51
votes
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How do I give 3D-printed parts in PLA a shiny smooth finish?
PLA parts can be finished with a coat of epoxy like XTC-3D from Smooth-On. This will smooth out the part and give it a pretty nice shine.
I've also had a fair amount of success sanding prints, giving ...
- 1,328
32
votes
How do I give 3D-printed parts in PLA a shiny smooth finish?
Acetone vaporing is a great way to smooth ABS prints. For PLA, however, acetone smoothing does not work. An article about smoothing PLA says:
This is a pity, since PLA is much easier to work with ...
- 1,106
31
votes
Accepted
When to use 1.75 mm vs 3 mm filament?
There's no appreciable difference. Just use the filament that fits your particular printer.
If you don't yet have a printer, then I'd get one that uses 1.75 mm filament:
1.75 mm is ...
- 14.7k
29
votes
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How is PLA different from ABS material?
Paraphrasing this site. Feel free to add suggestions in the form of comments and I will try to incorporate them.
Summary
ABS: Stronger, machinable, more flexible, and more temperature
resistant than ...
- 1,553
27
votes
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Can aged PLA be refurbished?
The easiest way to freshen up filament is hot air, although there are other options.
There is an optimal melt processing moisture level for every plastic, typically in the range of 0.1-0.2% water ...
- 6,526
23
votes
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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 ...
- 34.1k
19
votes
When to use 1.75 mm vs 3 mm filament?
There are a few factors to consider those two:
3 mm
More rigid - easier to print with flexible plastics. I couldn't make my 1.75 mm printer print with NinjaFlex using standard Bowden extruder.
Can ...
- 456
18
votes
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Can I mix ABS and PLA when recycling filament?
This is not a good idea. Both filaments have different melting points, that of ABS being much higher than that of PLA. To melt the ABS you have to heat the plastic to the point where the PLA starts to ...
- 14.7k
18
votes
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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
17
votes
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What to do with failed/unwanted 3D prints?
The "obvious" answer is re-grinding the prints and making more filament. Unfortunately, this isn't yet a very economical or simple operation. A decent filament extruder capable of holding acceptable ...
- 6,526
16
votes
Accepted
Does filament have to be stored in an airtight environment?
It makes a difference where I live, and I'm not in a particularly humid climate (California). When printing with wet filament, you'll sometimes hear it popping and see steam coming out of the ...
- 688
16
votes
When to use 1.75 mm vs 3 mm filament?
I generally agree with the points in masteusz's and Tom van der Zanden's answers, but I would add a bit more detail. Generally, the differences are minimal, however:
Generally speaking, a 1.75 ...
- 363
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 ...
- 21k
14
votes
Accepted
How to print metal-like parts?
If you'd like to print on RepRap like FDM printers, you cannot print from metal, but you can use some filament that tries to look like metal. I have good experience with Bronzefill, but there are ...
- 1,106
14
votes
Accepted
Can 1.75 mm filament be used in a printer that takes 3 mm filament?
Typically an extruder and hot end are designed for one or the other, and cannot support the other without mechanical changes.
The extruder may not be able to grip a smaller diameter filament with ...
- 1,843
14
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 ...
- 2,090
13
votes
Advantages of PETG filament?
I have never used ABS, because I have a young child at home and no ventilation system (just to be safe). I have however used PETG, a crystal clear brand competitively priced on AMA-ssive online ...
- 421
13
votes
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Scalable 3D Printer
One big challenge with scaling anything up (or down), is that not all properties or characteristics scale linearly.
Consider a trivial case: a small cube. If you double the size, you've quadrupled ...
- 3,201
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 ...
- 288
13
votes
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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 ...
- 34.1k
13
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 ...
12
votes
Accepted
Advantages of PETG filament?
PETG is great stuff to work with. It is stronger than ABS also. It prints slower than ABS and PLA. The formulas vary quite a bit from vendor to vendor. I have used 3 brands, and each of their ...
- 201
11
votes
When to use 1.75 mm vs 3 mm filament?
I think (as do a lot of others) that the differences are rather minor. So just my 2 things I know from experience. We've been using 3 mm for some years and now we are moving towards 1.75.
1.75 mm ...
- 1,106
11
votes
Accepted
What is stopping us from mixing 3D filament colors in an Extruder?
I just started with google and phrase "3d printing color mixing" and on the first place (in fact first two were valueless adverts) I got this Instructables - DIY Full Color Mixing 3D Printer.
How it ...
- 3,448
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 ...
- 14.7k
11
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 ...
- 34.1k
10
votes
How do I give 3D-printed parts in PLA a shiny smooth finish?
It takes quite an effort to make PLA shiny, and it's not as simple as ABS and acetone.
You have to sand down the print with sandpaper with different grit sizes (start with grit P100, then P240, P400, ...
- 1,911
10
votes
Accepted
How to choose a right 3D printer filament type?
Determine what properties you need the filament to have.
There are a very wide variety of filaments because they all have somewhat different properties. You need to determine what properties you need ...
- 970
10
votes
Does wood filament damage the printer nozzle?
If you haven't been to their site before, you should check out the forums on 3DHubs. There's a lot of how-to's. A quick Google search yields this link to a similar question.
The key thing to note is ...
- 6,284
10
votes
Accepted
Why does my PLA filament form a spiral shape and clog my extruder?
The shape you get is quite easy to explain. It's the shape of the lowest energy possible in your situation. Simple but it doesn't explain the issue... or does it?
It does. The filament cannot be put ...
- 3,448
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