PTEG Sucks! COVID-19 Post #9

Failed prints

 Things were going along fine until I ran out of PLA printing filament. I've given over 50 to the hospital and I've got 40 that are ready to take over tomorrow.

Then I got into the PETG filament. For this application this stuff is useless. The print temps are high, 240C, the bed temp needs to be 120C for these face shields. If the speed is more than 60 mm/s it doesn't seem like the filament melts fast enough in the hot end and it gets lumpy. And it's super stringy.

Managed to get some okay prints with the lower speeds.

The XYZ filament (translucent red) I got from B&H turned out to be total garbage. Once I got something out of it the print was brittle. The ear pieces broke on several prints.

The Overture filament (opaque white) came out a lot better. Way less stringy. It's also less brittle.

XYZ filament, super stringy

I'll keep working on it. I've got more PLA on the way. Should be here Tuesday. These face shields are needed now. The RTs & Nurses only have the ones I've sent over and some from another 3D printer who's donating them to nursing. Sounds like they are still short enough so everyone has one. They should have enough so they can throw them out if they get anything on them. That's going to be hard to do unless normal supply levels kick back in. So if I can print faster with PLA then that's the way to go.

Edit 4/13/20: Materials are almost all here. Amazon shipped the PLA early. It got here today. Jerry's Art-O-Rama shipped the last of the .007 Duralar & it arrived today. Over the weekend I got more .010 film from C.S. Hyde & Co. I have enough material for about 400 more units. Maybe more. There's another 300 units worth of film on the way in a couple weeks.

We'll see. The numbers are looking good in terms of the peak utilization. Still after six to eight weeks of supply issues they still don't have face shields or enough N95s to return to anything even close to normal. As a nurse on '60 Minutes' said, they are wearing medical waste every day. It's not as bad in CA as it is in NYC but it's not normal and it's not good.

I worry about my wife and her friends at work every day.

Overture filament, okay results

I've adjusted the proximity sensors, re-leveled the beds, purged the PETG, and am printing again. I think the proximity sensors were pretty significantly out of whack. That could have been part of the issue with the PETG. Still, the PLA printed fine even with the issues. So ... I'm saying PLA is the far more forgiving material.

As of today 97 have been delivered. I have another 100 to go before there will be enough for one round for respiratory & Nursing. Nursing is getting some from someone else too. So with both supplies maybe they'll have enough to be able to actually throw some out when they get more seriously contaminated.