MINI Struggling to print
I have some E-Sun Grey PLA+ Filament that I have just started to use on my printer. It has been going well for a bunch of prints and I am almost half way through the reel. But recently the extrusion has started to lose some steps and it would very occasionally start to grind. Because it started off well, I assumed this was due to the cold weather, as my room can sometimes be fairly cold. But I got a space heater for this and it still had problems extruding. Only increasing the temperature to 230C-235C will it print Ok.
Is it normal for a filament to start off good and over time get worse in this way? (There is no covering for the filament. It is just in room air which could be slightly humid. I have had it there for maybe a month) Could there be a printer issue with the temperature sensing?
I have had another issue like this but it was the whole reel that was affected which makes sense. It is strange that this only started half way through the reel.
RE: MINI Struggling to print
How cold is 'fairly cold', as in your ambient temperature?
Before I got the enclosure, my ambient temperature by the printer was always in the mid 70sF or mid 20sC and it worked fairly well. Since I got the enclosure I run it about 31C/88F and that seems to be about right for PLA.
I would suspect that if your ambient temperature falls below the low 20sC or 68 or so F, it may be too cool for things to work properly.
RE: MINI Struggling to print
@jsw
I don't know the exact temperature. I think I will buy a temperature gauge to keep an eye on this. I think before it was around low 20C but now I don't know.
But still I have increased the temperature of the room and there is still an issue.
RE: MINI Struggling to print
PLA+ from eSun (my most-used filament type) does require about 10-15C higher than many other "normal" PLA materials. I use 212C on most of my printers (CR-10, MK3, etc.), but on my 2 Prusa Minis, I need to bump that temp up to about 225C to keep the PLA+ flowing well. Ambient temp is usually around 20C (68F) in my environment.
RE: MINI Struggling to print
@birwin
Look at your controller, it tells you initial bed and hotend temp.
RE: MINI Struggling to print
i've noticed on multiple spools and brands that around mid way thru the spool the quality dives and it starts to have clicking and extrusion issues, slowing the infill speed and increasing the temps mostly fixes it for me