Black Filament from Hell

OK, this is getting annoying. Every other PLA filament color I have -- all apparently the same batch from the same manufacturer, print between reasonably to great. But my first spool of black PLA is possessed. Every time I try to print, it's OK for 3 or 4 layers, than I start to get stepper skips. Just a few at first, then more. At that point it's started to clog, since if I raise the extruder it clicks even far from the bed. AFAIK my bed leveling is decent -- at least it keeps the other colors happy. I usually end up clearing this with a bunch of cold pulls, but ... jeez. I've tried varying the temperature when this occurs. My usual PLA temp is 205 -- I've varied from 190 to 220. My normal speed is 50mm/s -- I haven't experimented with changing that much so far. Any suggestions? And by the way, how bad for the extruder gear or stepper are these skips -- obviously they can go on for quite some time if you don't happen to be present when they occur. Thanks!

Good quality filament, or no-name budget stuff? Black is notorious for being the dumping ground for waste plastic, because you can hide all manner of evil with that black colorant.

Middle grade I guess -- it was recommended by someone who claims "no problems" with it. Of course, no telling what's in any given batch.

I only print with ABS but I gave up trying to print with black long ago.
As mentioned it is a dumping ground for all sorts of waste plastic. Some of it I am sure is not even ABS.
You can tell by the smell. It stinks the house out.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/14/2017 02:34PM by dave3d.

Just as I was starting to feel good about printing Black Excelvan it's gone, some new kids on the block with same spools, not tried yet, something tells me it might be expensive finding alternatives, it's a global conspiracy!

I'm using black abs from Solutech and black petg from MG chemicals and so far no problems with either. Both are fairly reasonably priced here in Canada through Amazon.

For the record, the vendor of this filament has declared the entire batch of black to be bad (it wasn't only me having problems with it) and has shipped me a (different color) replacement.

Ok, that's good that they stepped up and accepted responsibility.