PLA breaking question

[04kmorri]

I don't think you 'need' to get rid of the rest of the roll, I just finished up a roll of 1.75 natural PLA, i hadn't used it for...maybe 3 months and it had snapped twice at the reel end of the guide and once at the extruder end, but I still used it and it printed just fine for maybe....20 test tiles and something like 20 3dbenchy's.

[Jules]

I don't think you 'need' to get rid of the rest of the roll, I just finished up a roll of 1.75 natural PLA, i hadn't used it for...maybe 3 months and it had snapped twice at the reel end of the guide and once at the extruder end, but I still used it and it printed just fine for maybe....20 test tiles and something like 20 3dbenchy's.

Oh, i kept it. I just have to remember to take that one off when the print is done and dry it out.

[04kmorri]

Sadly I've neglected to maintain humidity levels of that reel from gizmodorks, and just printed it, but still i didn't notice much difference in print performance, just know If I'm going to be inactive for more then a few days I need to cover the printer, the old v3a head got really clogged and couldn't get it to print worth crap, the new v3b is a champ and looks better then the old one, just don't like how I need to be 10 degrees hotter for the same material. Sorry for getting side tracked, now just need my 5 rolls of hatchbox to come in.

[Matt_Sharkey]

I have this issue with any of my PLA that's semi-see-through. I imagine that being translucent comes at a price. it would print fine almost every time, but when it sits overnight it would break at the guide and tube like others said.

My fix:

In the Slic3r commands for end procedure, the last move is to put the X position at around 175mm. This leaves the filament at a natural bend and haven't had a break since. It looks a little weird to have the extruder parked in the middle of the gantry, but you get over that.

[insta]

I actually just fired up a V3a ... it's performing as well as the V3b (if not slightly better). I know the V3b has enough advantages to win out over the V3a, namely in assembly and maintenance, but it seems to heat more evenly and respond to temperature changes better. That could also be entirely placebo effect, since the V3a I'm using is relatively unused and the V3bs have been beaten to submission, blowtorched clean, and beaten to submission again.

[Jules]

I actually have some good news....after storing that spool in a bucket with a bag of rice for a couple of weeks, it isn't brittle any more. (Or not as brittle - it's hard to tell after just a few calibration prints, and I'm not going to leave it out overnight.) But when I first pulled it from it's packaging, it snapped easily by hand. Now it doesn't.

So the whole moisture thing with PLA? - Believe it.

[Quark]

Yeah, it's the Pine Green eSun. And it did print okay - it just doesn't like to sit in one spot for long....maybe it's just the darker colors. Good to know I can still use it once in a while if I need it.

Hey Jules, this is the exact same color I'm having problems with on the other thread. Besides drying it out again, you guys got any response from William on it?

[Jules]

Yeah, it's the Pine Green eSun. And it did print okay - it just doesn't like to sit in one spot for long....maybe it's just the darker colors. Good to know I can still use it once in a while if I need it.

Hey Jules, this is the exact same color I'm having problems with on the other thread. Besides drying it out again, you guys got any response from William on it?

He thanked me for alerting him to the problem, and said he'd notify the manufacturer.....but i don't really expect that he has much to do with the actual manufacturing process, so i wasn't expecting anything more.

Try drying it out with dessicant for a couple of weeks. It's a beautiful color. Maybe the dyes in that particular color affect it somehow, because i never had issues with any of the other eSun PLAs until they were several months old - and then they started to get a little brittle. (Just had one snap on me the other day, as a matter of fact. It does help to park the print head in the center overnight.)

But that one was brittle right out of the package, so there is something different with it.

[Quark]

Yeah, it's the Pine Green eSun. And it did print okay - it just doesn't like to sit in one spot for long....maybe it's just the darker colors. Good to know I can still use it once in a while if I need it.

Hey Jules, this is the exact same color I'm having problems with on the other thread. Besides drying it out again, you guys got any response from William on it?

He thanked me for alerting him to the problem, and said he'd notify the manufacturer.....but i don't really expect that he has much to do with the actual manufacturing process, so i wasn't expecting anything more.

Try drying it out with dessicant for a couple of weeks. It's a beautiful color. Maybe the dyes in that particular color affect it somehow, because i never had issues with any of the other eSun PLAs until they were several months old - and then they started to get a little brittle. (Just had one snap on me the other day, as a matter of fact. It does help to park the print head in the center overnight.)

But that one was brittle right out of the package, so there is something different with it.

Gotcha! Yeah, I think I had the first break on day 3 after openin g the package, running Christmas ornament prints pretty much 8 hours a day. Good thing I'm done for now, gonna toss it in desiccant. Thanks!

[innkeeper]

I've had freshly opened pla from microcenter (inland) break easily and have older pla i've had hanging around and forgot to store properly (2.5+ year old natural MG filament) be just fine. i dont do much pla printing, but had an oprotunity to do a large set of prints with pla and blew though all my old filamant and 3 new inland spools. so i hit that breakage issue. .. btw only had breaking with the freshly opened inland brand. other brands included mg, folgertech, and mb, all were flawless and 1 of those were opened the rest were sealed.

So although it is possible moisture is a factor, id say its more likely to be a matter of how much plasticizer if any, is in the mix. pure pla is very brittle, so its not usual for there to be some plasticizer like atbc or pba for example in it.