)