I would like to print with something as strong as carbon fiber and I was wandering if you could print with carbon fiber on a flashforge creator pro?
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Hi @SkyView , where are you based? This may sound a bit dodgy but we have something coming up that might help you here
Chayak
February 2, 2015, 1:03pm
3
There are some filaments with chopped carbon fiber added but if you want continuous strands you’ll have to go with a Markforged printer. Even then for cost it doesn’t print in carbon fiber. It prints in nylon and then prints in the fiber on certain spots/layers as reenforcement. It will also print fiberglass and kevlar. The downside is that it isn’t cheap. The printer is about $5000 USD which isn’t that bad but the filament is also really expensive. It’s something more for printing specific parts rather than general printing use.
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Great question! CF PLA and Nylon composites are available and I’ve considering using them in model rockets, aircraft & car components and scaled construction models. Words of caution: Use adequate ventilation. CF, whether alone or in composites is hazardous. Long term health effects in consumer 3d printing aren’t well studied yet. 2 areas of concern: dust inhalation and electrical contact. CF shreds mixed with PLA still contain production chemicals which may cause lung damage. CF is also conductive and can coat electronics causing shorts. This means your printer could fail to operate correctly and become a fire hazard. My suggestion is ALWAYS use a 99.97%+ HEPA air filtration system in the space where you print. Also consider mounting an automatic fire extinguisher directly over your systems if you leave them running unattended for any period of time. Here’s some links to help:http://www.monash.edu.au/ohs/topics/info-sheets/carbon-fibres.html
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0030KM0V4/ref=oh\_aui\_detailpage\_o04\_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00DLIZ0NK/ref=ox\_sc\_act\_title\_3?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER
There is no doubt that home 3D printing is changing the way people do things. Because of all the benefits to the technology, it is often easy to forget that...
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I have worked with Carbon fibre on many occasions, as pre-impregnated woven sheet, moulding and 3D printing too. I agree that, if you’re abrading CF composites in any way, you should take precautions to avoid inhalation and possibly electrical short-circuit risk. However, Carbon fibres, whether chopped or long-strand, if they’re completely saturated in resin, pose no such threat.I really can’t see why the process of printing with a CF-filled filament should be more cause for concern than any other since the fibre is held within the resin matrix. That said, if I were to set up a business printing with Carbon Fibre, I’d probably take the precautions you list but for a home workshop user, printing with CF I’d regard them as being somewhat extreme.
Worth noting that it’s possible to achieve a very similar result to that of the Markforge by simply cutting a piece of 0.5mm or 1.0mm woven CF sheet and bonding it within your chosen 3D shape. You can also try making a model in two halves and running a length of CF fibre saturated in two-part resin around posts or slots that locate one side to the other.
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no you cant really, but the Makerforge 3d printer printer carbon fiber
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