[PLA Filament, suppliers quality?]

if someone can PLA from thefutureis3d and 3dink? we printed with PLA and some vides on :http://i.youku.com/reprapPLA.

for PLA nature propeties, crystallise, that lead to much printing problem, some correcly printing intruction you can download from :

https://skydrive.live.com/redir?resid=CC8709D15BB78AA4!506&authkey=!AJrNhQC1vCR6vfw,follow the steps, you won't encounter problems with PLA.

800g/plastic spool right now in stock, the spool is 190mm*62mm,gross weight is 1kg. you can buy some samples (1.5kg/spool) from thefutureis3d and 3dink try PLA propeties, toughness and not break, there are no 800g/spool in stock from they, if you require them, they will order a batch of 800g/spool.

[Does your PLA wire crack when bended?]

I'm using the metal gray PLA wire that came with my UM. Once in a while it stops extruding and if i try to push the wire by hand i feel that it is stuck indeed.

I needed to pull it all out, cut half a meter and put it in again to make it work again.

It just happened again and i noticed that this piece that i had to cut away has the same diameter of the rest but it doesn't crack if i bend it. The rest of the roll instead breaks if i try to bend it.

Now i think that my extrusion problems are caused by the wire which must have some parts with different properties than the rest of the roll.

we used to encounter this problem offen before, since the PLA propertise, we find and get solutions to deal , you can see our test printing video on http://i.youku.com/reprapPLA. we modify PLA ,did new formulation improve PLA toughness, bending not break .to make printing smoothly.

you can download our instruction how to printing PLA correly from here:

https://skydrive.live.com/redir?resid=CC8709D15BB78AA4!506&authkey=!AJrNhQC1vCR6vfw

[PLA fumes while printing]

I don't think they are. But you might want to lower the printing temperature, you get less fumes that way. Printing at 250C gives a lot of fumes, while printing at 220C gives a slight smell after a hour or so.

I printed PLA at 185 deg, too much high temperation not good for PLA, since PLA is of bad heat stable(why? you can compare PLA with ABS, keep both on high temperation higher than 250 deg for a while, PLA wil flow out from nozzle without motor drive), when temperation up to 250 deg, it mostly go degradable(PLA is a biodegradable corn plastic),something very unknow fume emmit, and you may find the PLA filament melting flow from nozzle "dirty yellow black", I think that nothing good for health.

different supplier PLA is different process temperation, my do is 185 deg,very safe.

anyway, I don't like the smell of ABS, make me headache,must be in ventilation environment.

[PLA from north america]

You can try these guys:

https://www.protoparadigm.com/

I bought two spools of PLA from them. I have not tried them yet as my printer is still in the hands of DHL but they seem to have a reputation for sourcing very good quality PLA (tight tolerances on diameter). They even have an ultimaker

-Matt

I saw that guy on protoparadigm wrote a very good article that analysis printing result of PLA round and oval shape, include some complicate mathematical formula,very professional, I really trust them.Howerver, if they are a manufacturer? I am also interested on how they control the filament shape round.

[How to recognize PLA from ABS ???]

To test it without printing you can simply start bending it sharply at random points. PLA will snap, ABS will not.

I printing with a source of PLA, bending not break,it is a modify formulation that can improve toughness..some time, you can bend the ABS some times on different direction, ABS will be break.

I also have one method to recognize,

(1)PLA soft temperation is 60 deg, ABS will be up to 120 deg, so you can dip the filamnet to hot water(when the temperature you can't stand is more than 60 deg), the soft one is PLA.

(2)PLA is very ver hard, but ABS is not that hard, you can bite the filament, the real PLA can't easily left teeth path, but ABS easily.