BigRep has customers in dozens of countries around the world. To provide the most consistent results for that massive web, they also make their own filament in 10 different materials. We’ll go through most of their selection and start with PRO HT, one of their most popular materials.
We’ll be using the Ultimaker S5 for some testing and we’ll be reviewing the S5 as well, so we’re looking forward to that!
PRO HT is an alternative to plant-based PLA that has a significantly higher softening temperature of 115°C, making it ideal for many end-use applications. That’s a fancy way of saying that it can be used outside in full sun without warping, something that can’t be said for PLA. While PLA can’t handle full sun or high-temperature environments, it does boast a high degree of printability, and that’s the trait BigRep points to when it says “PLA alternative.” But is it a fair comparison? Is it easy to print? Will it survive outside in the sun? We’ll find out!
At first glance, what stands out the most about the PRO HT coil is its size, at a healthy 2.5kg. That’s a bit larger than the standard 1kg spool we’re all familiar with, but remember that BigRep specializes in XL 3D printing, so you’re actually on the small end of their size offerings, which They reach a huge 8 kg. After my eyes adjusted to the size, it became apparent that this filament is manufactured with robust quality controls. It is neatly rolled and has a constant diameter and a round shape throughout. The ‘nature’ color has good opacity.
Standard PLA setups were used on the S5 for loading the material and also for slicing in Cura. Most of the test prints were printed at the default settings, some at 0.15mm and some at 0.2mm. The nozzle was at 200°C and the bed at 60°C. The first object I print with any material is Benchy.
This was printed with 0.15mm layers and it looks fantastic. The walls are smooth, the pillars are clean, and the cantilevers and bridges are spotless. The banding looks like a blemish, but it’s a result of the solid layers taking longer to print and therefore cooling down more, which has an effect on gloss.
Benchy’s quality got me excited for the next test, the all-in-one 3D printer test. I was not disappointed. This is a brutal test of steep overhangs, thin walls, circle and rectangle dimensionality, pillars, text, and recessed details. PRO HT scored highly in all categories. The only problem was something the model didn’t specifically test for; there was some warping when one of the corners peeled off slightly. Otherwise this is the best copy of this model that I have ever printed.
The next step is the bridge test. I changed the layer height to 0.2mm for this and the rest of the prints. It worked pretty well here with only a few missing extrusion lines. There’s not a lot of sagging on the bridges with no stray lines, which is the most important part.
As always I printed some vertical pull bars to test the adhesion of the layer. Note that these are printed on a different machine with different slicing software than was used in our previous filament reviews, so the results here aren’t really comparable to previous results. I’ll be using the same general print settings (0.2mm and 20% infill) for this test on all BigRep materials so these results can be compared to all of those. PRO HT broke at 38lbs, 38lbs and 40lbs for an average of 38.6lbs. That’s fine, but it’s not great. Other BigRep materials fare better.
To test for heat deflection, I printed a rectangular bar, measured its dimensions, annealed it in my furnace, and measured it again.
- Original dimensions: 20.3mm x 120.4mm x 5.92mm
- Dimensions after annealing: 20.25mm x 119.8mm x 5.96mm
There is very little change. There was a small amount of warping in the longest dimension, which I was surprised to see.
But I wanted to find out if PRO HT could really take the heat, and what better way to test if a material would melt outside than to print a digital sundial and set it up in the Sacramento sun. It has been here for several days and is still keeping time well. Therefore, this material should withstand a much wider range of uses than PLA.
Conclusion
Overall I really like this filament. It’s easy to print, though not as easy as PLA due to the minimal amount of peeling I found on one part. The surface finish is silky smooth and the printed parts feel really solid. But the fact that it can survive outdoors makes it incredibly valuable in a wide range of applications.
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