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Printing effector plates
Posted: Wed Feb 17, 2016 10:02 am
by DeltaCon
Lots of folks seem te be printing their own effector plates. Mostly in ABS I guess. That's something I would like to explore, but I am a bit concerned that the ABS material characteristics are not optimal for exact positioning of the print head, especially at higher speeds, because it is a rather soft material. Of course PLA is not heat resistant enough. Is my concern unnecessary? Does it make sense to use PC or PET instead?
Re: Printing effector plates
Posted: Wed Feb 17, 2016 10:06 am
by JFettig
I have used ABS with pretty decent success. Don't try Nylon, its not stiff enough. I printed one from 910 and it was not good. If I was to do it again, I'd use PET or PETG.
Re: Printing effector plates
Posted: Wed Feb 17, 2016 10:37 am
by mhackney
I have printed quite a few effectors from Mini Kossel size up to Rostock Max size in PLA with no problems whatsoever. It all depends on how and where you mount your hotend. In my case, the heater block is at least 1.5" below the effector so it is no where close to the PLA. If you have the heater block right inside the Rostock Max effector's "circle", you probably would have problems. PLA is perfectly fine for this application and is nice and stiff.
Re: Printing effector plates
Posted: Wed Feb 17, 2016 1:41 pm
by mhackney
I forgot to mention, ProtoPasta introduced a very interesting
High Temperature Resistant Annealable CF PLA Composite in January. It prints beautifully and has much better temperature resistance than ABS and PET. It looks really high tech cool too. I haven't tried annealing any parts but it looks easy enough. I think this would be the go-to filament for effectors.
Re: Printing effector plates
Posted: Thu Feb 18, 2016 5:22 am
by DeltaCon
Thanks, CF PLA Composite looks very promising. I have my E3Dv6 mounted conventionally above the effector, and am very interested in Jim's effector with integrated layer cooling. But I am not sure jet, Perhaps I wil try to make a custom bird air first to see how that works out. So much to choose from

Re: Printing effector plates
Posted: Fri Feb 19, 2016 8:26 am
by Jimustanguitar
I've put hundreds of hours on the ducted effector platform, and it's worked great. I've even printed nylon up at 265C with it. No ill effects to report.
Re: Printing effector plates
Posted: Fri Feb 19, 2016 9:06 am
by Tincho85
Jimustanguitar wrote:I've put hundreds of hours on the ducted effector platform, and it's worked great. I've even printed nylon up at 265C with it. No ill effects to report.
Hi Jim, with what material did you make your effector platform?
Re: Printing effector plates
Posted: Fri Feb 19, 2016 9:32 am
by Jimustanguitar
ABS has been working just fine.
Re: Printing effector plates
Posted: Fri Feb 19, 2016 11:00 am
by Eaglezsoar
Where can I find an STL of the Rostock Max Effector that works with the stock and Trick laser arms. Also a good one for magnetic arms if someone knows of one.
Re: Printing effector plates
Posted: Sun Feb 21, 2016 2:38 pm
by nitewatchman
Jimustanguitar wrote:I've put hundreds of hours on the ducted effector platform, and it's worked great. I've even printed nylon up at 265C with it. No ill effects to report.
Same here with Jim's ducted effector printed from ABS, doesn't seem to be an issue at all.
gary