Hey everyone, just wondering if Markforged printers (specifically the Onyx Pro) can print in materials such as PLA and ABS instead of Markforged’s proprietary Onyx material. It would be nice to print in a cheaper material when the part doesn’t need to be very strong. Thanks!
No. Mark Two printers only use materials that are recommended by the manufacturer.
If you will use other materials, this will at least take out the warranty and in the worst case will damage the printer.
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Short answer is “no”.
mainly because the hotend temp is set in the software for nylon temps (270)c.
PLA and most other plastics need a cooler temp.
This is aside from the fact that it likely voids the warranty.
As far as I know you could load the printer with PLA and try it, but I would expect poor results and possible damage to the printer.
As others have said, the fixed print temperature and the lack of a heated bed pretty much make it unsuitable for anything but nylon.
You could possibly run nylons from other manufacturers. But you do risk losing your warranty if they find out.
And for a machine that is this expensive with expensive replacement parts I know I won’t be trying it on my Onyx One.
Yes on Nylons, NO on PLA. I had a fleet of markforged printers… their warranty sucks anyways and barely covers anything you have to pay to replace. I have a markforged mark 1 and a markforged mark 2. I use Taulman $40 rolls of nylon in it over Markforged’s $200 a rolls of nylon. And I use Matterhackers NylonX (carbon fiber stands in nylon) to give me the “onyx” ability in my Mark One and Two, at a MUCH cheaper price. I tried PLA but had printing issues since the units are really fine tuned for nylon extruding, prints seemed to appear to have a clogged nozzle or poor extrusion but it was simply retraction settings and the hot end temp.
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HOLDEN
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How did the quality of the prints compare when using the NylonX on your Mark 1 versus the Onyx?
My prints in NylonX came out perfect. This is a simple 3D printer and approaching every mechanical component of it is straight forward. At this point in time, if you own a Mark One or Mark Two, you’re most likely out of a warranty. You can’t damage anything by trying PLA, but you might clog a pricey nozzle at worst. And you definitely will want to lower temps to 180-200c. I wouldn’t try ABS at all since the bed isn’t heated.
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itwire
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Can you tell me which spool you used 1.75 mm or 3mm on the mark forged?
thx
Were there any settings you had to change on your printer in order to use the NylonX. I currently have an Onyx One and am currently looking for cheaper alternatives to materials.
Good day! In the same mindset than the previous post, did the dimension specification match between Onyx and NylonX ( diameter, melting temp…) I am about to order the Nylon X to give it a try.
Please advise!
JF
Yes you can. I have had very god success with it. That being said I bought a print dry to keep the material dry. I also place a large plastic tote over my printer and print try to keep the heat in and prevent thermal warping. The nylon x is only about 500 cm cubed so i am going to try to print with pro black nylon at around 700 cm cubed. Onyx is 800 cm cubed soni was trying to get an apples to apples comparison on print volume. Onyx is hands down a better material but for what i print i cant afford the price and make any money on my parts.
This is great info. I’m currently looking for a printer better than my Prusa (a high end consumer, or low end industrial type machine). Markforged is on the top of my list. The price of the machine is okay, but the filament cost is really high. Since some of you have experience, how is the Markforged Onyx One? Is the quality as good as they say? How about reliability and ease of use?
Do you have a machine that you recommend instead? I’ve been doing tons of research, but unbiased Markforged info is very hard to find.
I have a Markforged Onyx One but strictly use nylon x for all of the parts that i print. Onyx is a very good material, but the cost is high as well. I fint that the nylon x is a good subsitute. I do suggest using a print dry to keep the moisture out of the material. I use that instead of keeping my material in a dry box. I use the 3kg rolls so the cover wont fit over the print dry. I just used a large tote to cover the print dry and the printer, which keep the heat in an pretty much eleminates all material warping. Hope this helps.
Yes the quality is as good as they say. I wouldn’t recommend trying other materials. I tried some and quite simply the quality drops off a cliff.
The reason being is that the printer is finely tuned for the onyx material. Yes it’s expensive but if you are charging appropriately then that shouldn’t be an issue assuming that this is for a commercial setup.
Thanks guys. Good to hear from real world users. I might have to give it a try. $3500 for an Onyx One seems to be a decent price. The Makerbot Method seems a bit overpriced, and Fusion3 stuff didn’t really catch my eye. I do have a print dry, so that will help with the hygroscopic material issue.
Hi 4x4!
I just wanted to chime in and respond to some points and answer some of your questions:
Markforged is on the top of my list.
They are good printers. I will state that. They are just priced high and have crazy expensive filament. I’ve been using Nylon X or carbon fiber /nylon blends in my Mark One and Mark two printers for over 4 years now. I have not had a single issue. I’ve used PETG as well for small prints, never tried a “large” print with it since it was never needed. Any 1.75mm filament that prints at 240 is safe, it is just a 3d printer at the end of the day, precision or not.
The price of the machine is okay, but the filament cost is really high.
I think the Markforged printers are on the pricier side and yes I agree the filament cost from them is astronomical. The print quality varies and that is simply because you can’t adjust certain settings. Some objects just need slow speeds and some need high speeds. The build quality of the entire printer is fantastic but everything internally is designed from pre-existing mechanical components that are easily sourced, so the cost shouldn’t be so high…just my opinion.
Since some of you have experience, how is the Markforged Onyx One? Is the quality as good as they say? How about reliability and ease of use?
$3500 for the Onyx One is a decent price. It is a tad louder than your prusa due to the extruder feed motor and “aluminum resonance chamber” as I like to call it. My print quality is either good or a hot mess. Supports simply don’t work well with nylon filament across the board, it is a habit of the material, not any printer. I say “good” for print quality but there are cheaper printers capable of “Excellent” results. Any printer that is built with a sturdy metal frame using a Bondtech extruder and ruby olsen tip and properly heated bed is capable of those excellent results. Consistency is another key factor. The Markforged is not the most consistent due to the limited software and the lack of ability to make adjustments.
Do you have a machine that you recommend instead? I’ve been doing tons of research, but unbiased Markforged info is very hard to find.
I think the Markforged ecosystem is uber lame, so having owned over 5 of them over the last 5 years, generally no, I wouldn’t recommend them. Markforged printers are great but they are essentially “limited scenario FDM” 3d printers. I say generally because the higher end Markforged printers (around 100k) are fantastic for specific situations, but that is rare. They sure do look super sexy though. You asked if someone would recommend another printer, I can, but it really depends on what your specific use is, that will help narrow the options.
Thanks Starkindustries! That is really helpful. I would love to hear a recommendation. Most of my parts are small, though the ability to build large parts is a bonus (as long as small parts don’t suffer because of it). My parts have a bunch of fine detail such as 10mm bearing bores printed on support material. I design a lot of RC Car parts and would like to be able to sell them, so strength and fine detail are the main things I am looking for. A lot of .06" (1.5mm) wall thicknesses, or .12" (3mm) thick flanges that need good strength. I use mostly NylonX or PETG for strength reason, though I want to try Delrin and Polycarbonate too.
I would love to hear recommendations from you guys. All the reviews and youtube videos seem to pertain to printing trinkets not functional parts needing strength and accuracy. Info on entry level professional machines seems difficult to find. My budget is around $5k, hopefully less but I’m willing to pay for quality (within my limited budget).
darrowza,
Sorry to resurrect this old thread. Your post about using NylonX exclusively with the OnyxOne printer caught my attention.
I wanted to ask you a couple of questions about temperatures. Do you run the printdry at the full 70 degrees and while printing? If using a 500cm spool, do you think it’s still necessary to run a tote/tarp over the printdry and printer itself? I have attempted to print utilizing the printdry even after drying the material for 12 hours and then continuing on with a print while leaving the printdry on as a feeder. Experiencing slight stringing/roughness and worstly some warping/bowing with larger models.
Thank you for your expertise 
I did not have any luck with Nylon X. Even a brand new spool had terrible warping issues. I even installed a heater in the printer and tried several different temperatures, which didn’t help at all. I still run the heater because I believe it helps with layer bonding strength. I can make some really nice prints using Onyx material so I’m sticking with that for now. I also tried CarbonX and experienced a bad nozzle jam very quickly. I have some ColorFabb PA-CF low warp formula that I am very excited to try. They say it’s designed for unheated print beds, so it sounds really promising at half the cost of Onyx. The trouble is, my Onyx material is sealed in the PrintDry box and working very well. I don’t feel like breaking the seal to do a test run. Maybe you can be my excuse to try it out.
Oh yeah, I just realized I didn’t specifically address your question. I’m not 100% sure, but I sure think once the filament is dry you can turn the temp way down just to maintain dryness.
