When people think of PEEK in 3D printing, they usually think of a part made out of PEEK, which is suitable for lower temperature plastics. [ND-3D] has another idea: printing with PEEK. See Hackaday.io for details. Below are some YouTube videos. With a special controller and halogen bulb, you can modify your own printer to use this exotic material commonly found in printer hot ends.
Logically, if PEEK is used near the hot end of normal printers, it must require a higher temperature to print. PEEK has a glass transition temperature of around 143°C and melts at 343°C. Compare this to PLA, which melts between 150 and 180°C and has a glass transition temperature of just 60°C.
The cost is reportedly under £200. Contrary to popular belief [ND-3D] recommends using an open frame for the printer. You need precise control of the halogen light. A custom board handles this. The halogen heater encloses a conventional hotend. Looks like it will keep your shop nice and warm on a cold morning.
We’ve been looking for more build details and hope they’ll be available soon. It seems you can buy the boards, but we’d like to get more information on what makes them different. We don’t realize it’s not just about controlling AC power and a heater, but there’s also not a lot of information on what needs to be done differently to work in PEEK or other exotic materials.
Of course, we also saw other high-temperature printers. Not to mention there’s no shortage of high-end commercial offerings.
