All Filament $19/kg, high quality, USA manufacturer

[MeoWorks]

Well after 3 days of experimenting, I'm at my wits end with this filament. It prints nicely at the beginning of each print, but cannot do subsequent layers consistently. Sometimes it'll miss infills, miss sections in a layer etc. Tried everything, adjusting temps, high, low, nothing...flow rate...nothing...tightening the idler since filament might've been slipping...nothing...used different versions of Slic3r...nothing. You name it, I've tried it...LOL... I'm beginning to feel this filament is not a consistent quality. After losing 3 days of print/work time, I think it's time to contact the producer and ask for a refund. Such a shame.

I've since reinstalled my MakerFarm filament and it's printing fantastic again.

I'm not bashing PushPlastic one bit, maybe I got a bad batch, I don't know, but I feel like I've spent enough time now with the filament to know it's not for me.

[jimc]

well i got my abs today. i will print with it tonight and give a report. ive used alot of different brands, most from US so i will give a comparison.

[MeoWorks]

PushPlastic and I have been in contact for a few hours now and we've been troubleshooting the PLA to see if it's a spec problem. The current PLA I ordered are very textured and measured consistently above 3mm in diameter. PushPlastic has offered me a refund as well as sending PLA samples with smoother surfaces for me to test.

[jimc]

well its early in the game here but so far the abs from push plastic is printing as well as the best filament i have used. extremely consistent diameter. i have checked it in a dozen places through this print and it has only varied .002". thats in line with the top US plastic suppliers that i have used like village (3d systems), toner and coex3d. the abs is not brittle. its softer and flexible. you can bend it in half with out it breaking or turning completely white. i usually print with black abs so my comparison is with same color from the other manufacturers as well. so far its printing consistently and smooth. no clogging so far. i am printing the same gcode file i used with all the other suppliers to make it fair and compare apples to apples. i have to say so far i am impressed. the stuff prints fantastic and reasonably priced. its nice and black too.

meo, i realize you were using pla so maybe that a whole different ballgame for them. i dont really know. bad batches happen to everyone so when you get your new samples post up if you have the same problems.

[MeoWorks]

Will do. BTW does your ABS filament have a bumpy texture to it? That's one of the first things I noticed about the PLA I got and I think that might be throwing some things off for me.

[jimc]

no definitely not. its a really nice and smooth extrusion. slightly glossy just the way abs usually is.

i have been printing with this for 5 hrs now and so far no glitches. its printing great. i think thins needs a bit higher temp than the other abs filaments i have used. i felt the layer adhesion could be a bit better so on this last print i have running i bumped up the temp by 10deg. running now at 235 at the nozzle.

[MeoWorks]

Yeah I definitely can agree with the higher temps and need for better adhesion between layers with the PLA too. I used to print at 220C but for this filament I had to bump to 230C and it still had issues, I refused to go any higher for the sake of my hot end. I read through your previous post again and I too noticed that this PLA is a lot more flexible than what I am used to. I think this property is what's making some layers miss when printing, it's almost as though the tackiness of the filament is preventing better bonding. I can't really explain it, it just runs kinda thick I guess is how I can describe it, almost rubbery in feel.

As for the texture, yeah I'm used to the glossy filament too. I don't know why this batch was all bumpy lol.

[jimc]

Man 220 is even high for pla. Usually pla prints at 180-190. Have you ever verified the true temp at your nozzle? Do you only print pla? I have found when switching plastics some dont like to mix together right and never completely purge from the tube and nozzle which makes it tight for the new filament. You need to pull your tube and nozzle and soak it in paint stripper for a few hrs. It will melt all the buildup then you can clean it all out. The perfect sign of that happening is having to up the temps to keep it extruding correctly. Just a thought.

For this abs 235 is well within normal print temp so no big deal really. Its just a little higher than the other ones i have used. This seems to be bonding much better now. So far this stuff is printing great. In the morning i will set up an all day print for tomorrow with it.

[MeoWorks]

Really? I always though PLA printed anywhere from 180-230C depending on the source lol. 220C worked for me from the beginning so I just stuck with it. I've only ever printed PLA and just cleaned the nozzle out last weekend and installed a new thermistor since the old one cracked. It's funny because I kinda use this system where if I smell a faint sweet smell coming from the print, it means the temp is just fine, but if I smell a bit of burnt smell to it, it's too high. Not very scientific but it seems to work lol.

[jimc]

Well especially since you changed the thermistor you really dont know where you are temp wise. I have a digital temp meter with a thermocouple probe. I take some kapton and tape the thermocouple to the side of the nozzle itself. Its the only way really. You would be surprised how far off it can be.

For pla i cant say that i have heard of it ever printng as high as 220. Some people with certain machines may have to put it that high but if you took a true temp reading of the nozzle you would find that its more in the 190 range and setting high is just to compensate for the temp being off. To get a better idea lower your temp to 180 and extrude some plastic. If it wont extrude then raise the temp 5 deg and try again and so on. You want to find the point where the plasic just extrudes out the nozzle with a slight amt of difficulty but without the drive gear stripping out on the filament. Once you find that temp setting, raise the temp 10 deg and you should be close to the proper temp for the filament.