Printing Nylon

Printing Nylon
Tips and applications for printing with nylon filament
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Choosing the right 3D printing filament can be a challenge. With so many available, it can be difficult to weigh your options and make the best decision based on your use case and application. In this blog, we’ll go over one of the most versatile 3D printing materials out there: nylon filament.
Nylon 3D printing filament is a synthetic polymer known as a “thermoplastic,” which means that it softens upon heating, liquifies upon melting, and hardens when cooled – and is able to repeat these processes. In addition to FFF 3D printing, nylon is also used in other 3D printing processes, such as selective laser sintering (SLS), as well as more traditional processes like injection molding.
Nylon 3D printing filament is strong, flexible, durable, and abrasion-resistant-resistant. It also has a low friction coefficient, which enables its wear and impact-resistant properties.
When compared to other filaments, nylon is stronger but less stiff than both PLA and ABS. It is, however, much more flexible and features better impact resistance and chemical resistance, especially for applications where greases are commonly used.
Nylon 3D printing filament also has some negative properties. It is prone to warping – a result of the material crystallizing. It is also hygroscopic, meaning it absorbs moisture from the air. This can lead to filament that is wet or damp, resulting in inconsistent final prints with lower mechanical properties. As such, nylon 3D printing filament should be stored in a dry place, such as the Ultimaker S5 Material Station . If your nylon filament should become wet, however, all is not lost. Moisture-sensitive filaments such as nylon, PVA, and TPU95A can be dried overnight (for 10-20 hours) and then used as normal.
When printing nylon, you can print it alone with a single-extrusion 3D printer, or in combination with PVA and Breakaway material on 3D printers that allow for dual extrusion, such as the Ultimaker S5 . When printed with a dual extruder, nylon can also be combined with TPU 95A or another color of nylon.
Nylon is typically printed at temperatures between 230 and 260 °C, with a build plate temperature between 40 and 70 °C. The exact temperature will depend on your 3D printer, nozzle size, and print profile. On the Ultimaker S5, for example, with a 0.25 mm print core, Nylon is printed at 230 °C, while on the same printer with a 0.8 mm print core, you’ll set your temperature to 245 °C. In any case, one should print well above Nylon’s melting temperature (190 °C).
It's also worth mentioning that 3D printers without all-metal hotends may not be capable of reaching the high temperatures need to print nylon – so keep this in mind when preparing to print.
As mentioned above, nylon is prone to warpage. To prevent this, you must ensure that you have applied a sufficient amount of adhesive, such as Magigoo PA, to your print bed. Using a heated build plate – typically at 40 °C – during the 3D printing process will also act as a preventative. As an added precaution, you can also use Ultimaker Cura to turn off your 3D printer’s cooling fans during printing, so that your nylon 3D printing filament warps less. Ultimaker Nylon 3D printing filament, however, is not as prone to warpage or delamination – and is more resistant to humidity than other nylon 3D printing filaments – and therefore does not need additional accessories to create a good printing environment.
Because of its strength, durability, and flexibility, nylon 3D printing filament serves as a solution to engineers, designers, and manufacturers who are seeking to achieve multiple mechanical requirements in a single print. Some of the common real-world uses for nylon 3D printing filament include:
Because of its multiple beneficial properties – especially its ability to replicate the flexible characteristics of mass-produced, injection-molded nylon parts – nylon 3D printing filament is a good candidate for functional prototypes. Companies such as Idea Reality , a Hampshire, England-based product design and development studio, have used these properties to help them iterate, refine, and create high-quality final products.
The studio used a nylon 3D printing material to create a prototype for a backpack that takes the weight off the wearer’s shoulders via an ergonomic design – meaning it needed to withstand and adapt to near-constant fluctuations in pressure from the wearer’s movements.
Nylon’s versatility and reliability are well suited to the creation of tools for use in hard-working environments and harsh conditions such as those seen in the automotive industry. Formula 3 team Van Amersfoort Racing , for example, used a nylon material that contains 20% carbon fiber, to create a rear-alignment tool for its vehicles. The Clariant PA6/66 20CF (no longer available but replaced by NovamidID1030CF10 ).
The tool utilizes carbon rods, from which a stretched wire acts as a reference for a racecar’s center point – meaning it’s extremely important, that the rods are accurately positioned. Standard materials such as PLA are not strong and stiff enough, but Ultimaker’s open-filament system along with a nylon filament were perfect for the job.
Because of its flexibility and durability, design studios use nylon 3D printing material to create industrial or architectural models. These models can be printed or assembled into complex, previously unattainable designs and shapes because of nylon’s versatility.
Nylon’s exceptional strength and durability make it appropriate for final, or end-use, parts that can be used long-term. Take US-based Snow Business , which uses nylon 3D printing filament and water-soluble PVA to create nozzles for the snow machines it manufactures for the TV and film industry.
Rather than the two-part process it previously used with ABS material, Snow Business prints its nozzles with nylon in one piece, leaving finished parts unmarked and unblemished, and saving time during post-processing.
Want to learn more about nylon 3D printing filament? Read our support page on “How to print with Ultimaker Nylon” or visit the Ultimaker Nylon materials page.

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If you are printing functional parts that need to be durable, nylon is a great choice because it is stronger than standard filament materials such as ABS. Since it has some flexibility while still remaining a rigid material, nylon can absorb a lot of force without breaking and has exceptional impact resistance. If you own a Creality 3D printer such as an Ender 3 or CR-10, you may be asking: can I print with nylon on my 3D printer, or is it only possible on commercial-grade 3D printers?
Fortunately, printing with nylon is definitely possible with Creality 3D printers, however it is not an easy material to work with. Overcoming the challenges of working with nylon will require you to either make modifications to your 3D printer, or use special blends that make it possible to print without upgrades. In this article, we will explain the challenges and show you how to overcome them so you can print nylon on your Creality 3D printer.
Note: Creality Experts receives a commission for items you purchase from this page, at no additional cost to you. For more information, please see our affiliate link policy .
For pure nylon filaments, you’ll need to heat your hot end to at least 270 °C or above to effectively print with it, which is substantially hotter than other materials. Stock Creality 3D printers can only reach 260 °C since they use PTFE tubing to route the filament to the nozzle, which starts to melt above 260 °C. In order to go hotter, you’ll need to upgrade to an all-metal or Bimetallic hot end. We recommend installing the Slice Engineering Bimetallic heat break, which you can learn more about in our bimetallic heat break installation guide .
On the standard hot end, the PTFE tubing extends all the way to the nozzle and is exposed to the hot temperature of the heat block.
With a bimetalli heat break, the PTFE is fully within the cool zone, allowing you to heat the nozzle to far higher temperature without damaging the PTFE tube.
You’ll also update the firmware of your printer to override the maximum temperature limit, which defaults to 260° C. The process for doing this varies depending on your 3D printer, and is beyond the scope of this guide. That said, everything you need to rebuild and update the printer firmware is available online for free.
Fortunately, there are nylon blends that can be printed well at temperatures at or below 260 °C, which will allow you to print nylon with the standard firmware that your printer already has. Even if you go with one of these options, we recommend upgrading to a bimetallic heat break if you plan to print nylon often, since the high temperatures will cause additional wear to the PTFE tubing in the standard hot end. We have tried a few of these blends and will take a look at them later in the article.
Since nylon shrinks as it cools, it is important to make sure it is printed in a heated environment to slow down the cooling speed. A 3D printer enclosure is critical for success with nylon if you are printing larger parts. Nylon blends mitigate this somewhat, but we still recommend using an enclosure for nylon printing. You can see one suitable 3D printer enclosure on Amazon here.
Nylon is notorious for absorbing ambient humidity much more quickly than other filaments, and typically must be dried right before use. If not dry, the surface quality and strength of your parts will suffer. You can purchase a filament drybox enclosure to keep filament dry to aid with this issue. We do not recommend using a home oven for this purpose since it is very easy to overheat and melt the filament spool, causing a fire hazard. However, a food dehydrator large enough to fit filament is an effective way to dry it. You can view our recommended filament drybox on Amazon here.
If your printer is upgraded to be capable of higher print temperatures, you can print with a pure nylon.
Recommendation: Overture Nylon (view on Amazon) is a great option with an affordable price tag compared to other nylon options.
This will require upgrading your printer to an all-metal hot end or equivalent, such as the bimetallic heat break which can be easily installed on most Creality 3D printers. You will also need to update the firmware to allow temperatures above 260 °C.
A thin layer of PVA glue (a standard glue stick) on a glass print bed provides the best bed adhesion for nylon.
Interestingly, an extremely hot bed does not help with nylon adhesion like it does with ABS. Nylon has a glass transition temperature of 70 °C, so any hotter than this will increase warping. We recommend using a PVA glue stick on a glass print bed for the best results with nylon.
For Bowden extruder setups, Nylon should be printed slowly since it does have some flex similar to TPU, though it is rigid enough to allow retraction. For direct drive, you can print somewhat faster and with more retraction.
Like ABS, cooling cannot be used with nylon since it needs to cool as slowly as possible to reduce warping and delamination.
If you are looking to print with nylon without substantial upgrades, there are a number of nylon blends available which provide many of the benefits of nylon without requiring firmware upgrades to print at higher temperatures. We have two recommended options for nylon blends.
Matterhackers NylonX is a Nylon blend that is infused with carbon fiber to provide additional tensile strength. This blend also includes additives which allow the material to be printed at 250C, which is within the range of stock Creality printers. While this filament is quite expensive, it is a great option for end use parts since it is both easier to print with and stronger than standard nylon.
The carbon fiber in this blend makes it more abrasive, so it will wear down your nozzle more quickly. You may want to use a hardened steel nozzle when printing with it, or be willing to replace your nozzle more frequently.
Nozzle Temperature: 255-260 °C Bed Temperature: 65 °C, with PVA glue stick on glass Printing Speed: 30 mm/s Maximum Cooling Fan Speed: No fan
If you would prefer to print nylon at cooler temperatures and do not want to upgrade the hot end of your printer, we recommend Taulman Nylon 230 (view on Amazon) , which is a nylon blend that can be printed effectively at 230 °C. This nylon filament is still difficult to print, requiring that you keep it dry and print it in an enclosure, but can be used with a stock Creality 3D printer. Since this material is a blend, it is not quite as strong as pure nylon filaments, but the trade-off can be worth it for the cooler printing temperature.
When we tested this filament, we found printing it a bit hotter helped to improve the layer adhesion. The surface finish and overhang performance wasn’t quite as good as the NylonX, but we were still happy with the results for a nylon print on a stock Creality 3D printer.
Nozzle Temperature: 235-240 °C Bed Temperature: 45 °C, with PVA glue stick on glass Printing Speed: 30 mm/s Maximum Cooling Fan Speed: No fan
If you are interested in printing with either pure nylon or nylon blends, we definitely suggest looking into upgrading to a bimetallic heat break, since this upgrade will also help keep your hot end problem free with other standard materials as well. Take a look at our bimetallic heat break guide for more information on how it helps, and how to install it.
If you’re interested in printing other types of filament on your Creality 3D printer, including filament that is easier to print with, check out our complete filament printing guide.
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Tough and partially flexible
High impact resistance
No unpleasant odor while printing
Good abrasion resistance

Prone to Warping
Air-tight storage required to prevent water absorption
Improperly dried filaments can cause printing defects
Not suitable for moist and humid environments

Use an Enclosure to Prevent Warping

If you do not have air-tight containers for storing your filament, you can dry the spools just before use by running them through a Food Dehydrator. A few hours in this device will dry the filament significantly.
Nylon makes a good filament for cleaning your nozzle. You can use a technique called “cold pulling” where you allow the Nylon to bond to debris within the nozzle, and then after it partially cools, you pull the filament (and debris) out of the hotend.

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Nylon is a tough and semi-flexible material that offers high impact and abrasion resistance. It is an ideal choice for printing durable parts.

Nylon (a.k.a. Polyamide) is a popular material in the plastics industry, known for its toughness and flexibility. Nylon filaments typically require extruder temperatures near 250 ºC, however, some brands allow printing at temperatures as low as 220 ºC due to their chemical composition. Many printers do not include a hotend that can safely reach 250 ºC, so these lower-temperature versions can be useful and potentially save you from needing to upgrade your hotend. One big challenge with Nylon filaments is that they are hygroscopic, which means they readily absorb moisture from their surroundings. Printing Nylon after it has absorbed moisture will lead to several print quality issues, thus filament storage becomes very important and requires special attention.
Before 3D printing with Nylon make sure your 3D printer meets the hardware requirements listed below to ensure the best print quality.
Temperature: 70-90 °C
Heated Bed Required
Enclosure Recommended
Temperature: 225-265 °C
May require All-Metal hotend
These tips will help you reduce the chances of common 3D printing issues associated with Nylon such as warping and moisture absorption.
One of the challenging aspects of using Nylon is the need for a special storage system. Unlike other filaments, you cannot keep the filament spool exposed to the air for extended periods of time. Nylon easily absorbs moisture from the environment. Printing the moist filament will result in print quality issues like a foggy rough surfaces or even tiny holes or bubbles on the exterior. These printing issues can also s
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Printing Nylon

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