Hatchbox Silver PLA settings?

Question

I have a RepRap Prusa i2. I have done the majority of my printing with clear PLA that I got on the cheap from eBay. It works just fine.

I bought a roll of Hatchbox Silver PLA (1.75 mm) from Amazon. I have never had a print go well with it. I have tried various combinations of hotter and cooler extruder and bed (180 - 220°C extruder, 50 - 78°C bed). Prints always either curl up from the bed after 5-20 layers are deposited or delaminate in the middle of the print. I print directly on the heated glass bed, and have also tried various cooling fan settings.

Does anyone have good settings (Slic3r) to use with this stuff? Or any other advice for getting a successful print?

Answer 1

I've been using Hatchbox 1.75 mm (but white), and settled on 190°C extruder temp, and 60°C bed. I've had trouble getting some prints to adhere to the bed, but most have been ok; I don't see a clear pattern. I don't know whether it's the fiber or my settings. I'm trying slightly higher temperatures, higher extrusion rates, and other filament brands to see if those help. Will post back if anything clear shows up...

Answer 2

I know the original user has probably found an answer to their question by now, but I'll add my 2 cents for the benefit of others who come across this.

My experience with Hatchbox has been that the walls and top layers were looking good at 200°C, but when I started stress testing the parts to their fail points I noticed that the internals were just a fibrous mess with no structural integrity.

So I started increasing the temperature in increments of 10°C and found that at 210°C it improved, and at 220°C there was good layer adhesion. At 230°C layer adhesion was absolutely beautiful, but it begins to get a little too melty. I have settled at 220°C for my machine.

Keep in mind that everyone's printers are going to be slightly different - hotends, fan setup, even the thermistor could have varied resistance from one machine to another causing incorrect readouts on temps. That's why you have to tinker and find what works well for you and your machine.

Answer 3

I use a Wahao Duplicator I3 with a heated bed. I have only used the orange Hatchbox PLA with great results. I use 210°C for the extruder and 55°C for the bed. Speed is 40 mm/s which works well for me.

Answer 4

I use 205°C for the extruder and 60°C for the bed on my RoBo3D. I also put hot glue stick on the bed to help adhesion and use a brim if it is a small object.

I would also check the first layer to see if you need to adjust your z offset. Delamination could be a sign the plastic isn't fusing correctly, which could be both an offset or temperature issue. It could also be a feed issue from the roll itself.

You can try printing these, Print Temperature Calibration Piece, and see what temperature gives you the best result.

I have had only one delamination happen to me and I think it had more to do with a hiccup in the commands sent to the printer than the filament itself. I basically have only used Hatchbox filament.