MatterHackers NylonX Carbon Fiber PA12 Filament - 1.75mm (0.5kg)

What is the rate Tg? is it higher or lower than Taulmans Alloy 910?

I dont think this is correct, Nylon has a low Tg but keeps its strength at temperatures above Tg. The Vicat softening point is a better meassure of temperature resistance. Som nylons have a Vicat softening point of 180C with a Tg of 67C as compared to polycarbonate with a Tg of 147 and a Vicat softening point of 140C to 150C

I can also attest to the strength and printability of this product - we have made prototype 10" pump impellers out of this. We calculated the O.D. of the part was spinning at ~105 MPH when the pump was running at 3600 RPM. And it was actually dealing with pressure, and doing work at that speed. The parts came out of the testing looking as good as when they went in, fantastic stuff!

Carbon conducts electricity.

in the MSDS it states PA12, it was pretty hard to find as they seem to not mention it anywhere

I have had good luck in a heated chamber at 30°C with no bed heating, with Cetus build plate

I have good results with a garolite plate that I heat to 60 C, no glue stick. I use a brim and rounded corners on larger parts to spread the stress as well.

We use a sheet of glass heated to 60C with Aquanet extra hold. Works great. We print parts with NylonX every day.

I just used this on my Prusa i3 MK2 and it printed great. Used a hardened steel nozzle and gluestick on the bed. Though I am not sure I even needed the glue stick

Yes, as long as you install a hardened steel nozzle.

It should not be a problem.

It actually strengthens the plastic. A lot of molders put there parts in water before shipping.

I have printed several parts my my RC rock crawler with nylonX . It see some salt water and no issues. I’ve been running these parts since April/May

I have also used a precision heat gun (small diameter nozzles) to re-melt just the inner and outer surfaces after a print to make it waterproof. Have actually gotten parts to even hold vacuum by doing this. You just have to go slow and be careful.

Typically you would keep your infill at 25% and increase the perimeter to add strength.

That will probably not work since it will clog your nozzle. Use at least a .4mm diameter hardened steel nozzle.

I've used a E3D 0.25mm nozzle for a lot of parts and I have never had any jamming or clogging while using NylonX. I print at 255c and 65c for the bed. 40mm/s

@TC Thank you for the feedback. You are about the only one that I have heard that has been successful at this diameter. Keep up the good work and share any tips you may have on the Printing with NylonX article page.

.25 was fine for me, even went with .15 and had only one or two jams in about 25 hrs of printing! Maybe one jam in 60+ hrs on .25. killer strength to weight gains here...

Using an enclosure for any material which has a high shrinkage rate (like Nylon or ABS) is considered best practices.

For the cost of a couple of bad prints you can solve this:
https://www.matterhackers.com/store/l/printdry-filament-drying-system/sk/MNXQRWQC

I would highly recommend an enclosure, especially for large parts. The larger the part the more prone you are to have it warp both at the edges of the bottom layer and as it gets taller.

Ideally, you would be able to print without drying, but even with the silica gel included in the vacuum-sealed bags, environmental factors outside of our control can cause moisture absorption. Drying before use is best practice, and is the only way to know that your spool is completely dry.

You could, but it would have bubbles and less than ideal results. A cheap dehydrator off Amazon and a large Tupper Ware bowl fitted as a lid with holes in the top is your best friend here...

This material will extrude at 220C, but final print quality will be poor. You can extrude at 220C because printing temperatures are much higher than the temperature at which the material becomes soft enough to extrude. For instance, PLA begins to get soft around 55C and can be easily extruded at 150C but you print around 190-210C. The lower temperature is called the Gtt or glass transition temperature, which is the point where a plastic material goes from being solid and hard to being rubbery and soft. Plastics don't melt the way water does; there is no crystalline structure that falls apart at specific temperature. Once you exceed the Gtt, the material just gets softer and runnier as the temperature goes up.

What will happen if you print NylonX at 220 C is that the layer bonding will be poor because the material will not be melted enough to weld into the layer below it. This causes the strength of the final part to also be poor.

Matterhackers sells a CF reinforced PLA called proto pasta that prints at normal PLA temperatures and so would be more appropriate for your printer.

No. The melting point for most nylons and nylon composites is greater than 220C.

Actually, I find that this material prints BETTER at 220 than the recommended temps. I get less stringing and better looking prints. This is on a Makergear M2.

You can solder peices together with a soldering iron. This is done a lot in modifying LS engine intake manifolds.

Most glues do not work well with Nylon, but you can try the Taulman ComPlete.

I am thinking about using this material for an r/c aircraft. What can I use to glue ,pieces together ? My current plane that I used thin wall plate printing at 240c has over 50 printed.parts

try Goop as it works well to adhere to most substances and is very strong. I used it on a 3d print job and it held well.

Approx: 200mm Total Diameter x 50mm Inner Hole Diameter x 55mm Height

Like other nylons, it has excellent chemical resistance to gasoline and fuel oils.

Try using the PAHT-CF profile as it matches the temp settings needed for nylonX. Stick to the 0.4mm and do not go finer than 0.12mm in layer height as you may start to get layer adhesion failures. Texture plate works great just make sure you go heavy with glue and keep your enclosure closed and hot at 60C during printing. Hope this helps!

.4mm works well in my experience

We used NylonX with a 0.4mm nozzle for two years. However, in late 2024 we hit a bad batch CT23063 that caused clogging.

my parts look to have shrunk at least 10 percent. I have not tried to print an all cf build. Parts I printed did not fit the build so I put it away. Surface also quite rough.

On 2 production parts I make, i have measured shrink at only 0.5%-0.7%. It's a great filament.

You shouldn't have any issues with a .4mm nozzle.
Keep in mind that this filament is harsh enough it may cause additional wear to other components if your machine's hardware isn't hardened enough. Fragments of those components may enter the hot-end and create clogs.

I second that 0.4 mm shouldn't clog. I have exceeded 250 hours on my current Slice Vanadium 0.4 nozzle, but they still will clog from time to time if you don't use a "cleaner filament" when switching materials. Hope this helps.

From what I've researched, a direct drive isn't a requirement. You may however have issues if the drive/extruder gears aren't harden. Same for the nozzle. This stuff prints amazing well using basic requirement parameters, but it's expensive...for me it's easier then PLA. The only issues I've had is warping but that was using a 100% infill..."had to try". At 20-25% no problems, it's so strong you don't need 100%.

Pulse XE is a Bowden-based printer, so yes, it's entirely possible to print with bowden...
You may want to check for possible upgrades for your printer as some components may take extra wear from the harshness of NylonX and similar filaments.

When you dial in your settings and achieve bed adhesion, this stuff prints very nice. Use purple-to-invisible pva gluestick for best results. Worked for me.

Bowden on Epsilon w50 works great with it.

@Dave Pearson Unfortunately "No".

@ Guest My first inclination is "No" since the maximum hot end temperature is not high enough to print the material. You will also need to replace the standard brass nozzle with a coated or hardened steel nozzle to prevent any wear on the brass nozzle.