Fortus 250mc Printer Guidelines
By Perry Carmichael
LBCC CADD
* ± .0095” Build tolerance (Experience shows .005” on small parts)
* Use .100” vertical wall thickness for best results
* .013”, .010”, .007” Layer thickness
* 10”’ x 10” x 12” Maximum build size
* Expect thick parts to be hollow (over 1/2" thick)
* Due to the nature of the way parts are created, corners, holes and shafts have a flat spot where the print head stops and starts. Some cleaning up is required.
* Use RC8 or RC9 for pin fits
* Use LC9 for rotating shafts
* Use LC11 (or other) for loose fit
Material Properties for ABS:
Tensile Strength, Ultimate | 4,700 psi | 33MPa |
Tensile Strength, Yield | 4,550 psi | 31MPa |
Tensile (Elastic/Young's) Modulus | 320,000 psi | 2,200Mpa |
Flexural Strength | 8,450psi (XZ), 5,050psi (ZX) | 65.0Mpa |
Impact Strength(Notched Izod) | 2.1 ft*lb/in | 107 J/m |
Impact Strength(Unnotched) | 22.00 ft*lb/in | 1,282 J/m |
Colors available:
Red | Green |
Blue | Yellow |
Black | White |
Note that there is a layering going on. Think of this like wood grain and this is the weak axis. For example a pin printed with the grain (layering) across the diameter will easily break. Longitudinal grain will be quite stout. On large thickness wall and parts of more than .250” there is not too much of an issue with grain. Only on smaller parts and wall thicknesses. For a wall thickness, I can successfully print .100” and it will resist breakage fairly well. I can print thinner walls but with varying results. Small holes, under .100”, may not be round because of the way the machine lays down material. The print head is like a computer controlled hot glue gun. At starting and stopping of the current shape there is a little extra material. On small holes and cylinders this creates a ridge that is quite noticeable. On larger holes, etc. it is not so bad as the ridge is usually within tolerance of the part. Maximum build area is 10" x 10" x 12". Material used is ABS plastic with a strength of about half of extruded ABS. (Except small parts where the grain layering is a factor.)
As far as making things cheaper, quicker, faster to build, there really is not much. Whenever there is a void or overhang on a part it needs to be supported by a removable material, support material. Sometimes it is difficult to remove support material from small openings into a larger cavity or intricate small overhanging detail. For example, threads are nearly impossible to create on anything less than an inch in diameter and small pitch. We will control printing orientation for least support material and best layering for the part strength.
For every part created and saved for printing we need a standard naming convention in case of printer errors or other problems. Therefore, part naming is as follows:
A part created by John Doe from the PL8 drawing to be printed red would have an STL file named PL8_JD_R_.stl
Parts in the BOM should be called out by the type of material & the part size, X,Y,Z or LWH.
♦ For the Fortus printer: ABS, LXWXH