problem printing in pla

Curious if anyone has seen this kind of problem.

I've been printing in abs just fine for a while now, gone through 2 2lb spools without a single jam. Other than finding the right temp issues, abs is imo super easy and reliable ( minus peeling from the bed at times )

I recently bought a 2lb spool of makerbot green ( just what they had at the local store, I don't actually use a makerbot ). I was able to get about 6mm in to the 5mm cubes ( [www.thingiverse.com] ) and the extruder jams. When trying to pull the filament out, I accidentally snapped it ( heat was off but still plenty warm ). I ended up with a piece of the filament stuck in the heatbreak.

Once I yanked that out, I measured the diameter and it was about 1.92mm. The filament on the spool is 1.74-1.75.

I've repeated this process at least 3 times. Every time I try to print the pla I get the same jam issue. Anyone have ideas?

I am using the e3d 1.75mm hot end with a .6mm nozzle. Print temps are 230C for the hot end and 65C for the heat bed.

What type of hotend? PLA can be trickier to print with because of its lower glass transition. It tends to swell sooner in the hot end. I would try a lower temp. Try @190 and work up from there. I faught PLA jamming for over a month and ended up replacing my hotend to solve the problem.

Your print temperature is way too high for PLA! Back it down to 185-195C, and the E3D will print PLA just fine.....

Quote
vreihen
Your print temperature is way too high for PLA! Back it down to 185-195C, and the E3D will print PLA just fine.....

I'll give that temp a shot. I was going by the makerbot printing temps.

I print PLA at 162C, for comparisons. I've never had jams due to expansion. In my early days my jams were only from experimenting with retraction, once I got that figured out I have yet to jam again.

Quote
bilsch

Quote
vreihen
Your print temperature is way too high for PLA! Back it down to 185-195C, and the E3D will print PLA just fine.....

I'll give that temp a shot. I was going by the makerbot printing temps.

Yea, printing at 190 made a pretty big difference. I may even try a little lower. 230 was *way* too high! Thanks!

I just ran a 4-hour ABS print at 220C yesterday with my E3D. Don't be afraid to try colder with the E3D.....

You might want to try running 100 mm of the PLA through the hotend *at* ABS temps to help clear any ABS out of your hotend. It could be that there is some still in there that hasn't gotten all the way out, I had this happen to me when I switched from playing with a short piece of nylon back to PLA.

Sorry for going dark for so long. Crazy busy.

So, I was able to play with the temps a bit and get further along but no matter how low I went I would still jam up. That or it was not hot enough to bond the layers

So, I got a new roll of pla filament and printed off the same parts ( different temps and accounted for the thickness ). I had no trouble at all with the matterhackers green - at least not in terms of the print quality No jams during the test objects ( hollow cube and cube steps ). I printed off a yoda head last night and it looks fantastic.

What ever the issue, that makerbot pla I think is just messed up. I looked at the bag and it had about a 1 inch slit from a knife. The spool itself also looks very different than what they have on their site - its a very tall and thin spool vs the shorter/wider spools. My guess is I got an old roll and it has too much moisture and its causing the material to act funky.

I'm going to bake the stuff in the oven for a few hours and try it again some time.

( the issue I have with the matterhackers green pla is that the color did not mix in very well so I get a funky gradient effect - it actually looks kinda cool )

So,

I found this thread a very interesting read - [www.makerstoolworks.com]

Describes very similar the problem I'm having printing pla on my e3d hot end. I'm going to print up a new fan mount and get some active cooling on the heat break shaft and reduce my retraction a good bit.

I have been wondering if this is the problem for a while but was not convinced until reading that post. In case it helps anyone

When I bought my E3D, MTW cautioned me that in their experiences the E3D was problematic with PLA. I bought a spool of their PLA with the E3D. That PLA spool is nearly empty now, and my E3D has not jammed once. 1.75mm filament, 0.4mm nozzle, long Bowden tube, 6mm retraction @ 100 mm/second using MTW's geared Bowden extruder. There may have been problems with earlier E3D's and PLA, but mine has been bulletproof so far.....

I had a bunch of problems with PLA jamming in an E3D hotend as well. I ended up polishing the heatbreak and seasoning it with oil (sounds odd, but works!) then shaving out some material from the nozzle to shorten the length of the 0.4mm part of it (or whatever nozzle you're using). Check the E3D online forums forums for lots of discussion about this.

So far, printing in ABS on the e3d is just great. I can't compare it as this is my first hot end/printer but I've never had a jam or any other kind of problem. In the end, I may just not print in PLA if there is this much maint involved Call me lazy, but it just seems that all of this work for printing in one material vs a lot less maint - kinda a no brainer

Having sad that, I've got some cleaning and baking to do. Interesting with the pipe cleaners for polishing. I at least want to verify that I can print in PLA and know what to do etc. I don't give up that easily

Thanks all for the responses! Very much appreciated!

Quote
Opus
I had a bunch of problems with PLA jamming in an E3D hotend as well. I ended up polishing the heatbreak and seasoning it with oil (sounds odd, but works!) then shaving out some material from the nozzle to shorten the length of the 0.4mm part of it (or whatever nozzle you're using). Check the E3D online forums forums for lots of discussion about this.