Taulman Bridge Nylon
Manufactured by Taulman3D
Quick Summary
Bridge was the nylon that made nylon approachable. It prints at 250-260 °C, which is within reach of most all-metal hotends, and it produces parts with the properties people want from nylon: tough, slippery, wear resistant, and almost impossible to snap. It is still hygroscopic, still needs glue on the bed, and still rewards a dryer.
Print Settings That Work
255 °C nozzle. Bed guidance ranges from 70-80 °C in the older documentation up to 110 °C on glass or PEI for large parts, and hotter is better once the footprint grows.
Coat the plate with dilute PVA glue or a glue stick. This is not optional and it is not superstition; nylon bonds to PVA in a way that no bed texture replicates. Bare PEI works for small parts and lets go of big ones.
Turn part cooling off. Slow down to 40-50 mm/s. Dry the spool at around 70 °C for several hours before printing, and keep it in a dry box while it runs, because nylon absorbs water from the air faster than any other material on this site.
Print Quality
Layer adhesion is outstanding. Parts do not delaminate; they stretch, whiten, and eventually tear. That toughness is what makes Bridge good for living hinges, cable guides, and gears that see shock loads.
The natural colour is a translucent off-white that takes dye well, which is a genuine feature: Taulman nylons can be coloured after printing with ordinary fabric dye.
Surface finish is decent but not sharp; without part cooling, overhangs sag more than in PETG. Dimensional accuracy is fair, and parts move slightly as they absorb ambient humidity over the following days.
Where It Falls Short
Moisture is the recurring theme. A wet spool foams and hisses and produces weak, ugly parts, and unlike PETG it can go from fine to unusable in a day of open air.
Warping on large flat parts is real, and the small 450 g spools make the price per kilogram higher than it looks. Documentation is dated compared to what modern brands publish.
Verdict
Bridge remains a good introduction to nylon and a good material for tough, self-lubricating parts on a printer without a chamber. If you need stiffness and dimensional stability, print a carbon-filled nylon instead; if you need impact toughness and a hinge that survives thousands of cycles, this is still the easy answer.
- Taulman Bridge Nylon vs polymide copa — CoPA is the more refined modern equivalent with better documentation and lower moisture pickup; Bridge is cheaper and still prints beautifully tough parts.
- Taulman Bridge Nylon vs polymide pa6 cf — PA6-CF is far stiffer and more dimensionally stable; Bridge is tougher under impact and much easier to print.
- Taulman Bridge Nylon vs bambu paht cf — PAHT-CF handles heat and load better; Bridge is the choice when you want nylon toughness without a hardened nozzle and a warm chamber.
What temperature should I print Taulman Bridge at?
Taulman recommends 250-260 °C at the nozzle. Bed guidance varies from 70-80 °C up to 110 °C on glass or PEI; hotter helps large parts stay flat. Keep part cooling off.
How do I get nylon to stick to the bed?
PVA. A wipe of dilute white glue or a PVA glue stick on glass or PEI is the standard answer and it works better than any surface texture. Nylon bonds to PVA chemically in a way it does not to bare plates.
Why is Bridge called the easy nylon?
It prints cooler than most nylons, warps less than PA6, and does not need a heated chamber for medium parts. Compared to a carbon-filled engineering nylon it is close to relaxed.