SunLu PA Nylon Filament – 1.75mm Transparent 1kg

The SunLu brand is among our favourite vibrant everyday filaments to print with, but what if you need something a bit tougher? 3D printing is all about creating and building a variety of different structures, objects and tools at a rapid place within your own home, office or workshop. However, sometimes regular PLA or even ABS is just not strong enough for our dream project. You need something that’ll handle being tossed senseless, stood on, or otherwise used in similar high stress applications. SunLu’s new PA Nylon Filament is perfect for crafting mechanical parts and tough functional projects.

Printing with nylon has many fantastic benefits like toughness, slight flexibility, and good resistances, which are worth the extra effort to print them right. SunLu PA Nylon Filament takes its place among these highly functional polymers with an outstanding thermal stability, chemical resistance and low friction. The transparent colour of the filament also lends to an interesting texture for your prints, allowing fun LED lighting to shine through. Design and print your own tough gears, bearings, electronic covers, and more strong models.

How to 3D Print with SunLu PA Nylon Filament?

One of the only perceived negatives about nylon – although this is simple to remedy with the right equipment – is the fact that it generally requires higher temperatures during the printing process. Firstly, you need to have a heated bed capable of reaching between 80°C and 120°C, as the low friction coefficient means it is more difficult to stick hot nylon to a cold surface. Secondly, the extrusion temperature needs to be around 255°C or higher, which is hot enough to melt PTFE and cause it to expel noxious fumes. However, with a reliable all-metal-hotend, which we make available for upgrading most of our 3D printers, this is not a problem as the PTFE tubing is high up in the cooling tower, situated far from the ‘melt zone’ or main heating area.

These initial difficulties for high rewards are why the 1kg spools of 1.75mm SunLu PA Nylon Filament are popular choices for experienced 3D Makers. Once the printer is set to the right specifications, it is just as easy to print with as ABS or PLA. Just be sure to keep it dry and away from moisture, as nylon is prone to absorbing moisture out of the air, which can result in bad layer adhesion as well as popping within the extruder.  Dry Nylon Filament will print smoothly with a shining finish, while wet nylon forms air bubbles as water trapped inside the material evaporate in the heat while printing. Often, success with SunLu PA Nylon Filament relies on you thoroughly drying it either by placing it in an oven at 70°C for 12 hours or using a Special Filament Dryer before printing. However, once you understand the pros and cons of SunLu PA Nylon Filament and how to properly attune your printer, you will certainly be amazed by this wonderous filament and incredible versatility.

Typical Applications for Nylon Filament:

Our 1kg rolls of 1.75mm SunLu PA Nylon Filament are a popular choice among Makers who want to print small objects with a lot of detail, or for those looking to print flexible and durable parts like gears, living hinges, bottlecaps and similar objects that may be subject to a lot of tensile stress. Offering many of benefits of ABS and PLA but without any of the drawbacks, nylon is definitely a worthwhile investment for a wide range of applications.

Please Note: This is regarded as a higher-difficulty polymer, and may require a lot of trial and error to get just right. For additional tips and helpful insights into the requirements and nuances of Nylon filament, or if you're unsure of just how difficult Nylon can be to print with, be sure to check out this Fantastic Nylon Printing Guide from MatterControl before investing in a whole spool.

Although it may not be a popular brand here in SA (yet!), many 3D Makers will recognise the name SunLu, as these fantastic 3D Filament Makers have been involved in 3D Printing since as far back as 2013, specialising in affordability & accessibility, but placing a strong focus on R&D & bringing new materials to the market for 3D Makers to enjoy.

From the classic PLA & ABS range through to the more exotic styles like PETG & TPU, as well as what we like to call Semi-Exotics like Marble & Twinkling Filament, SunLu has garnered a lot of experience in the world of 3D Filaments, & have one of the most comprehensive catalogues that the Hobbyist 3D Printing world has ever seen. This gives them a good spot amongst the leaders in 3D Filaments, & while they may not quite match the premium quality of Fillamentum & other high class brands, the affordability & range of options that SunLu offers is simply unbeatable even for the major players.

If you’re looking for a good brand to use for all kinds of different prints & applications, but don’t want to pay a premium, SunLu is the ideal brand that is ready to become your next new favourite. So get out there & start testing out the range that SunLu has to offer! With so many options available & a price that is low enough to simply take a chance with, there’s absolutely no reason why you shouldn’t give SunLu a chance & test this awesome brand out, to see if it’s a good fit for your 3D Printing fun.