I found the cause to almost all my problems.
About 3 months ago I got myself a Prusa i3 MK3 and for about 1.5 months it was printing without a single issue. Then suddenly I started having a lot, and I mean A LOT of problems. I was on chat with a TSR almost every day with new problems. It did not matter how many firmware updates or roll backs I did, or how much calibrations they had me do. They sent me new parts to what they thought was causing all the issues (hot end and fans) nothing worked. After almost two months of fighting this printer, only being able to get a correct print off every once and a while I finally noticed something. My prints with the PLA I bought from Prusa had no issues unless I had just changed from another filament. Who made this other filament you ask? None other than MakerGeeks! This was their "premium" PLA to! I started paying real close attention when using this stuff, I started to notice on almost every jam there was a huge bulge right before or after the bondtech gears started digging in. 2.15mm was the biggest measured! I snipped off about 1 meter of every spool I had ordered, 5 in total and took my calipers to them. I found that there was no such thing as +/- .05mm accuracy on this filament, it was more like + .14 / - .08. The numbers were all over the place! I proceeded to push the hot end temp to 280 and flushed all that trash filament out with good prusa stuff, then let it cool to 40c and pulled the filament out. If you are wondering this will usually yank any foreign material out with it. Now I am printing with almost no issues on some very gorgeous prusament mystic green and have yet to have any issues. I am out about $100 in filament but at least the nightmare is over. Makers be ware, MakerGeeks filament is absolute garbage, if you were fortunate enough to actually get it to ship. I was going to email them and see if I could get any sort of refund but their website is down. I suspect they are toast after I received some long winded email about the issues and growing pains their operations have been having. You can go on google maps and look up their business, 1.3/5 currently. Avoid like the plague. /rant
So what other filaments out there are good? The only other manufacture I have tried besides MakerGeeks and Prusa is HatchBox. I did not have any issue with the one spool I bought from them, so far.
Re: I found the cause to almost all my problems.
You have the same issue with MakerGeeks that I posted about over a year ago. Their filament is wildly out of spec and requires a ridiculously high temp for PLA. I'm actually glad they shut down as they still owe me ~ $120 in non-delivered filament from over a year ago.
As for other filaments, I use HatchBox, 3DSolutech, COEX and Zyltech.
Re: I found the cause to almost all my problems.
For PLA I mostly use Hatchbox (better quality) and FoxSmart (cheaper, but ok quality)
For PETG I mostly use eSun and Prusa (Filamentum??)
I haven't had any real problems with these 3 brands, although the FoxSmart is on a smaller diameter spool, at least the stuff I bought over a year ago, and when you get low on the spool it doesn't like to unwind to well... but at $12-14 KG I don't complain if I don't use the whole spool.
- 1st "printer" TIKO 3D
- 2nd PRUSA i3 MK2S with MMU v1
- 3rd PRUSA i3 MK2S
- 4th PRUSA i3 MK3 with MMU v2- 5th?? PRUSA i3 MK4 (upgraded from MK3) with MMU v3 (waiting for…
Re: I found the cause to almost all my problems.
I've had really good luck with Hatchbox and 3D Solutech (my main go-to suppliers, especially 3D Solutech for their master spools) for filament. eSun PLA+ is just gorgeous, especially if you are printing really small parts. I've also been experimenting with Tianse and Paramount (especially Paramount) recently for some really gorgeous colors. Inland is also pretty good, but doesn't seem to get as well defined resolution as the others.
Re: I found the cause to almost all my problems.
I use these all the time with really good results
PLA:
Fillamentum 9/10
ColorFabb 8/10
Filamentinnovations 7/10 US based company
PETG:
Prusament and Prusa brand PETG seems to all work well for me.
I always had good results with Fillamentum and Prusa filaments.
RE: I found the cause to almost all my problems.
Many of the problems I've seen, and my personal one, had a blob of filament below the pulleys and above the PTFE tubing leading into the heatbreak of the hotend. Another symptom is the filament stops advancing, causing the extruder stepper motor to click like it's skipping gear teeth.
RE: I found the cause to almost all my problems.
I'm actually glad they shut down as they still owe me ~ $120 in non-delivered filament from over a year ago.
RE: I found the cause to almost all my problems.
Thanks.
I'll know to steer away from MakerGeeks, which I have not used.
My go-to here in the States is Hatchbox, if I can get it in the color and type I want. I've used their PLA, ABS, and PETg with no issues. For a while it was difficult to find except for the Ebay gougers, but now it seems to be easier to get in most colors and types.
I've also had excellent luck with Paramount and Reprapper, both in PLA.
I've used the FilamentPM Stateside dealer as a good second-source of that sample that comes with the Prusa printers, and I'm convinced that it is exactly the same stuff.
Solutech prints very well, but it's obvious that they do not use as much pigment as the others, so most prints with their filament are somewhat translucent whether you want it or not.
The metallic Mika3d is also good.
RE: I found the cause to almost all my problems.
Another symptom is the filament stops advancing, causing the extruder stepper motor to click like it's skipping gear teeth.