3d Printing Pulleys w/ Nylon & Armidillo Filament

So in the past few months 3d printing wheel pulleys has become a much more relevant topic. Ever since we started ABS has been the go to, but Nylon Filament has been a much more talked about option. So, I ordered a roll of Nylon 645 and a roll of Armadillo filament from NinjaTek (well know for NinjaFlex Filament). I did some research and had some extra time to do a test print of Nylon. Here are the surprisingly good results using the Original Prusa i3.

So, they next step is to print a pulley and see what the results are like. I am sure they will be really really good. The nylon prints just like PLA, but with some different temperatures. I will let you know the results.

Now for the Armidillo Filament. It is meant for extreme abrasion resistance. In the description it says it is meant for industrial gears (enough said). It also says the Nylon filament is 30% stronger than ABS and the Armidillo is 90% stronger (and more abrasion resistant) than Nylon, making it 120% stronger than ABS. I also got a roll for science purposes. I will of course let you know the results, I have a print going right now.

I have also printed multiple pulleys for forum members so let me know if you need any printed. I also had a few of you contact me about printing Nylon Pulleys, but said I was not comfortable doing it because I have never printed with it before. But I will now be happy to print them for you, just drop me a PM.

So what are your thoughts? Should Nylon be the new standard for pulleys? Is Armidillo filament overkill?

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stronger is better IMHO

Can you post some of your previous success? Been looking into printing pulleys, so would be nice to gather more data :slight_smile:

I think I took some pictures of one of the pulleys. I will see if I still have them when I get to my computer

Would love to try some 3D printed pulleys! Will you do Armidillo pulleys aswell? What would the cost be for a nylon/Armidillo, wheelpulley/motorpulley? Some pictures would be nice :slight_smile:

Not sure yet. Shipping to Europe may be expensive.

I’ve been 3d printing pulleys in PLA and they’ve turned out surprisingly well. I haven’t put many km on them yet but there’s very little wear so far. I printed this 15mm 36T pulley at 100% infill and it fit perfectly. http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:545345

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What bolts/nuts did you use?

I bought my bolts before I printed, and they turned out to be too short :frowning:

I can’t remember off hand. I think M4 and 200mm but don’t hold me to it.

I used m4x80mm bolts and then cut about 10mm off so they’re flush to the wheel. @JLabs I’m curious about printing pulleys in nylon but I’m not sure if my printer will be able to handle it. What temp did you print at and do you have a full metal hotend?

It’s a direct drive. Bowden will not work, it gets terribly clogged. I am not sure about the temp off hand I think it’s 245 or 255. Just an FYI, Nylon is a bit pricier than ABS or PLA.

Bowden works fine for Nylon, there’s absolutely no reason why it would get clogged with a bowden and not direct drive since Nylon isn’t flexible. If you got cloggs with nylon and a bowden then its not properly set up.

Oh yes, yes. My bad. Long day. I was think of Flexible filament… Yes, you can print Nylon with a Boden.

For wheel pulleys I thought that PLA would be better than ABS as it’s stronger, and easier to work with. It has lower malleability and ductility so it doesn’t deform nearly as much under stress but rather snap, although stresses can typically be higher than with ABS. For this reason I expected PLA to be a better material for pulleys since the teeth can take more force without deforming. I’m relatively new to this so I’m still experimenting and learning but this is what I was thinking so far.

My concern with PLA is that it does not handle heat and abrasion very well and will deform quite easily around 50-60 degrees C. I’d like to give nylon a try but I’m not sure my printer will be able to handle the ~250C without a full metal hotend. I’d love to see some results with nylon because I’d definitely consider buying a new hotend to give it a try.

If you have a E3D v6 you should be able to print up to 295C with the stock thermistor or 420C with a thermocouple.