Z-Temp HE PTFE tube maintenance

[Padraicsdad]

Hi Julia,

Nothing is wrong; just wondering about the expected life of the PTFE tube at max rated temps or a little above.

My Z-Temp HE is printing fine using various PLAs, UltraT, Z-ABS, etc. However, my readings say the Zortrax M200 prints UltraT at ~260℃, Z-ABS at closer to 275℃ with thermal overruns even higher.

I now have a reason to print quite a bit of Z-ABS:
a. In rough terms, what has your experience been regarding the life of the PTFE tube at those temps?
b. What are the symptoms when the PTFE has seriously degraded?

Tnx,

Jeff

[zen17h]

While I cannot give any info on the lifetime of tubes at that temperature, had a similar concern printing with Z-ULTRAT(~260º and ABS(generic brand, Z-TEMP materials guide show ~245º). I didn't have any Z-ABS to test with.

Since the PTFE tube's 'safe' temperature is around 250º degrees, I decided to be a little cautious and try printing at around 240º. Both materials came out great, in fact support structures were a little easier to remove using the lower temperature.

Julia also posted a few photos of a PTFE tube that ran at high temperatures here, with the tube suffering only some burn marks and very slight distortion. This could indicate an issue if you plan on doing it over the long term, but since printing seems fine after sticking to lower temperatures, I'd say rather do that and avoid potential damage in the first place

[Julia Truchsess]

I don't have hard data, but the tube will probably start to look pretty awful after 20 hours or so of high-temp printing. Just because it looks awful, though, doesn't mean it's affecting prints - I've never actually seen a confirmed correlation between print defects and a degraded tube. It certainly doesn't hurt to change it now and then, and the tubing is not terribly expensive.

It can be a bit of a pain to remove - worst-case, just ream it out with a 3mm drill bit.

[Padraicsdad]

Thanks Zen and Julia. You are confirming that I'm not out in left field standing under a piano. (uh, can you spell mixed metaphor?  )

Since I installed my ZT HE I have printed a fair amount of both Z-ABS and UltraT, letting Zortrax set the temps. So far I haven't noticed any changes in performance, burnt stuff in the print, etc. Also, I tried printing UltraT at 240℃ and Z-ABS at 255℃ and both seemed to work. But sometimes it's quiet.... too quiet.... so I thought I'd ask.

From what you've said it sounds like my PTFE tube is probably crispy already. However, since that doesn't seem to be hurting anything and I can probably print Z-ABS even lower, I think I'll let sleeping hotends lie (there I go again) and start my Z-ABS task at about 245℃. If anyone cares, I'll let you know how that goes.

Tnx again,

Jeff

 

[Julia Truchsess]

I do care - please let us know how you get on, thanks Jeff!