Taulman 3D has brought an interesting and tougher than tough filament for 3D printing – a nylon called 618 – to the market. Branding hasn’t been at the core of the design process – or at least it’s nominal – but what this material can boast is some vigorous testing and countless iterations. The material has been designed to meet a set of high standards, which manifest themselves in our physical world as “excellent surface bonding, reduced water absorption, tear resistance and dye absorption … combined in an easy-to-print 3mm/1.75mm line” according to the manufacturer.
Mentioning the time-consuming testing process of different polymers, co-polymers and nylon bases to reach the optimal results is not just a baseless marketing claim. The birth of 618 required testing of 17 total co-polymer combinations with 6 base nylon variants, 17 colour dye tests, among others, prior to launch. The extent of this process can be visualized to give an even better understanding of the depth of the process – the image below shows the rejected materials.
When comparing 618 with traditional ABS, Taulman claims it is significantly stronger, but also lighter and with great pliability. Even though pliable and thus good for easier assembling of multi-part objects, attaching the parts needs to be done via structural elements – glueing 618-fabricated parts together cannot be done. Another important aspect is the good surface qualities for using the 3D printed parts such as for ball bearings that need no extra lubrication.
Even though 618 can be used pretty much as any filament on a FFF/FDM 3D printer, it doesn’t have the adhesive properties compatible with glass or aluminum printing surfaces. The manufacturer recommends using blue painter’s tape or unfinished poplar wood, if your current printer is one these aforementioned glass/aluminum surface using models.
The range of 3D printers capable of processing 618 is already quite extensive – including machinery from both open and closed source organisations. The full list can be found under Taulman 3D’s Specifications section on their site.
But if you want some immediate speccy goodness, the key figures are here: A spool containing a pound (~455g) of the US manufactured, natural coloured 618 – a high strength nylon co-polymer – filament goes out for $19,90 (14,80€) – for both 3mm and 1.75mm variants. Colour can be added with clothing dye according to user’s needs. The temperature range is from 235˚C to 270˚C with 240˚C-250˚C being the sweet spot.
Does this sound too good to be true or something that has to be seen to be believed? Before getting your hands and extruder dirty you can watch the filament in action in the form of a short video: below is a YT clip from Swedish Creative Tools, where the strength and durability of the 618 is demonstrated with a Replicator-made 3DP object.
Source: Taulman 3D
