Flateric's Adventures in Trimmerline printing.

[Flateric]

I am starting this thread specifically because I have been using trimmer line over the past few weeks, alot!

Perhaps it is the brand I am lucky enough to be getting or the type of hotend I use and speeds/temp/infill etc, but I have to speak out and say I really like it.

(I promise this is not the fumes making me feel this way either, since they are for the most part non-existant)

But what has really made me post is that my local Rona, has a store special on the perfect trimmer line for printing right now. They apparently overstocked at the begining of the year and now with summer coming to an end soon(ish) they are trying to dump the stuff ASAP. For the sweet dealio of only $2 CDN a roll. This is about 1/10th the price of taulman, which is still better BTW, but not very much, certainly not 10x better.

There are a few pitfalls when switching to trimmer line, but no more so than when you switched from PLA to ABS the first time.....ok perhaps a few less than this.

"But Eric, dude man, I hear the curl is something brutal with nylon" I hear you asking.

You magic friend with this is the mighty UHU glue stick available at any office supply store. But don't let yourself eat this glue stick paste, it is not good for you, unlike the elmers stuff which is full of vitamines and minerals every young child needs!

*PREPREP*
Put your newly purchase trimmer line in your oven without the packaging and set it at 150-175f to dry it out and get it prepared for use as printer filament, the longer the better. I left mine in there for 1 day and one night, but I don't have a live in girlfriend/mom/wife or other such person who is typically weird about putting none food items in the oven (or arc welding on the kitchen counter, testing smoke machines in the living room, rebuilding VW beetle motors in the empty fireplace, test flying quadcopters indoors etc. I know we all do it, or atleast want to......the kitchen counter is tile after all. I mean sheesh!)

Step one: Clean your build plateform up good. Use some nice alcohol, beer will not do at all, just a FYI and if your build surface is hot, burning beer smells just plain bad.

Done? Good! Drink the beer now that you were originally gonna use before I stopped you.

Done? Get another beer because you may need it, I sure do!

Step two: Step two is the eeeww it's glue step. I like to do it with my build surface at the temp we are going to print onto it at, which is a nice comfortable 40c and no hotter.

It's improtant to do this step well ahead of your actually running the print. You want the glue to have completely dried and it should be nice and even and clear in appearance with no milky color and bump free. Doesn't have to be super thick. Should look like poorly applied clear coat paint. Shiny.

Leave this at 40c while we do the rest.

(sorry to interrupt this here, I have to go get the girlfriend she is having car problems, I am posting this so far because I don't feel like re-typing and you can't save so you get it as a teaser of sort. Our program in how to piss off the significant other will resume shortly)

[JohnStack]

Pics please!!!!

[geneb]

I wonder if the oven step could be replaced by leaving the material in a tub of rice for a week?

What's the diameter of the line?

g.

[Eaglezsoar]

I wonder if the oven step could be replaced by leaving the material in a tub of rice for a week?

What's the diameter of the line?

g.

Most of the line I have seen for printing is .065" or 1.65mm

[geneb]

ah, ok. tnx.

g.