February 10, 2016 | From Alec
When it was first unveiled in September 2015, it was already clear that the PC-Plus polycarbonate filament from the Chinese filament manufacturer Polymaker should be an interesting and powerful filament. PC-Plus Filament was finally released in November 2015 and it’s now becoming clear just how powerful it actually is. In a test by the Australian reseller 3D Printing Solutions, PC-Plus-Filament was able to lift two concrete slabs with a total weight of 240 kg. Polymaker also announced that they will now also make PC-Plus available without being bundled with BuildTak.
PC Plus is so interesting to refresh your memory 3D printer filament because it provides world-class manufacturing to a desktop 3D printer. Polycarbonate materials are much more durable than ABS or PLA and find widespread uses from automotive and aircraft components to electronics, construction, and even data storage. However, they usually require extremely high heat and expensive industrial 3D printers, making them out of the reach of most of them designers, engineers, and hobbyists. This is not the case with PC-Plus, which was specially developed for normal FDM desktop 3D printers. As early as November, the Chinese manufacturers made the material available in three colors: True Black, True White and Transparent.
Since then, they have had a lot of feedback on the excellent material, which has resulted in them already changing one thing. If you were one of the first to use it, you will have noticed that PC-Plus has always been built with BuildTak to optimize the print bed adhesion of the filament. However, from all of this feedback, it appears that this was actually not necessary. “We are now confident to announce the immediate availability of our PC-Plus without the BuildTak bundle,” announce the developers. The unbundled spool of filament is available now for $ 39.99 Polymaker Webstore.
The company also announced that PC-Plus has since been picked up by a number of different 3D printing specialists, including Robox CEL, Type A machines, Kühnling & Kühnling and Hage GmbH. In particular, Robox has combined CEL PC-Plus and PolySupport in their dual extrusion setup with excellent results. “We originally developed PolySupport as a special support material for PLA, but as we have noticed since the introduction of PC-Plus, it also works very well with our portfolio of PC materials as dedicated support material,” reveal the Chinese manufacturers . For more information on the Robox CEL double extrusion setup, see the video above.
But the real question is, of course: How strong is the PC-Plus filament? Fortunately, we don’t have to test it ourselves as Polymaker’s Australian 3D printing solutions ran a series of Mythbuster-like tests to find out. In the first of the two tests, they 3D printed a jack made entirely of PC-Plus and show how it can easily lift two concrete blocks (with a total weight of 240 kg). “We were very impressed as the 3D printed polycarbonate jack showed no signs of breakage or fatigue after being lifted. While we do not recommend using polycarbonate as a substitute for steel jacks, it does show that polycarbonate is strong enough for industrial use, ”the Australians said.
In their second test, the Australian distributors put on a cool Thunderdome-like competition to find out which filament is the strongest. A number of 3D printed links were chained together, including links made from PLA, regular ABS, and upgraded PLA, and force was applied until one of the two competitors broke. As you can see for yourself, PC-Plus was the last man to stand and everyone else broke easily. Only PolyPlus PLA fought quite a battle, but one thing is clear: PC-Plus is an extremely powerful filament. “We’re still trying to push the boundaries of our personal computer and hope that we can try our hand at a car next. So keep your ear to the ground, ”the Chinese developers proudly conclude.
Posted in 3D Printing Materials
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