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Aging Nylon 12 Tough Powder before first use

Aging Nylon 12 Tough Powder before first use

Nylon 12 Tough Powder benefits from the presence of recycled powder when printing. To create the recycled powder needed for the first print of a new material, Formlabs recommends aging a build chamber of fresh powder in the printer. The aging process only needs to be performed once per powder type to create sufficient recycled powder for the first print.

Notice:

Skipping the aging process increases the risk of print failures and surface defects on printed parts.

To age Nylon 12 Tough Powder:

  1. Ensure that your printer’s firmware is up to date.
  2. Update PreForm to its latest version.
  3. Fill the printer hopper to the 10 L mark. This is equivalent to 6 kg of fresh powder.
  4. Download the FLZ file.
  5. In PreForm, select your printer. In the sidebar on the right, click Upload Diagnostic Print. The Upload Diagnostic Print window appears.
  6. Click Browse and select the downloaded FLZ file.
  7. Click OK to send the print file to the selected printer.
Upload Diagnostic Print
  1. After the upload is finished, start the print on the printer touchscreen. The print should take 13 hours to complete on a Fuse 1+ 30W printer.
  2. When the powder is safe to handle, extract the powder cake in the Fuse Sift or Fuse Depowdering Kit.

    3. Note:

    Powder may be stiff or clumped after the aging process. Sieve the powder thoroughly in the Fuse Sift or Fuse Depowdering Kit before filling a powder cartridge.

  3. Fill a powder cartridge with a mix of fresh and used powder. Follow Formlabs recommendations for the correct refresh rate for your material.
  4. Insert the mix of aged powder and fresh powder into the printer and begin printing.