"Wet" filament?
Hey all! I'm very new to 3d printing in general, but I do have a couple great quality, successful prints under my belt...
...And then these:
I have not been storing my filament in an airtight container (yet), but I also didn't expect too much trouble since I live in a very dry climate.
I do plan to get airtight containers, but a) do these pictures indicate issues with "wet" filament? and b) what containers do others use for this? I did find some but they seem very expensive for what they are. I would think a "generic" air-tight food storage container with the right dimensions would be fine..? And if so, can someone point me to a container of the right size (ideally to hold a single roll so I don't need to open it every time I change filament).
Thanks in advance!
I do suspect that wet filament contributed to this but not in the way you might expect.
In the second picture your first layer was printed too high off the print-sheet. The most likely reason is a nub of plastic oozed from the nozzle causing it to register the level wrongly and the most likely cause of that is moisture in the filament boiling in the hotend allowing steam pressure to push plastic out at the wrong time. If you know to look out for it you can often remedy this by knocking off the dangling thread before it causes trouble
Better is to dry the filament (I use lightly modified food dehydrator, cheaper and more efficient than most filament dryers) and store it dry - for a couple of months at a time ziplock bags with dessicant are fine.
Cheerio,
RE:
The other commenter pointed this out, but I don't believe that wet filament is your only issue; check if the expansion joints below the heatbed are all aligned in their place and the nozzle + heatbed is clean before printing.
RE: "Wet" filament?
Thanks so much for the replies! I'm not sure how I missed this during the initial assembly (or how it didn't seem to impact any of my first 10ish prints), but the expansion joints were indeed oriented perpendicular to the orientation in your picture.
I am fixing this as we speak and fingers crossed it will resolve the issue!
RE: "Wet" filament?
Well the first print turned out perfectly! I have a couple more things to print but I am hoping I'm back in the clear.
Thanks again for the quick and helpful responses!