Question for those 3D printers out there

[Adventure Logs]

Got a Bambu X1C coming and one of the ideas in the back of my head kicking around is to design some custom fuselages to adapt wings to different masts. I imagine something like the PA-CF with a rod reinforcement might work? Am I over estimating the strength of material like this? I've been told it's like printing "aluminum"

[Floating around]

Sorry, but I would say not a hope in hell. Yes the new CF materials are great but you would have to make it so large in section to support the weight (remember it needs to not flex under your entire body weight) that it would be impractical. Not to mention you wouldn’t be able to print it in one pice.
Nice looking printer by the way….. watching it with interest. Might be my next, or a Voron 2.4….. it never ends!

[BalsaMichel]

I have worked a bit with PA-CF some months ago. You can expect quite good stiffness compared to other filament types. But there are still two issues:

- tensile strength of PA-CF is a bit better than without fibre but far away from "real" composite parts because fibre length is only somewhere at 0.5-1mm. That´s not enough to embed the CF fibre properly in the PA (Nylon) matrix. Fibre content is more on the low side anyway.

- The good old 3D printing problem: Limited layer adhesion.

Anyway words like "solid like aluminium" are coming more often from the marketing- than from the engineering-department.

Some stuff works with 3D printing, some doesn´t. Sometimes it helps to print the part in a different orientation on the buildplate.

Micha

[fluidity]

I believe the ductility of high % fibre content resins is very poor too, certainly it is for glass fibre. I'm pretty sure the fibre contents I've seen listed for CF blend filaments is quite low.

[BalsaMichel]

On my wishlist is a printer that works with a big nozzle diameter like 2mm with the ability to work with longer fiber lengths. Maybe not very good surface quality then but improved strength. Contact areas to other parts can be reworked then.

I have worked with a composite technician some years ago. He used to say that composite parts with high class glossy shiny surfaces are very often structural crap and should be regarded with mistrust at first

Micha

[aniva]

anyone can recommend 3D printed service best quality/$ for PA12/Nylon prints?