3D Printing Review: Prusament PC Blend

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Prusament PC Blend
Urban Gray Poiy Carbonate Blend.jpeg
Company:
Prusa is a widely known company for high-quality 3D printing. Although it is not an American company, it is known for its high reliability and top-notch products with near-perfect support. They are located in age Czech Republic.

Products: Prusa is not a one-product wonder. They offer a wide variety of 3D Printers and printing materials that are unequal in quality and have a large variety of colors. This review will be of the PC Blend.

Price: The current price is $49.99. Link: Prusa PC Blend in Urban Grey.

Introduction: To be honest, I am a huge user of Prusament filament so when I saw this new product, I jumped on a purchase ASAP. It is being billed as PC Blend is perfect for stronger, more durable 3D prints. It is reportedly an excellent choice for printing mechanically stressed parts. Compared to other materials, PC Blend is high-temperature resistance. This means that is would be perfect for parts exposed to heat such as fan shrouds on the 3D Printers. It would also be an idea where impact resistance or tensile strength is needed. The following graph is from the Prusa website and gives a good comparison of the properties possessed by the different filaments they sell.



graph_Comparison-Filamants.png

I have only printed it for a weekend. I started off with the generic PC Blend settings on my Prusa MK3S and they never needed adjusting. I did have several failed prints at first because I had to turn in my printer to the new filament. It warped like crazy until I got the right settings on my Z level. So far, I have replaced my parts for my Prusa Mosquito with Urban Grey PC Blend.

Color: It comes in Urban Grey, Galaxy Black, and Natural.

Prusa-Replacement-part.jpeg

Filament quality: The quality is top-notch. This stuff is tough as nails. The part above is printed in PC Urban Grey. I chose this product because I need a tough Pinda Probe attachment. I could not get any bend at 25% infill and the parts I printed at 40%, you can forget it. It is hydration sensitive so, you will want to keep it in a bag. Near 100% uniform diameter.

Ease of use: Once you get it dialed in with a Z value, it prints perfectly. Each roll comes with a glue stick. Never print without a coat fo glue stick. This stuff is very sticky once you Z is dialed in.

Packaging: I love the recyclable and reusable spools. They had a contest early on to encourage users to find another use for their spools. There are a lot of options available on their website.

Print quality: None of the test prints failed once I nailed in the Z level. The surfaces turned out to be smooth and slightly shiny. The grey color came out a little bland, but It allows me to see which parts are the original black or orange vs. PC Blend. The color and print consistency are perfect in my book. I printed about 8-10 small prints with the filament. I had zero jams and 100% print success. Zero quality concerns with the filament or prints it produced.

Approval: I would purchase this product in the future. In fact, I have three new spools on the way! I rate this as 98/100. I would have rated it better if the price was better. It is a premium product at a premium price.

I standby for your questions.
 
Thank you for the review. It's cool to see what new filaments are coming. The graph is impressive. Hope prices come down quickly!

I doubt the price will come down much. This is right in line with other polycarbonates. Polycarbonates and PC blends are premium filaments.

Examples:
  1. 3DXMAX PC-ABS
  2. 3DXMAX Polycarbonate Filament Natural
  3. Aibecy 1KG/ Spool PC Polycarbonate Filament
I have used these and a couple more. I have never been able to get the results I am getting with Prusament with any of them. This stuff is amazing! I do like the 3DMAX stuff. If might be close to Prusament, but ti is also $43-46 a 0.5 Kg spool.
 
Do you have any feedback yet on how the blend affects the fantastic inter-layer adhesion strength of regular polycarbonate?

Are you printing on the smooth or textured flexible PEI sheet?

Thanks for the review!
 
You mention Z tuning - but not what direct you ended up with. Higher or lower than usual - and what material counts as usual?
 
You mention Z tuning - but not what direct you ended up with. Higher or lower than usual - and what material counts as usual?

Lower than PLA and PETG. If I kept it at the level of PETG, it curled off the bed or did not stick. Once ti does stick, this stuff does not want to come off. I would not print without glue stick.
 
Nozzle 275
Bed: 110

I use variable settings for speed 25-80 depending on the layer and middle vs perimeter.
 
Chuck,

Thank you for your review!

Prusa says you can print on either the smooth or textured sheet: have you tried both? Which do you prefer?

Have you printed brims or skirts on your test parts so far, or was the live Z tuning enough to combat warping?

My first roll of it arrived yesterday, so I'll be trying it out soon!
 
Chuck,

Thank you for your review!

Prusa says you can print on either the smooth or textured sheet: have you tried both? Which do you prefer?

Have you printed brims or skirts on your test parts so far, or was the live Z tuning enough to combat warping?

My first roll of it arrived yesterday, so I'll be trying it out soon!

I have printed it on both. Both work. I prefer textured.
 
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