Magigoo – The 3D printing adhesive, MO2016

Product Information

Examples of FDM printed polypropylene parts – image via Ultimaker.com 3D printing polypropylene can be challenging Polycarbonate, also referred to as PC, is an extremely tough and durable thermoplastic ideal FDM material with excellent heat resistance. These properties make Polycarbonate an excellent choice for engineering applications or for any part requiring great strength and durability. The heat resistance of Polycarbonate is both a benefit and hindrance, as this material requires high extrusion and bed temperatures to prevent warping and splitting. PET – Polyethylene Terephthalate or CPE – Co-Polyester type materials describe a number of polymers which can vary significantly in chemical composition and thus in physical and chemical properties. As a result different CPE/PET type materials might require different printing settings. The print bed adhesion with a PEI film is not as perfect as with Magigoo, but it is sufficient for 90% of your print projects. Only with very filigree first layers, it could be that here and there a corner of the print bed detaches or you get some warping. One can repeat the smoothing steps (alternating between horizontal and vertical to and fro motions) until the desired smoothness is achieved. A smooth Magigooapplication will give the bottom of the print a mirror finish. A rough application can show as a rougher finish at the bottom of the print.

Printing with wet filament may also present visual differences in the extruded filament and printed parts. The filament will be more prone to stringing, and may have a slightly bleached colour. The final print often also has a softer texture than a print with dry filament. Properties of Parts 3D Printed with Wet Filament It doesn’t matter if you’re using PLA, ABS, PETG and more - Magigoo works for them all Easy Clean-Up PP usually requires low printing temperatures: Most PP materials can be printed using a nozzle temperature of 200-220 ˚C and a build-plate temperature of 60-80 ˚C. If the material you are printing tends to warp, apply a coat of Magigoo and let it dry. Then apply a new layer of Magigoo on the printing surface.

If the warp continues increasing on the next increment for the build-plate temperature, one can safely assume that further increasing the temperature beyond that point will cause the print to warp even more. Thus one can stop increasing the build-plate temperature. The Magigoo Pro Metal is specially designed for the BASF Ultrafuse® 316L filament. To print this metal filament it needs a very high print bed adhesion to avoid warping. Thermoplastic materials of different material compositions achieve optimum adhesion with different adhesion products. PLA, ABS and PET-G adhere firmly to the Original Magigoo® adhesive when the build-plate is hot and are easy to remove once the build-plate cools down. In addition to the original Magigoo® adhesive which is suited for printing conventional FDM materials, the Magigoo® Pro range consists of four additional adhesives designed specifically for use with different engineering grade materials.

Warping is cause due to several factors including the material properties and the printing conditions which are not independent of each other. One of the most important material properties governing the amount of warp in a print is the CTE (coefficient of thermal expansion). The CTE describes the tendency of a material to change its shape, area and volume as the temperature changes. A material with a high numerical value for linear CTE exhibits large changes in length as a response to temperature change. As a result materials which have a high CTE are more prone to warping than materials which do not exhibit large changes in dimensions during the thermal changes present during FDM printing.Use a brim: For the majority of PP prints a 10-20 mm brim is an absolute necessity for a successful print with little to no warp Some filament types require very precise temperature control: Some filaments are very prone to warping and might require additional experimentation with cooling settings for optimal results.

Turn off the heated build-plate after the first layer: Some PP materials such as Owen’s corning GF30-PP warp noticeably less when the heated build-plate is disable after the first layer. This helps anchor the material better to the build plate thus arresting warp! Nonetheless in the majority of cases most CPE materials will benefit from using slightly higher build-plate temperatures when using Magigoo Original. 6. From where can I buy Magigoo?Many hobby 3D printers like the Ender 3 V2, Voxelab Aries or Ender 2 Pro have a textured glass surface as a print bed. Glass is very suitable for most standard filaments, but offers under certain circumstances too little adhesion for filigree first layers of PLA. Some CPE materials might benefit from using HT instead of Original due to their higher temperature requirements. This includes Essentium PCTG+ and Eastman Amphora HT5300 In some cases the use of different printing surfaces might require that the first layer settings are tweaked accordingly. Using the appropriate Magigoo adhesive will still increase the first layer adhesion capabilities of the build surface, however, some materials might show a noticeable drop in performance when compared to using Magigoo on glass with the same material. 2. Which Magigoo adhesive and printing settings should I use? Material There are various methods and tools that one can use to dry their filaments, and they vary in effectiveness, reliability and cost. We will now go through some of the most used drying techniques and mention their pros and cons in regards to cost, reliability and how well they dry filament. Using a Printer’s Build-Plate Excellent layer adhesion: Parts printed in PP tend to have very good layer adhesion and are rarely prone to layer splitting