Can You Really Print Nylon, TPU, PET-G, and Polycarbonate on an Ender 3?

The Creality Ender 3 printer is known as the ultimate printer for those on a budget, but most users don’t realize its full potential. We have modified our Ender 3 printers to print industrial grade parts with engineered materials such as Nylon, TPU, PETG, Polypropylene, and Polycarbonate.

Why print different materials?

Nylon: Heat resistant, better layer adhesion, slightly flexible and not brittle like PLA. Chemical resistant too, and has good wear resistance.

Challenges with Ender 3: Bed adhesion is weak. Needs very high bed temp. Also requires an all metal hotend which doesn’t come with the stock Ender 3.

Polycarbonate: Even more heat resistant than Nylon, but much less flexible. It is very strong and can absorb lots of energy before breaking.

Challenge with Ender 3: Requires all metal hotend. Requires heated bed to reach 125 degrees.

TPU: Flexible, tough, very  good layer adhesion.

Challenges with Ender 3:  Requires direct-drive extruder, especially for softer TPU.

Polypropylene: Flexible, very tough, good fatigue strength (does not easily break after bending back and forth multiple times).

Challenges with Ender 3: Poor bed adhesion, flexible so it requires direct drive.

Ender 3 Mods for Engineering Materials

All Metal hotend: If the nozzle temperature needs to be over 240 degrees, then you will need an all-metal hotend. Above 240 degrees, the PTFE tube that is touching the hot nozzle will degrade over time, causing clogs and releasing toxic fumes.

Heated Bed Insulation: The Ender 3 can normally only heat the bed up to 110 degrees, but some materials like Nylon or Polycarbonate need more heat, ideally 120-135 degrees. The heated bed can be insulated, which means it loses less heat, allowing it to reach a higher temperature. From our experience, this can be up to 140°C. This tutorial explains how to add bed insulation.

Enclosure: For high temperature materials, an enclosure helps keep the printing environment consistent. This avoids warping, layer separation, and weaknesses in the print. Using an enclosure has many benefits for the final print, especially for prints with high temperature materials.

Firmware: Stock firmware will set temperature limits, for example 245 degrees for the nozzle and 110 degrees for the bed. If you want to print hotter than this, you’ll have to update your firmware to increase these temperature limits.

PID Tuning: Most 3D printer nozzles are calibrated for printing around 200 degrees. If you need to print at 270-300 degrees, you will have to recalibrate your PID tuning for this new higher temperature. PID autotune is described here.

Direct Drive: Flexible filaments print much better when a direct drive extruder is used. With a bowden tube, the flexible filament compresses within the tube, causing a large error between the desired extrusion and the actual extrusion.

Bed Adhesion: For materials that have trouble sticking to the bed, we have found a few slicing settings that greatly improve bed adhesion and reduce warping. No glue stocks or special adhesives are required, especially if you’re using the VAAPR™ print bed.

• Use a 0.8mm nozzle for thicker lines. 1.2mm lines stay stuck to the bed.
• Print the first layer extremely slow. Recommended: 10 mm/s.
• Print the first layer 10-15 degrees hotter than the rest of the layers. If you print Nylon at 270 normally, try printing the first layer at 280, or even 285 degrees.
• Use a slow first layer acceleration to avoid peeling on sharp corners. Recommended: 50-250 mm/s^2.

What next?

‍Once you’ve got your Ender 3 set up for printing engineering materials, explore the possibilities that arise with 3D print auto-ejection. You’ll be able to print hundreds of parts at the click of a button. Interested? Learn more about AutoFarm^3D™ here.