23
votes
Accepted
How does one use a heat tower?
When you slice an STL of a heat tower, you need to tell the slicer that you need a different temperature at a certain level and maintain that new temperature until another change is requested.
The ...
- 37.1k
18
votes
Accepted
Is PLA filament conductive?
Normal PLA is non-conductive. You can take an $\Omega$-meter to a test part if you're really concerned somehow you have some PLA that is conductive.
There is a caveat that your color may include metal ...
- 196
15
votes
Accepted
What is PLA+? How is it different from PLA?
Disclaimer: I am not affiliated with any linked brand or company, I just link to them for reference of the suggested print settings.
What is PLA?
PLA is, by its definition PolyLacticAcid, a polymer of ...
- 22.5k
15
votes
Accepted
Filament isn't going into the Bowden tube, instead it goes "into the room"
This is typically caused by resistance in the tube or hotend but in your case it appears to be mostly caused by a very poorly designed extruder. The filament needs to be constrained closer to the ...
- 2,110
14
votes
Accepted
PLA wood filament: a special treatment?
PLA and wood fibres = wood filament
Most wood filamet consists of about 60-70 % PLA and 40-30 % wood fibres. This basically implies that PLA temperatures should be used. It can be printed with ...
- 37.1k
14
votes
Accepted
A vertical scar on the print surface, what is the name of this problem?
This is the Z-seam, or just "seam". It's a consequence of the fact that the extrusion of each layer has to start and stop at some point rather than being a continuous path for the whole ...
13
votes
Is PLA filament conductive?
PLA itself falls in the category of non-conductors, with a resistivity ($\rho=R\frac A l=\frac 1 \sigma$) in the order of $10^{16}\ \Omega \text m$ (see here), similar to other plastics. Following ...
- 308
13
votes
Accepted
POM filament not sticking to the build plate?
Great material but very hard to print as it does not stick easy to the build plate as it has a low friction coefficient to grip onto the heated bed. Also, the material sets quite fast, once the ...
- 37.1k
11
votes
Accepted
What do I do when I have a little filament left?
Heat the extruder up first, then remove the filament. You can remove the filament either by reversing the extruder using a command such as G1 E-100 F200, by using ...
10
votes
Accepted
Why is PEEK filament so expensive?
My assumptions about PEEK filament price are:
Raw material is more expensive. Compare price of ABS with PEEK pellets.
Demand is much lower. There are not many printers able to print peek. If you ...
- 1,941
10
votes
Filament isn't going into the Bowden tube, instead it goes "into the room"
Your extruder is encountering resistance and the filament path is too open.
Your teeth seem to be biting in too hard. Loosen up your tensioners a bit. Teeth biting too hard deforms the filament. ...
- 249
9
votes
Accepted
How many grams will be used in a print
You can not tell this by looking at the STL file alone, because how much material will be used depends on the print settings (obviously, printing at 100% infill will consume much more material than 10%...
9
votes
How can I avoid that a small bit of filament sticks out of the nozzle during heating?
I normally print a skirt. This acts as a quality check for: flow rate; bed adhesion; bed level; and proper zero position in the Z.
- 2,440
9
votes
Can I print in wax?
Yes, you can. But no, you don't need to make your own filament for it, there is one called Print2Cast that you can buy for about 50$/kg.
This filament has the following recommended slicing settings:
...
- 282
9
votes
Printing with colorfabb XT fails after several successful layers
This looks a lot like under extrusion caused by heat creep.
Heat creep is when the nozzle temperature 'creeps' up through the filament and makes it melt (a bit) and form a blob (or just widen enough ...
- 914
9
votes
Why is PEEK filament so expensive?
Patents still seem to play a role as well.
I was curious about this question and did a bit of research: If you filter the U.S. patents after 2010 mentioning PEEK and its various applications and ...
- 936
8
votes
Does wood filament damage the printer nozzle?
Wood PLA is too abrasive for a brass nozzle and will wear it out until it becomes a straight pipe after about 12 hours of printing with it.
This answer is based on first hand experimentation. I'm ...
- 181
8
votes
What causes bubbles in extruded filament?
In my experience, bubbles like this are caused by the filament absorbing moisture, which then cooks out at the high printing temperatures.
See: http://reprap.org/wiki/...
- 2,440
8
votes
Accepted
What causes bubbles in extruded filament?
Oh yeah, that's simple. You are printing too hot and are literally boiling the plastic. Else you have water. However if it was water you would hear Crackling as it printed. If it is too hot you will ...
- 3,123
8
votes
Accepted
Is there any reason *not* to use a steel nozzle for printing all materials?
Thermal conductivity of brass is approximately twice as better than steel (not stainless). Given that the size of nozzle is relatively small, it should be able to transfer enough heat for a medium-...
- 898
8
votes
Accepted
Best practices to fix a threaded nut inside a print
One good option would be to - if possible - change the design, so the nut is inserted from the opposite side, so that the bolt just pulls it in tighter rather than pulling it out.
Another option ...
8
votes
Using the end of a spool
Weld the fragment to the beginning of a new spool and use it that
way. Most are made from metal so they aren't that easy to make
at home. Here is another answer that lists other methods to
weld ...
- 2,110
8
votes
Accepted
Is PETG filament food safe?
Many manufactures list their filaments as being food safe, but I would not treat this as "gospel truth". Apparently, the FDA considers PETG to be safe for food contact, but they are probably thinking ...
- 3,190
7
votes
Accepted
What type filament should I use to produce stamps?
I see three options...
1. Print with a flexible filament:
Many options: TPU as you pointed out, the flexible PLA that Tom mentioned, and others. Here's an article with a few options from Matter ...
- 1,071
7
votes
Advantages of PETG filament?
PETG is great, but definitely not as easy to print as PLA. However the advantages of higher impact resistance, temperature resistance and longevity make it superior to PLA for parts that require those ...
- 111
7
votes
Is PLA filament conductive?
PLA is non-conductive at room temperature, but when you heat it up over 70 C it is no longer as great an electrical insulator as the part will begin to fail. These temperatures could occur in ...
- 71
7
votes
Accepted
How can I avoid that a small bit of filament sticks out of the nozzle during heating?
On my Kossel Mini I programmed it to go to the edge of the bed and purge a small amount of filament which creates a dot. I purge enough to get the dot to stick to the bed and then go on with printing,...
- 2,110
7
votes
Accepted
Best method to make dissolvable supports?
I've had great success printing with HIPS (high-impact polystyrene) as a support for both PLA and ABS. Most sites recommend it for use with ABS because the materials melt at similar temperatures and ...
- 648
7
votes
Accepted
How to print a two color part with only one extruder
What you ask may be easier than you think. The slicing software is unimportant, generally speaking. Consider especially that your requirements fit the solution spot on.
Take a look at this ...
- 12k
7
votes
But ... skateboard bearings have OIL in them, and oil is ... bad?
Sounds like an instance of bad advice without any real basis in reality.
Oil is not bad, and generally only bearings specifically being sold for use with skateboards will be oiled. I don't mean ...
- 371
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