New filament tips?
I feel like I'm finally getting to understand my new printer, but my first roll of Prusa black PLA is running low. I'm going to need to buy some filament soon, and the shipping charges to the USA mean I will be exploring other brands.
What process do you go through to determine the settings for a new brand of filament? Whatever process I use, I might like to try it with the Prusa filament before it runs out to see if my printer could use some other tweaks.
Re: New filament tips?
Hi miferr,
For now im also a beginner and can not advice on much. But i would recommend the "natural" color of PLA. Then you can use sharpies to get different pastel like colors who are quite nice and cost only a fraction of a full color spool 🙂
Re: New filament tips?
Thanks! I'll take a look at that.
Re: New filament tips?
I found the following page and thought I might try it starting from the "Nozzle Temperature" section:
http://reprap.org/wiki/Triffid_Hunter%27s_Calibration_Guide
Anyone ever tried it? It sounds like exactly the type of procedure I was looking for.
Re: New filament tips?
I tried that procedure that I linked to above, using my Prusa filament, and it was a bit hard to use. I can't recommend it.
This video looked like a very straightforward way to determine a good temperature:
It uses two parallel, single wall cylinders. Adjusting the nozzle temperature is supposed to show differences in looks, strength, and stringing.
I printed it with the Prusa black PLA at 210, and it came out perfect: no strings, a nice shine on the outside, and very strong layer adhesion. I could not pull it apart.
Then I ran it again at 200 for the first 10mm, 190 for the next 10mm, and 180 for the last 20mm. The 190 and 200 sections were both good; the 190 section may have been a little less shiny, but it was hardly noticeable. The 180 section was not shiny at all...good to note if I ever wanted to do something with a dull finish. When I tried to pull it apart, the cylinder broke at the boundary of 180 and 190. Within each section, I could not pull it apart. I thought that was an interesting result.
As for extrusion, from what I've read, I can just measure the filament diameter in several places, then plug in the average into Slic3r. Then I can tweak the multiplier if necessary. Sound about right?
I'm curious to see how this process goes with my new filament. It arrives on Thursday. 🙂