Filament Recommendations and Reviews

[Geoff]

FYI

DO NOT buy Torman filament. Out of 10 rolls, only one was usable and took me months to get a refund.

[DrUsual]

I thought I saw an ad showing filament at Radio Shack -- I'm going to stop by there today and see if they actually have it in stock; it never occurred to me that any place would carry it brick and mortar. (So far. Give it a few years...)

[jfkansas]

Microcenter has a bunch if you have one in your city. Their inland brand is inexpensive also and is pretty good.

[jimc]

The microcenter stuff is toner plastics which is excellent. Its premium all made in usa stuff. I have printed 7-8 rolls of this stuff and its all be fantastic. It bliws my mind that you can get this stuff on sale for 15 bucks

[jasonnunley]

I just got my FFCP and having the issue with clumping.... are you able to print dual colors with filament from other suppliers

[curious aardvark]

clumping ?
sounds like you're not printing at a high enough temperature.

[Geoff]

I just got my FFCP and having the issue with clumping.... are you able to print dual colors with filament from other suppliers

Yes, but you will need to find out what each temp they require, 2 types of ABS might have to go 225c/230c.. it all depends on the plastic. Find your minimum print temperature (when it stops clicking and extrudes) and start there when doing a dual extrusion.

Clumping in your case has nothing to do with your temperature as aardvark varked, your nozzle isn't close enough to the bed - or one of them isnt. Most machines need a little work for dual extrusion as they don't care about it at the factory- you will have to adjust the nozzle height slightly if one is printing OK and the other is gooping.

[curious aardvark]

Actually temperature is relevant.

Extruding at low temperatures causes the filament to curl upwards at the point of extrusion, making it stick to the extruder and clump.
Extrude at a hotter temperature and the filament will hang straight down and not clump. Also extruding too fast has a similiar effect, but if you maintain the speed and up the temperature it fixes the issue.

As long as you're using a non-warping filament and a sticky bed, you can get away with a pretty large gap between the plate and the print head and the filament will stll lay down flat.
Something you learn when you don't calibrate the bed for a few months :-)

Yes if the filament doesn't stick to the bed - it will also clump.
And the not sticking might or might not be becasue the bed is badly levelled. Could simply be that the filament doesn't stick to the build surface.
And if that's the case - doesn't matter how tight you calibrate.

Not just one answer to any question round here :-)

[Geoff]

Not just one answer to any question round here :-)

No ,but it helps if you give the right answers

I know you don't do alot of dual colour printing, but I do and from his problem, and the fact that one nozzle prints and the other doesn't, well - it's pretty black and white. Assuming he is using the same material, i.e PLA and PLA and he is printing at the same temperatures (or let's say 200-210) then there shouldn't be any curling. If he is using the same materials, the variance in temperature shouldn't make that much of a difference, at worst he might get some dribble - but to not have it stick to the plate and curl up - while the other one does - really, is it even a question?

If one of the nozzles is 1mm higher than the other, we all know what that means - the bed will be level with one, but not the other and you can't level the other because the first nozzle will hit the bed before it let's you - so you need to adjust the nozzle height manually to get them spot on.

how many times have you calibrated your nozzle height for dual colour prints? surely you would have seen this scenario at least once if so. He was concerned that different suppliers filament might not dual print - no this is not a problem, I don't think I've ever dual colour printed with the same manufacturer in both nozzles.

So, eliminating all the things people think it is, and actually focusing on what the problem is - the solution is basically an M2 Hex and some patience.

[3drobotprinter]

I tried AIO Robotics premium filament ($10 per spool) this week. Here is some more information http://www.zeus.aiorobotics.com/#!filament/ijf5x, however I directly bought it from Amazon with Prime. I'm very happy with the quality and it's a high quality filament like hatchbox or tonerplastics with a very competitive pricing.