8
votes
Accepted
How do I know when filament is getting old, and what things can I do to correct for it?
The primary issue with long-term exposure of filament to the environment is that it will absorb water moisture from the air. When a filament that has absorbed water is passing though the hot end of a ...
- 798
8
votes
Any fix for PLA prints getting more brittle over time?
PLA absorbs moisture, so keeping the filament dry is a key factor. Aside from that, PLA is naturally more brittle than other plastics like ABS and Nylon Sorry, tried to find a graph to prove it, but ...
- 6,274
6
votes
Accepted
Any fix for PLA prints getting more brittle over time?
Increase nozzle temperature. When the filament is new it will print easier, requiring less heat to print well. So if you didn't store your filament properly to begin with, increasing print temperature ...
- 3,957
5
votes
What is causing 'droplets' on first layer?
Mine is more of an educated guess than a definitive diagnosis, but it looks to me like if your printer may be overextruding (it's difficult to say with certainty with this particular picture, but your ...
- 4,607
5
votes
Accepted
Stone-look surface via painting?
It's totally possible to achieve but the result vastly depends on your painting skills and your spray paint quality.
Your can look at this page for a concrete example.
How it compares to stone ...
- 66
5
votes
Gnarly filament: just one of those things, or grounds for complaint?
Sorry to say it, but MOST wrap-unders are caused by end-users releasing the free end of the filament when handling the spool. It is mathematically impossible to introduce a knot during initial ...
- 6,496
4
votes
Accepted
How important is the dimensional accuracy of filament relative to the detail of a print?
Dimensional accuracy is not as important as dimensional uniformity. I can print with undersized (or oversized) filament, adjusting the flow appropriately, provided the filament has a consistent ...
- 2,392
4
votes
Accepted
Gnarly filament: just one of those things, or grounds for complaint?
Filament should come off of the roll without overlapping itself. That being said depending on what you paid for it would determine if you should complain. Normally you get what you pay for. If you ...
- 2,238
4
votes
How to compensate for bad quality filament?
I am only going to answer the part of the question about how to improve the results from low-quality filament:
There have already been projects going on dealing with the issue of varying filament ...
- 2,884
4
votes
Filament long term storage
In theory, most filaments don't go bad within a year. However, praxis shows, that averse conditions can impact the filaments over time and age them to unusability.
Among the damaging factors is heat, ...
- 20.5k
4
votes
Why does my PLA filament keep snapping?
PLA seems to become brittle with age. Micro-fractures develop on the surface, and they will grow if filament is taken off the spool and held straight. This behaviour does not seem to be linked to ...
- 3,042
4
votes
How do I know when filament is getting old, and what things can I do to correct for it?
Moisture creeps into the filament when PLA is exposed for a long time to a humid environment. This is audible like popping bubbles when heated in the hotend and does worsen the print quality. The ...
- 33.2k
3
votes
Why does my PLA filament keep snapping?
When water gets absorbed into the filament, it causes some of the long chain polymers to break. This is a permanent reaction that cannot be fixed by baking the filament, which typically results in the ...
- 2,350
3
votes
Are black filaments more brittle?
Not inherently.
There are two things at work that might cause one color to test weaker than others even as its properties otherwise are functionally identical:
A bad print among good ones.
A bad roll ...
- 20.5k
3
votes
Mystery filament cleaning fluid
That's a filament cleaner/oiler combo. The black bottle is a variety of machine oil.
The effect of oilers on prints is heavily disputed in the community. The suggestion of plant oils is a very bad ...
- 20.5k
3
votes
Accepted
What is causing 'droplets' on first layer?
First of all, thanks for all the help, it really is a nice community!
But none of them actually helped and I finally find out what to actually do to fix the problem so here it goes:
Extruder ...
- 874
3
votes
How important is the dimensional accuracy of filament relative to the detail of a print?
Put it simply: they say 1.75 mm with a ± error of 0.05 mm. Which means your flow may vary ±2.9 % while you are printing creating blobs and such.
The smaller the ...
- 31
3
votes
What is "HDPLA", and why is it so hard to find out more about it?
So, low-teck, old-style investigative work from my side.... I contacted a company selling HDPLA and they got back to me with the following reply.
We created HDPLA as an industrial PLA with special ...
- 4,607
3
votes
Which photopolymer for printing?
I think you will find that it will be necessary for you to tune your own printer to a specific resin. Even as important, you would expect to have different parameters for different colors of resin, as ...
- 11k
3
votes
Humidity sensor says drybox isn't that dry - are my expectations unrealistic or is something wrong?
Track humidity graph over days (one measurement every 3 hours is fine). Be careful that polling the sensor too often may warm it up and cause inaccuracies, the temperature dependence is quite strong. ...
- 3,958
2
votes
Accepted
What type of plastic can be used to produce your own filament?
Filament manufacturers (for example, Colorfabb) also sell pellets, price per kilo would be about 10 times less than the same plastic in filament form.
Out of household garbage only ABS can be easily ...
- 164
2
votes
MakerFlex Spool has bubbles?
Bubbles are a defect. Two problems can occur:
The air in the bubble will be under pressure when heated and can cause a little blow-out when the plastic sides of the bubble are soft enough that they ...
- 4,436
2
votes
Creality CR-10 extruder clicking and/or nozzle clogging
Turns out the filament was the problem, I tried printing a model with a high quality sample PLA filament I had and it printed perfectly; one of the cleanest prints I've had. Never skimp on filament.
- 131
2
votes
Which is the right filiament type to print breakable children's toy parts such as small gears
I won't even ask why you need this and I assume you've done your homework about the issues. 3D printed gears are notorious for failing even when designed well, so the idea in general should be pretty ...
2
votes
Which is the right filiament type to print breakable children's toy parts such as small gears
deliberate/planned obsolescence is the term you look for
If you design parts that break after some time, you plan their obsolescence. That you do by a deliberate choice of material and working ...
- 20.5k
2
votes
Are black filaments more brittle?
Your heading is about how brittle the material is, but the question is asking about layer adhesion. I'll go ahead and tackle the layer adhesion portion. There are many variables at play here but ...
2
votes
My Hatchbox PLA filament only allows me to use rafts
It is unlikely this is a filament material issue since many of us have used Hatchbox PLA without this issue. This is a first layer adhesion issue.
Your bed may not be clean, or the bed may have had ...
- 2,188
2
votes
Accepted
My Hatchbox PLA filament only allows me to use rafts
PLA is a forgiving filament, you can even print such filament without a heated bed. Although there are differences in quality between brands, PLA shouldn't need a raft to be printed. Hatchbox filament ...
- 33.2k
2
votes
Looking for 3D filament thats compatiable with HHO-oxyhydrogen and NaOH sodium hydroxide -lye
Polypropylene should be good, and relatively easy to print. Prinsco rate its resistance to NaOH as A-Excellent.
Ultimaker provide a useful guide to the chemical resistance properties of 3D printing ...
- 3,042
1
vote
Why does my PLA filament keep snapping?
PLA snapping is pretty universal. The best countermeasure is to always remove the filament from the printer after a print and place it in a low-humidity chamber. Other answers speak of moisture-...
- 4,436
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