Polymaker Polysmooth Profile for Simplify3D

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TourniquetRules
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Polymaker Polysmooth Profile for Simplify3D

Post by TourniquetRules » Thu Apr 20, 2017 11:06 am

Has anyone else worked with Polysmooth by Polymaker? if so, do you have a profile for Simplify3D you would share? It is supposed to print like PLA, and does to some extent. I have printed 3 small objects so far. Two of them have curves near the bottom (i.e. egg) and they suffer from blobs. Curves after the first 10mm or so are fine. I dialed back my admittedly guess for extrusion multiplier and ended up with the same blobs but a poor finish on the top of the object from lack of plastic. I didn't use a fan as it didn't say I needed it. I printed at 4800mm/s which is within the recommended 40-90mm/s range and at 230 which is within the temp range recommended. Polysmooth is used with the Polysher. It arrived yesterday. It was a Kickstarter project. As an aside, it does work and actually "polishes" or smooths out the surface of the object leaving no trace of layering. I just have to dial in the print itself. Same with supports, they aren't snapping off as cleanly as PLA or ABS.

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Tim
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Re: Polymaker Polysmooth Profile for Simplify3D

Post by Tim » Fri Apr 21, 2017 1:47 am

I think this is too new for most of us to have tried. . . but let us know how it works. I am curious as to how easy or hard it is to print with the polysmooth filament. They make it sound rather like it's as easy as working with PLA, but experience will tell if that's really true or not.

The alternative is to use methylene chloride on PETg, but this sounds like a filament that acts more like PLA but smooths out with isopropyl alcohol, which must be the most benign substance I've ever heard of being used to finish printed parts (of course, this means you can't get your printed parts near alcohol, but that's not as bad as the water-soluble filaments which get gummy in humid air).

The nebulizer is a neat addition, although with the limited size of the container and the price of it, I'd think it would be worth trying a spray bottle.

Their pictures of transparent filament turning utterly transparent are pretty eye-popping.

Link to the page on polymaker's website, for anybody who's interested: http://www.polymaker.com/polysmooth-and ... ckstarter/

TourniquetRules
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Joined: Fri May 15, 2015 12:36 pm

Re: Polymaker Polysmooth Profile for Simplify3D

Post by TourniquetRules » Fri Apr 28, 2017 2:05 pm

I have printed several objects now using the .35 and .5 nozzle at .2 layer height. I found that with higher layer heights the filament blobs together and looks sloppy. I have not calibrated it. I simply copied the PLA settings in Simplify 3D. Dropping the support resolution down to 2mm fixed the problem of the supports not popping off. The transparent filament must have to printed in vase mode or thin walls, if not, all you see clearly is the the infill.
IMG_0498.jpg
Translucent Filament
The polishing itself is easy.
IMG_0483.jpg
Polysher in action
Included pictures are the filament drives for the M2 before and after.
IMG_0480.jpg
Filament Drive before polishing
IMG_0495.jpg
Filament Drive Polished
If the print isn't "smashed down" at the beginning then the first layer is uneven as seen on the filament drive. After polishing it is less noticeable but still evident. All the prints are shiny after polishing.
IMG_0497.jpg
Polished Fidget Spinner

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Tim
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Re: Polymaker Polysmooth Profile for Simplify3D

Post by Tim » Fri Apr 28, 2017 2:48 pm

FYI, if the filament has PLA-like properties then it is not appropriate for a filament drive. Fine to print, just don't try using it. . .

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