Can You 3D Print Delrin? The Complete 2025 Guide

The Direct Answer

Yes, you can 3D print Delrin, also known as POM or Acetal, but it is very hard and not recommended for most users and home printers. Successfully printing this material requires special equipment, deep knowledge of materials, and strict safety rules that go beyond what typical hobbyists or even advanced home users can handle.

The main reasons for this difficulty are serious and often impossible to overcome without the right equipment. These challenges include:

• Extreme warping due to high heat shrinkage.
• Very poor bed sticking to all standard print surfaces.
• The release of dangerous formaldehyde gas during printing.

In this guide, we will explore what makes Delrin so appealing, detail the major challenges you will face, and specify the special equipment needed for any chance of success. We will then provide a printing guide for experts who are determined to try. Most importantly, we will discuss several excellent, much easier-to-print alternatives that can deliver similar performance without the huge difficulty and safety risks.

What is Delrin (POM)?

Delrin is a well-known brand name for Polyoxymethylene (POM), a high-performance engineering plastic. In the world of traditional manufacturing, like CNC machining and injection molding, it's a superstar material. Its reputation is built on a unique combination of properties that make it ideal for mechanical parts that need to slide, turn, or handle repeated stress.

The main reason someone would want to 3D print Delrin is to use these excellent properties for working prototypes and final parts. Its key characteristics include:

• Very Low Friction: It has a naturally slippery, self-lubricating surface. This makes it a top choice for gears, bearings, bushings, and any part that slides against another.
• High Stiffness & Strength: POM parts are rigid and resist bending under load, ensuring they keep their shape in mechanical assemblies.
• Excellent Wear Resistance: It holds up incredibly well to scraping and repeated motion, giving parts a long service life.
• Good Chemical Resistance: It resists many solvents, fuels, and other industrial chemicals, making it suitable for use in harsh environments.

The source of these fantastic properties is also the source of its printing difficulty. POM is a semi-crystalline polymer. As it cools from a molten, shapeless state to a solid, its polymer chains organize into highly ordered crystalline structures. This transition releases a lot of energy and results in significant volume reduction, which is the root cause of the extreme warping we see in 3D printing.

The Major Hurdles

Attempting to 3D print Delrin on a standard home machine is a recipe for failure and frustration. The issues are not minor problems that can be solved with a simple slicer adjustment; they are fundamental material science problems. Understanding them is key to deciding whether to proceed or, more wisely, to seek an alternative.

Extreme Warping and Layer Separation

This is the most visible and immediate problem. The significant shrinkage POM undergoes as it cools from its printing temperature (around 220°C) to room temperature creates huge internal stress within the printed part. This stress pulls the part inward and upward, causing the corners to lift dramatically off the print bed. We have seen prints with a 100mm footprint lift a full 10-15mm at the corners, completely ruining the part.

This same stress also works between layers. Even if you manage some initial sticking, it's common for layers to split apart mid-print, a problem called delamination. You might return to a print that looks successful from a distance, only to find it has a massive horizontal crack through its center. Sometimes you can even hear the audible "ping" as the part violently detaches from the bed or a layer splits under the strain.

Critical Bed Sticking Issues

Delrin's low-friction properties work against it here. The material simply does not want to stick to anything. Common print surfaces are completely useless:

• PEI Sheets (Smooth or Textured): The part will slide right off.
• Glass: No sticking whatsoever.
• Painter's Tape / Glue Stick: These common aids fail almost instantly.

Achieving even minimal sticking requires special, and often disposable, build surfaces. Even with the right surface, the powerful warping forces often overcome the adhesive bond, leading to print failure. This isn't a matter of getting the first layer "squish" just right; it's a fundamental chemical incompatibility.

Dangerous Fumes Safety Risk

This is the most critical challenge and a non-negotiable safety issue. When heated to its printing temperature, POM undergoes thermal breakdown and releases formaldehyde gas. Formaldehyde is a known human cancer-causing agent, as well as a strong irritant to the eyes, nose, and breathing system.

Let us be perfectly clear: a standard 3D printer enclosure is not enough to manage this risk. An enclosure without active ventilation will simply trap the gas, concentrating it. Opening the door after a print releases a cloud of dangerous fumes into your workspace.

Printing Delrin safely requires, at minimum, a professional-grade fume removal system with multi-stage HEPA and activated carbon filters, or a dedicated ventilation setup that ducts the fumes from the enclosure directly to the outdoors. Printing this material in a poorly ventilated room, office, or home environment poses a serious, long-term health risk.

Material Inconsistency and Clogging

While less severe than the other issues, POM can be a finicky material to push through the nozzle. Its melting point is very specific, and temperature changes in the hotend can lead to inconsistent flow or even nozzle clogs. The material's stiffness also means that if a clog does occur, it can be more difficult to clear than with a softer material like PLA.

The Specialist's Toolkit

If you are an expert with access to industrial-grade equipment and are prepared to manage the safety protocols, success is possible. However, it requires a very specific set of tools that go far beyond a typical 3D printing setup. Do not attempt to print Delrin without this hardware.

1. A High-Temperature, Fully Enclosed Printer
   The single most important tool for fighting warp is a heated chamber. You need a printer capable of actively maintaining an ambient chamber temperature of at least 60°C, with higher temperatures being even better. This reduces the temperature difference between the extruded plastic and the surrounding air, lessening the internal stresses that cause warping. The printer must also be built with components that can withstand this high ambient temperature for extended periods.

2. A Special Print Surface
   Since Delrin won't stick to normal surfaces, you must use a platform it can bond to. The most common successful surfaces are cellulose-based materials like a clean, unfinished piece of wood, MDF, or special fiberboard. The molten POM can fuse with the wood fibers to create a strong mechanical bond. This often means the build plate is a consumable item. Even with this, a very large brim (20-30 lines) or a raft is mandatory to increase surface area.

3. A Hardened Steel Nozzle
   While pure POM isn't typically as abrasive as carbon-fiber-filled filaments, some commercial POM filaments can contain additives that cause wear on a standard brass nozzle over time. A hardened steel nozzle is a durable, inexpensive upgrade that eliminates this variable and ensures consistent extrusion geometry.

4. Professional Fume Removal
   We cannot overstate this. You must have a system to handle the formaldehyde fumes. This means either a direct ventilation hose from the printer enclosure to an outside window or a robust, multi-stage filtration unit specifically designed to capture volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and cancer-causing agents. A small desktop air purifier is not adequate.

5. Precise Temperature Control
   Dialing in the temperatures for POM is a delicate balance. You need a printer with a high-quality controller and reliable heating elements capable of maintaining the following demanding temperature ranges without fluctuation:

   • Extruder Temperature: 210-230°C. This narrow window is critical; too low and you get poor layer adhesion, too high and you dramatically increase formaldehyde off-gassing.
   • Bed Temperature: 130-150°C. This is significantly hotter than most home printers can safely or reliably achieve. This high temperature is needed to promote adhesion and reduce warping at the base of the part.
   • Chamber Temperature: >60°C. As stable and as hot as possible.

Practical Alternatives

For the vast majority of users, the real question isn't "how can I print Delrin," but "how can I get Delrin-like performance without the headache?" Fortunately, the material market in 2025 offers several fantastic and highly printable alternatives that solve the underlying need for low-friction, durable parts. This is the recommended path for almost everyone.

Top Contenders

• PETG: For projects where you need more strength and durability than PLA, PETG is a great starting point. It's easy to print, has good layer adhesion, and offers decent chemical resistance. While it is not a true low-friction material, its general toughness makes it a workhorse for many mechanical parts that don't have high-wear, sliding requirements.

• Nylon (Polyamide): This is an excellent alternative for Delrin. Nylon is incredibly tough, durable, and has a naturally low coefficient of friction, making it great for gears and living hinges. While not quite as slippery as POM, its superior toughness and printability (on the right hardware) make it a top choice. Its main printing challenge is its water-absorbing nature, meaning it must be kept perfectly dry before and during printing.

• Special POM Copolymers: Some filament manufacturers have developed POM blends or copolymers specifically for 3D printing. These materials are engineered to have reduced shrinkage and better adhesion than pure POM homopolymers. While they are still advanced materials that require an enclosure and careful tuning, they are significantly more manageable than pure Delrin and represent a viable middle ground for experienced users.

• Tribo-Filaments: This is a category of materials from various manufacturers designed specifically for low-friction and high-wear applications. These are often based on PETG or other polymers but are infused with lubricants like PTFE or other proprietary additives. They are designed from the ground up to be printable while providing self-lubricating properties, directly competing with POM for bearing and gear applications.

Comparison Matrix

To help you choose, we've broken down the key characteristics of these materials in a direct comparison.

A Guide for Experts

If you have the specialist's toolkit and have accepted the risks, this condensed guide provides a workflow for attempting a POM print. This guide assumes you have all the special equipment and safety measures mentioned previously. Proceed at your own risk.

1. Prepare Your Material
   Although POM is not as water-absorbing as Nylon, it can still absorb moisture. For best results, dry your filament in a dedicated filament dryer for 4-6 hours at around 80°C.

2. Prepare Your Printer
   Place your cellulose-based build plate (e.g., MDF) on the print bed. Pre-heat the entire system—nozzle, bed, and chamber—for at least 30 to 60 minutes before starting. You need a thermally stable environment to have any chance of success.

3. Dial In Slicer Settings
   Start with a small, simple calibration cube. Do not attempt a large print first.

   • Print Speed: Go very slow. Start at 20-30 mm/s for all features. Speed is your enemy.
   • Cooling Fan: Set the part cooling fan to 0%. The fan must remain off for the entire print to prevent rapid, uneven cooling.
   • Adhesion: Use a raft or a very wide brim (at least 20-30 lines) to maximize contact with the build plate.

4. Start and Observe
   Watch the first layer go down carefully. It must be perfect. Stay with the printer (while observing all safety precautions) for the first several layers to watch for any signs of lifting. If a corner starts to lift, the print is likely to fail.

5. Post-Processing
   Once the print is complete, do not open the enclosure door. Turn off the heaters and allow the part to cool down to room temperature as slowly as possible inside the sealed chamber. This process can take several hours but is crucial for minimizing internal stress and preventing post-print cracking.

The Final Verdict

So, can you 3d print delrin? The answer remains a qualified yes. It is technically possible but firmly falls into the category of an expert-level, industrial-grade challenge. The extreme warping, impossible bed adhesion, and dangerous formaldehyde fumes make it an impractical and unsafe choice for nearly all users operating outside of a professional lab or workshop.

For over 99% of applications, a far more practical and effective solution is to choose one of the excellent alternatives now available. Materials like Nylon, special POM copolymers, or dedicated tribo-filaments offer comparable low-friction and high-wear properties without the insurmountable hurdles of pure Delrin.

Ultimately, the goal is to create a functional part that solves a problem. Choosing the right, most reliable material for the job—not necessarily the most difficult one—is the true hallmark of an experienced engineer and maker.