I printed PA6-CF with a 0.4 mm nozzle (& you can too)

If you're just starting off with PA6-CF (Nylon 6) - make the experience easier for yourself & use a 0.6 mm nozzle right off the bat. If you only have a 0.4mm nozzle or NEED to use one, this is what has worked for me. However, I am still learning!

The headphones I'm wearing in this video are 3d printed, check them out here: https://headamame.com/

Printing Tips for Engineering materials: https://wiki.bambulab.com/en/knowledg...

TIME STAMPS:
0:00 - intro
1:54 - filament preparation (drying)
4:10 - printer set-up
10:21 - slicer tips (shown in Bambu Studio)
15:19 - other tips
17:13 - thank you to the discord members
17:25 - end cards

SUMMARIZED TIPS & RESOURCES:
1. Preparing your filament.

It's recommended to fully dry your filament before trying to print with PA6-CF. After drying, you should store your filament in a dry box with a good seal (and/or one that heats).
Filament Drying Recommendations: https://wiki.bambulab.com/en/filament...
How to Dry Filament on the X1 and P1 Series Heatbed: https://wiki.bambulab.com/en/general/...
Heated Dry Box for storage & use during printing (amazon affiliate link): https://amzn.to/4a9kLC3

2. Setting up your system (Bambu Lab X1C specific).

PA6-CF is NOT compatible with the AMS unit. We must feed the filament from the back of the printer. The PTFE tube must be disconnected from the back coupling of the machine. I connect a new PTFE tube that connects my filament dry box to the printer in order to guide the filament directly to the hotend, bypassing the AMS.
Loading filament from spool holder (without AMS): https://wiki.bambulab.com/en/x1/manua...
Extra PTFE tube (amazon affiliate link): https://amzn.to/4gDCPGW or https://amzn.to/40fGK75

3. Slicer settings.

Although 0.6 mm is the ideal nozzle, I had great success with the 0.4mm nozzle after changing my slicer settings. I was experiencing major heat creep (my best guess) and clogging often due to this.

In my PA6-CF material profile, I slightly dropped my nozzle temperature (from 275C to 270C), I slightly increased my part cooling fan (up by 20%). These two changes fixed my clogging issues while printing with my 0.4 mm nozzle while still keeping the default X1C retract settings (0.8mm length at 30mm/s). If you are still experiencing clogs after these setting changes, consider dropping the default retraction settings. In the "Setting Overrides" tab in Bambu Studio, check the length and retraction speed checkboxes and decrease these values to be less than the defaults, about 75% of the default - try 0.6 mm retract at 25 mm/s. While troubleshooting, if you start to string, or ooze between movements while printing, your retract settings are too low.

It's probably a good idea to uncheck "slow print down for better layer cooling" in the material profile as less cooling is generally better for layer-to-layer adhesion when printing with PA-CF (what I discovered from colorfabb). - Thank you ‪@wykonczeni‬ for the tip. I have yet to try this myself.

Tips for build plate location, scroll to "How to be successful when printing?" section: https://wiki.bambulab.com/en/knowledg...

4. OTHER tips

If you print relatively long/flat details using this material, your parts will probably start to wrap once they are off the build plate. Annealing can help with this, here is a resource:

Annealing, 90 - 130 ℃ 6 - 12 hours (data from bambu lab material page):   / confused_about_annealing_pa6cf_bambulab  

REMOVE YOUR SUPPORTS ASAP. Try to remove your supports as soon as your print finishes, while it is still warm, otherwise it becomes very difficult to remove support structures when your print has cooled. If you don't get to your print soon enough, use a hot air gun to help warm up the supports while removing. Use with caution and try not to melt your part.

I recommend keeping extra nozzles on deck incase you clog and need to keep printing for a deadline or if you cant manage to unclog your current nozzle/hotend. Use GOOD glue to cover your build plate. Good bed adhesion is necessary! I've had great success with Elmer's glue sticks, particularly the white glue stick and the purple to clear one.
Elmer's glue stick (amazon affiliate link): https://amzn.to/41Zs0dD

Thank YOU for watching!

Join our community discord server:   / discord  

Some of the music used in this video:
1. "Late Night Radio" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/b...
2. Midnight Room by | e s c p | https://www.escp.space/
https://escp-music.bandcamp.com/
3. Autumn Dance by | e s c p | https://www.escp.space/
https://escp-music.bandcamp.com/

#3dprinting #bambulab #engineering #howto