Prusament PLA Blend Viva La Bronze
I use this for various things where I want the part to look like brass or bronze. Outer circular areas are quite convincing and can look like lathe parts. I've had no trouble printing it with the default Prusa settings. When I last loaded it, I was convinced the nozzle was clogged. The stuff would barely purge and came out like a fat worm, larger than when it went in! I did a cold pull with no improvement. Oddly, I could still print small parts with no problem. The filament had been stored in a Zip-Loc bag with desiccant, but I dried it for 8 hours at 55C. Not perfect, but it now purged with some semblance of normality. More time might have been better. So:
1) This "Blend" is much more hygroscopic than my usual PLA, either because of the formulation or because of the pigment, but you need to dry it. Don't leave it out.
2) It can/will damage a PEI build plate due to excessive adhesion. Use glue or similar or use the satin plate. It works great on the satin plate.
RE: Prusament PLA Blend Viva La Bronze
I played around with metal filaments back in Ender 3 days. One thing I didn't take into account back then is that they will chew through a standard brass nozzle after only 2 or 3 prints. Also, 0.4mm nozzles got clogged easily if not careful. I was finding 0.6mm was needed.
RE: Prusament PLA Blend Viva La Bronze
AFAIK, this isn't a metal filament. Prusa makes no mention of needing a hardened nozzle. Is there an independent way to tell?
RE: Prusament PLA Blend Viva La Bronze
AFAIK, this isn't a metal filament. Prusa makes no mention of needing a hardened nozzle. Is there an independent way to tell?
Ah, yes. There are metal filaments that contain actual metal (like ProtoPasta) and metal-like filaments. Most reputable brands (like Prusa) will specify whether or not you need a hardened nozzle. And then there is this stuff which will chew though your nozzle and Nextruder: Prusament PETG Ultraglow Green
RE: Prusament PLA Blend Viva La Bronze
Yeah, pretty sure that was invented by the service department!
RE:
No experience with 'Viva la bronze' but I tried in the past other Prusament PLA-blend colors and for sure I'll never purchase any of that stuff again. 'Royal blue' was sort of OK but quite brittle, 'Pearl white' brittle too and warped more than regular PLA. The worst offender was 'Oh my Gold'. Really nasty stuff, brittle as china and warping like PETG or worse. Impossible to print stencils, they wouldn't stay flat. I tried raising nozzle temp, printing slower... nothing helped. I still have more than half spool of that filament, having no use for it. Large parts will warp and small ones will break just looking at them,
At first I thought it was moisture but, apart from being odd that the trouble was only with PLA-blend colors, there was no extra stringing or oozing during the print. Anyway, after drying the troublesome spools, the issues didn't improve at all.
I don't know what kind of mixture Prusa uses for PLA blend, but they aren't doing themselves a favor selling these filaments.
RE: Prusament PLA Blend Viva La Bronze
I don't know what kind of mixture Prusa uses for PLA blend, but they aren't doing themselves a favor selling these filaments.
That said, I do like their rPLA: corn, risotto, wine. I've been using them to print desktop organizers.