3D Printing Tips & Tricks, Blog, Materials and Filaments

3D Printing with Polycarbonate: Tips and Tricks

Posted on by Airwolf 3D
3D Printing with Polycarbonate
19
Dec

The countdown to Christmas continues with our 25 Days of Materials, up next is Polycarbonate.

Tis the season to be jolly, join the Wolfpack in a fun 25 Days of Materials 3D printing countdown to Christmas and learn about 25 different materials and their unique properties! The objects to be 3D printed are part of the Advent Calendar/Christmas Tree designed by pleppik. Every day we will be unveiling a new part of the Advent Calendar and talking about a different special 3D printing material.

Day 18: 3D printing with Polycarbonate

3D Printed Snowflake with PolycarbonateFollowing the Wolfpack’s 25 Days of Materials 3D printing countdown is a Snowflake 3D printed with Polycarbonate. Polycarbonate is a high-temperature material, has high heat resistance, great layer to layer bonding, and provides an excellent finish when printed.

 

 

 

Some characteristics of Polycarbonate:

  • Chemical resistance.
  • Toughness.
  • Good physical properties.
  • Good heat resistance.
  • Impact strength.

Some applications of Polycarbonate:

Polycarbonate can be blow molded, injection molded and extruded. It’s an ideal engineering plastic with particularly good electrical insulating properties for applications like casket hardware, safety helmets, computer parts, portable tool housings, and light globes.

Other engineering applications are:

  • 3D printer components subjected to heat and load.
  • Plastic lenses for eyeglasses.
  • Brackets and structural parts.
  • Exterior automotive components.
  • Equipment housings.
  • Outdoor lighting fixtures.

3D PRINTING WITH POLYCARBONATE: TIPS AND TRICKS

  • Apply one coat of Wolfbite MEGA. Wolfbite MEGA
    Wolfbite MEGA  is a premium adhesive solution designed to bond Polycarbonate and PC-ABS parts to the 3D print bed and to allow their smooth release when completed. Just one coat of Wolfbite MEGA is enough to ensure proper adhesion between Polycarbonate/PC-ABS parts and the glass or ceramic print bed for multiple prints.
  • Set your hot end temperature between 290 and 315 °C when 3D printing with Polycarbonate.
  • We recommend setting your bed temperature at 140-145 °C.
  • Polycarbonate prints best at a higher temperature and with an enclosed chamber.  The AXIOM‘s fully enclosed print chamber provides a thermally stable environment which minimizes the incidence of warpage while providing optimal print quality, especially when applied to very large 3D prints.

Are you ready to start 3D Printing with Polycarbonate? Awesome! You can buy some Polycarbonate filament from our online shop.

MORE MATERIALS TO FOLLOW!

Below is a chart to list a few of the 3D printing filaments that we will be discussing over the next 25 Days of Materials.

Day 1: Nylon.
Day 2: HIPS.
Day 3: Stainless Steel PLA.
Day 4: PC-ABS.
Day 5: PETG.
Day 6: PLA.
Day 7: IGUS Iglidur.
Day 8: Coffee PLA.
Day 9: LAYBRICK.
Day 10: Bridge Nylon.
Day 11: LayWOO-D3.
Day 12: ALLOY 910.
Day 13: NinjaFlex TPE.
Day 14: Aromatic Pine PLA.
Day 15: Copperfill.
Day 16: ABS.
Day 17: Soft PLA.

Melting Points for 3D Printing Materials

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