Recommendations for glow in dark PLA/PETG in the UK
Hi,
I'm struggling to print using eSun Glow in Dark PLA. Been through most of a roll and nothing really works. Most failures seem to be layers not adhering to each other.
So far,
- I've slowed the speed right down to 25%,
- I've changed the temperature by a few degrees up from 190 to 225C,
- I've got a hardened nozzle,
- I'm getting good bed adhesion on the Prusa Smooth Plate.
- Tried on two different MK3S+, just in case 🙂
- Adjusted the Z height very carefullly.
- Change the number of shells,
- Tried different layers from 0.15 to 0.3.
- Read anything
But nothing seems to work for me (apart from bed adhesion). I'm normally pretty good with PLA and PETG, but am really starting to hate eSUN Glow in the Dark PLA.
Does anyone have a Glow in the Dark PLA recommendation for a UK available glow in the dark filament that they know works and can share their settings please? It has to be available in the UK (thats United Kingdom, not the Ukraine)
Thanks very much,
Rob
Best Answer by Neophyl:
That filament from what I can see has a temp range of 190-230. 190 seems stupidly low personally but if you also have a hardened nozzle (required for GITD) then you need to bump the temps 10 degrees anyway, that puts the range from 200-240. I'd try between 235-240. Layer adhesion is pretty much temp based and if you are not getting it at lower temps then increase it.
RE: Recommendations for glow in dark PLA/PETG in the UK
That filament from what I can see has a temp range of 190-230. 190 seems stupidly low personally but if you also have a hardened nozzle (required for GITD) then you need to bump the temps 10 degrees anyway, that puts the range from 200-240. I'd try between 235-240. Layer adhesion is pretty much temp based and if you are not getting it at lower temps then increase it.
RE: Recommendations for glow in dark PLA/PETG in the UK
As high as 240? Basically treat it as PETG?
OK. Lets do that now then.
Thanks
Rob
RE: Recommendations for glow in dark PLA/PETG in the UK
For printing temps yeah, if your bed adhesion is fine then leave that at what it normally is. I print a fair bit of silk silver and that has a 200-230 temp range according to the manufacturer. I print that at 230 with a steel nozzle x all the time. At 215 it tend to under extrude and cause clogs for me.
I've found if you dial in the filament accurately (measure it with digital callipers to get the true average diameter) and then plug that into the filament width field in your filament profile that the extrusion multiplier doesn't need to be touched and it wont string (with dry filament) even at the top of the temp range. Thats with PLA's at least lol.
RE: Recommendations for glow in dark PLA/PETG in the UK
Thanks for the help.
Just printed at 240C and 0.3mm layers and it's come out a lot better, it looks OK and the layers have joined. A couple of blobs on it, but not too bad, I'll now try 0.2mm and see what that looks like.
I've never measured the average diameter and plugged that in. I assumed that 1.75mm was a reasonable average anyway. How much deviation do you find from 1.75mm?
Thanks
Rob
RE: Recommendations for glow in dark PLA/PETG in the UK
I've had filament ranging from 1.71 to 1.8mm. 3DQF for example consistently seems to be 1.71, while 3dtommorrow is 1.76 usually (both of those are UK manufacturers btw ). Polymaker's Polyterra which I am a big fan of is 1.75 so right on the money from my measurements. Every single calculation the slicer does uses the filament diameter as a basis.
You see people complaining about under and over extrusion and immediately changing their extrusion multiplier settings. If you just set the filament diameter to match the real filament you usually don't need to touch things. Unless the filament diameter matches then everything else is just a band aid.
I usually have very little stringing, pretty much down to filament dampness, and what little I do get is the the really fine spiderweb/angel hair type which you can remove with a quick pass from a butane lighter in seconds.
I don't really care if the filament is under or over a bit, as long as its consistently so. If the diameter is changing from roll to roll or even on the same roll then you cant tweak that in the settings so you have to rely on the average but a good consistent filament you can set and just print.
RE: Recommendations for glow in dark PLA/PETG in the UK
Thanks for that information. I wasn't even aware of filament diameter setting, so it's always good to learn about something new.
Just measured the top 10cm of the reel of GITD and its around 1.66mm to 1.70mm. Thats a bit disappointing. checked with a second pair of digital calipers and they measure 1.7mm fairly consistently.
I have a set of feeler gauges so will use that to check how accurate the digital calipers are. I need a baseline I can trust, otherwise I'll buy a calibrated set of digital calipers that has some sort of guarantee unlike the stuff off Amazon or fleaBay.
Rob
RE: Recommendations for glow in dark PLA/PETG in the UK
Using the feeler gauges (and how do I know they are accurate :)), shows that the decent calipers are accurate to within +- 0.02mm. The second set of calipers are only accurate to 0.05mm and are a backup pair.
Just measured 1m of the GITD and its averaging as 1.68mm. I've changed the following diameter setting. Is that the one you meant?
It's printing another test now.
Thanks
Rob
RE: Recommendations for glow in dark PLA/PETG in the UK
Yep, that's the setting. With the size being under you were under extruding slightly too which isn't going to help with anything.
RE: Recommendations for glow in dark PLA/PETG in the UK - Resolved
Just to close this down, 240C is working well at 0.3mm layer.
I also got a calibrated digital caliper and it reports the diameter of the eSUB glow in the dark as 1.68mm to 1.7mm. Slightly more than my older calipers which reported 1.6 to 1.68mm. Now I have the temperature right, I'll play about with this.
Thanks for all the help
best wishes
Rob