Filament randomly breaking before extruder
I’m finding that my filament is breaking (at random periods) before my extruder in the Bowden tube of my Core One. I think this only happens with this particular Clear PLA. I don’t think this is happening with my ASA filaments (default). Could it be just crummy filament? Is there anything I can do to relieve the issue - loosing the extruder idler tension?
RE: Filament randomly breaking before extruder
Did you try Drying the Roll? Old or wet PLA does this.
RE: Filament randomly breaking before extruder
PLA goes bad, especially the less expensive brands. Had it go bad within months of purchase, even some that was still in the factory vacuum bag.
You can try despooling several layers to get to 'fresh plastic' and see if the lower layers are still flexible. If not, save it for your hand printer pen, or the trash is the next best spot.
RE: Filament randomly breaking before extruder
No but I will try that. Didn’t know that PLA absorbs moisture…
RE: Filament randomly breaking before extruder
No but I will try that. Didn’t know that PLA absorbs moisture…
PLA can absorb moisture and can also get brittle after time, especially if it's been in and out of filament driers. That's why (one reason) I don't print with PLA anymore and prefer PETG.
PLA becomes brittle when damp. If dried within a reasonable time, a few months, it will be perfectly OK but if left moist for long enough it will micro-crack and remain unusable. If left moist and warm (hot-compost-heap warm) for a year or so it will begin to break down biologically. If you dry it and keep it dry it will keep for years.
Cheerio,
RE:
I have several rolls of PLA from MatterHackers. I have no issues with any of them breaking in the tube...
Except for ONE. Which is the MatterHackers Translucent Clear PLA! I don't know why... But that particular material is incredibly brittle. I had it break multiple times and even several breaks in one usage. It's quite irritating... But it is printing better now after I got through it a bit.
Funnily enough, I did cook it with a filament dryer prior to the breakage. After that, I might have left it out, I might have cooked it again, I don't really remember... But it worked earlier today with no issues. My guess is it just had a really bad, brittle section and now it's gone.
I’m finding that my filament is breaking (at random periods) before my extruder in the Bowden tube of my Core One. I think this only happens with this particular Clear PLA. I don’t think this is happening with my ASA filaments (default). Could it be just crummy filament? Is there anything I can do to relieve the issue - loosing the extruder idler tension?
RE: Filament randomly breaking before extruder
Yeah, that's what I'm concluding - that it's the clear PLA. Fortunately, I'm just using it to prototype. I'm going to be switching soon to Polycarbonate for the actual part - hopefully it will behave better...
RE: Filament randomly breaking before extruder
I had this with one particular roll of PLA. No amount of drying could fix and it did the same on several other printers also.
RE: Filament randomly breaking before extruder
I just realized my memory is worse than I thought... It wasn't the MatterHackers clear that was breaking on me. It was the Hatchbox Clear Green. And that entire roll is suspect. So disregard what I said. Sorry.
RE: Filament randomly breaking before extruder
FYI - mine is a Chinese brand GeeeTech
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0C5T79ZWH?ref_=ppx_hzsearch_conn_dt_b_fed_asin_title_1
RE:
I had serious trouble with this particular filament (Geeetech) on the MK3 some years ago. It wouldn't surprise that it doesn't play nice with the Core One.
FWIW I have quite a lot of old filament lying around and mostly they wear well (Smartfil in Spain takes the prize for longetivity) but there was one or two mostsly cheap Chinese types that snapped, had a lot of wispy bits, or were very poorly wound.