Review on 🔧 Polymaker PC Filament 1: Ultimate Strength and Versatility for 3D Printing by Doug Virden

I work a lot with PC and its blends, pushing the boundaries of what can be made into a functional part with a 3D printer. I've probably tried/used PCs from about 5 different manufacturers. My general comments are: 1) Polycarbonate (PC) is the most durable and heat resistant of all materials that can be printed on consumer printers. For solid, strong and functional parts you won't find anything better. (PS: If you have a commercial printer, you can play around with other even better performing resins like Ultem, PPSU, PEEK, etc.) 2) Out of the PC products, this one is by far the best. In general, PC is difficult to process, primarily due to its tendency to run at very high temperatures and its constant tendency to warp. Polymaker really has this stuff: It's much easier to work with while still retaining all the strength (maybe more) of bare PC and about 90% of the heat resistance of bare PC. Printing tips: PC loves heat. . Polymaker recommends 230-270°C which is actually an indication that they did something with this mix as the more common PC wants to print at around 300°C. I print PC-Max at 270°C and get excellent layer adhesion and surface finish, even at print speeds around 60-70mm/s. As much as he loves the heat of the nozzle, he seems to want a layer temperature of around 90-100°C , and more importantly, for fairly complex geometries or large parts, he likes the construction heating chamber. I have a controlled chamber where I can get into the mid 60°C range and it works very well. I'm printing directly onto the surface of a PEI build with only a few mm edges around the part and I don't really have a problem with it not sticking to the build surface, but PC is known to warp and not stick to the surface You just can't get it to stick, try building like this or with an ABS slurry to keep it on the surface. Be careful when removing supports and the like from the PC after printing. This is a VERY hard material and the small edges will cut you fairly easily. The only downside I have is that while it has excellent HDT compared to other materials, it *doesn't* have the heat resistance of virgin polycarbonate (I've tested several samples and I suspect HDT is around 115C at <0.5 MPa). . Also, Polymaker's supply chain appears to be a little volatile, with items going to be in stock for about a month and then sold out again for a month or two. This can be a problem when you rely on functional, salable parts. In summary, PC-Max is the best PC out there. Thanks Polymaker, keep up the good work!