Questions tagged [filament-quality]

Questions on the quality of the print material for FDM printers that comes in the form of filaments

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10 votes
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How do I know when filament is getting old, and what things can I do to correct for it?

I've heard I should store filament in sealed container, preferably with a desiccant. But let's say I let a spool get a little old on the printer, or I purchased a filament spool that was old or ...
Joel Coehoorn's user avatar
10 votes
2 answers
4k views

What is causing 'droplets' on first layer?

I recently changed filament and for starters it worked perfectly well, but quickly I got some problems with my first layer. It's like droplets are forming on the surface (finished item + 3 undersides):...
Valmond's user avatar
  • 904
9 votes
2 answers
26k views

Any fix for PLA prints getting more brittle over time?

I've been printing small quantities from a PLA filament spool on a Craftbot printer for about two months now. Recently the printed objects have been coming out very brittle. Some structures that ...
emackey's user avatar
  • 382
9 votes
3 answers
234 views

Gnarly filament: just one of those things, or grounds for complaint?

everyone. I'm a relative newcomer to 3D printing, so I don't know what constitutes an unacceptably bad spool of filament. About 1/6 of the way into a roll of PETG (and maybe 4 hours into a 6-hour ...
Glasseyed's user avatar
  • 193
6 votes
1 answer
183 views

What type of plastic can be used to produce your own filament?

I'm considering purchasing Filabot or some similar filament maker. What kind of plastic can I use to produce my own filament? Can I use any type of plastic or just specific printable filaments? Can I ...
kenorb's user avatar
  • 2,705
6 votes
2 answers
267 views

Extruder clogs with HIPS

I've got a Prusa i3 MK3. I have printed with PLA, PETG and tried HIPS. Haven't had any clogs with PLA and PETG, but with HIPS I've got a weird problem. My first three test prints in HIPS went fine, ...
Eyeballs's user avatar
5 votes
2 answers
5k views

How important is the dimensional accuracy of filament relative to the detail of a print?

In this answer user Barafu says, Yet I manage to keep my tolerances +- 0.05 mm which is enough for everything but miniature printing. I have asked for clarification on that answer regarding what ...
LegendaryDude's user avatar
5 votes
1 answer
709 views

Stone-look surface via painting?

Has anyone tried painting a PLA (or other) print with stone-look spray paints? In particular, how does the result look compared to printing with stone-fill filaments? It looks a lot cheaper, but will ...
TextGeek's user avatar
  • 3,201
5 votes
1 answer
714 views

How to compensate for bad quality filament?

Bad filament with changing diameter causes an uneven flow of plastic out of the nozzle. Besides buying very high quality filament (do we really want to be dependent on professional Filament producers?)...
Lars Pötter's user avatar
  • 1,621
5 votes
2 answers
952 views

What is "HDPLA", and why is it so hard to find out more about it?

Googling 'HDPLA' has so far availed me very little. http://3dinsider.com/what-is-pla/ indicates that /all/ modern PLA is 'high density' compared to 'the early days'. But a fellow at the local ...
mmb's user avatar
  • 51
4 votes
2 answers
406 views

Humidity sensor says drybox isn't that dry - are my expectations unrealistic or is something wrong?

I have recently, in anticipation of printing carbon-fiber-reinforced nylon filament (Polymaker PA6-CF) on my Prusa i3 MK3S, built a filament drybox. It is made out of a large aluminum equipment ...
DodoDude700's user avatar
4 votes
3 answers
3k views

Are black filaments more brittle?

I've been 3D printing for a while and I've noticed that, when printing small parts, my colored plastics (PLA, PLA+ and ABS) have better layer adhesion than black ones. Did you notice this? What ...
Fredo Corleone's user avatar
4 votes
4 answers
712 views

Filament long term storage

I was noticing on a print I had just done that the quality was not up to typical snuff. I had just started using a roll of PLA filament that I had been keeping on a shelf without a wrapper for a ...
ropes17's user avatar
  • 41
3 votes
1 answer
192 views

Which photopolymer for printing?

I am thinking about building my own DLP 3D printer. I want to know which uv curing resin I should use. Also, I came across a continuous 3D printing technology where oxygen permeable glass was used to ...
user962's user avatar
  • 31
3 votes
1 answer
4k views

Creality CR-10 extruder clicking and/or nozzle clogging

So I am fairly competent with 3D printing, but this problem has got me stumped. I use a Creality CR-10 and I hadn't printed anything off for quite a while (maybe 5 or 6 months?) and I just recently ...
CouscousKingpin's user avatar
2 votes
3 answers
5k views

Why does my PLA filament keep snapping?

Why does my 3 mm PLA filament always snap near the spool some time (usually a few hours) after a print has finished? I have had it snap mid print but this is quite rare. I have 3 rolls of 3&...
oliver602's user avatar
2 votes
1 answer
126 views

MakerFlex Spool has bubbles?

I ordered a 0.5 KG spool of Makerflex Glow in the Dark filament from Makergeeks. I ordered Clear and Opaque PLA with it. The Makerflex plastic is called TPEE. The entire spool of it seems to have ...
Jason Shweky's user avatar
2 votes
1 answer
292 views

Filament storage? [duplicate]

What's the best way (outside of silica beads) to store filament sensitive to moisture? I feel like filament buried under a couple pounds of rice will stay pretty dry. I understand that frequently ...
Chris Manning's user avatar
1 vote
3 answers
497 views

Which is the right filiament type to print breakable children's toy parts such as small gears

Probably the question sounds a little strange; however, I am looking for a filament which is breakable and not so steady and reliable as PLA. I want to print parts similar to the following gears for ...
user3352632's user avatar
1 vote
2 answers
49 views

Mystery filament cleaning fluid

Whilst looking to fix a different problem I had I came across this video. It's a filament reel holder, but at 02:40 the person uses a mysterious fluid. I haven't seen anything like this before (...
BanksySan's user avatar
  • 520
1 vote
1 answer
144 views

Looking for 3D filament thats compatiable with HHO-oxyhydrogen and NaOH sodium hydroxide -lye

I'm testing a HHO generator (oxyhydrogen - browns gas generator) and I use 1% NaOH solution (sodium hydroxide -lye). I made some M8 threaded adapters for it using PETG (Polyethylene terephthalate ...
Rick T's user avatar
  • 179
1 vote
1 answer
32 views

What is a good filament for a frame for holding high amp copper busbar?

I need a frame to hold a copper busbar in place. The busbar is rated up to 200 amps and can be wrapped in an insulator, so the frame will sit around the insulator of the busbar, but I don't know how ...
stanley's user avatar
  • 111
1 vote
0 answers
43 views

Strange looking walls at beginning

I have this strange looking walls but only at the beginning of the wall line. I thought it's underextrusion caused by a clogged nozzle, so I tried cleaning it with a cold pull but it didn't help. The ...
Marco Rebsamen's user avatar
1 vote
1 answer
277 views

Is 'natural' colored filament equally brittle compared to white filament?

I've read that white filament is a lot more brittle, because the pigment percentage is close to 50 %, e.g. black filament it's only around 8 %. I was therefore wondering if 'natural' colored filament, ...
rehfore's user avatar
  • 25
1 vote
0 answers
41 views

How round are filaments?

I am planning to install a filament diameter sensor to my printer, but that sensor measures only one diameter. If the filament is not round, an additional error will be introduced. How round are ...
FarO's user avatar
  • 4,133
1 vote
0 answers
83 views

How to avoid line curvature in first layer of a 3D print

I have a problem with large lines in the first layer of my prints which have curvatures. The last layer has no problems. You can see the problem in the horizontal line of the "A", the rest of the "A" ...
Larsus's user avatar
  • 11
1 vote
0 answers
140 views

Does PLA become brittle with age? [duplicate]

I tried to use an old spool of PDA and the filament would keep breaking. New filament will discolor white but stay intact when you bend it. This old filament would break off at a clean 90 degrees ...
Perry Webb's user avatar
  • 2,316
0 votes
3 answers
474 views

My Hatchbox PLA filament only allows me to use rafts

When I first got my 3D printer (a FlashForge Adventurer 3), it came with a sample pack of filament. With this filament, I was able to use skirts for my first layer. When the sample filament ran out, I ...
shwin320's user avatar
  • 187
0 votes
0 answers
27 views

Can a print test be performed to determine nozzle and filament quality?

Given that, a printer is well-maintained and calibrated. I'm searching for two particular tests: First, is there a specific print test that can be performed to test the quality of the nozzle alone, ...
Bob Ortiz's user avatar
  • 395
0 votes
0 answers
429 views

New filament makes brittle prints

I recently bought 5 spools of white 1.75 mm PLA off Amazon. However, I experienced some very strange behavior when I started to print with it. First, the filament wouldn't stick to the print bed. I'...
Erhannis's user avatar
  • 191
-1 votes
1 answer
20 views

Filament settings determination

I am currently working on a project that uses multiple 3D models which is to be printed, with a variety of 3D printers. May I know how should I measure the Filament density of a particular filament. ...
Rishabh Pal's user avatar