Filament keeps breaking
For the third or fourth time, my filament broke. It's Hatchbox PLA and I had printed a dozen or more models from the particular roll, but now the filament has broken a few times. I( don';t know where the filament detector is, but judging by what it takes to get the extruder free it seems that there's very little filament *in* the extruder -- might be breaking very close to the nozzle. Is this telling me that that roll of filament is, basically, dead?
RE: Filament keeps breaking
If it's brittle, it could be wet, meaning absorbed moisture from the atmosphere. You can attempt to dry it by placing it in a WARM (not hot!) ELECTRIC (not gas) oven for several hours. It could also be that there's tension somewhere, as in the spool not rotating smoothly on what it's feeding from.
I've had great luck with the Hatchbox filaments. That's my primary go-to brand.
The only filament I've seen which I've found to be brittle is an already-opened partial roll of Gizmo Dorks which came as a throw-in with another printer I bought a couple months back. I suspect it's wet, but it actually prints fine. It's almost all used up and I can get it to work just by being careful with it. Another roll of Gizmo Dorks in the same batch is good.
RE: Filament keeps breaking
@jsw
Thanks - I bet that's it. I don't store my "partial spools" in any special way so getting wet is likely to be the problem. I'll see if ovening it helps.
RE: Filament keeps breaking
@berniec
JSW mentioned one. The other could be that the spool got too hot. I had a spool that was exposed to high temperatures. It is very brittle.
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Chuck H
3D Printer Review Blog
RE: Filament keeps breaking
@cwbullet
Interesting -- the room that my printer is in is fairly brightly sunlit [lots of windows]. It could be that, too, I guess. Finichy stuff, this filament 🙂
RE: Filament keeps breaking
@berniec
I am not sure which but some filament can also be impacted by UV light. ABS is one of them.
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Chuck H
3D Printer Review Blog