dfrez

The roll of Filamentum PLA came in today. So far, not overly impressed. Stringing is gone, but underextrudes badly with default PLA profile at 210°C. Managed to get it to extrude okay, but temp was way up to 230°C and even at that temp there’s still some underextrusion. See pics, the failed print was at 210 and the other at 230 and slowed down the speed. The eSun PLA+ printed better aside from the stringing. Not sure what else to check, I already replaced the TFM coupler.

I see. I will definitely play around a bit and see what I find. Since I first made this thread, I replaced the PTFE coupler with a TFM one. So that may have causing an issue as well.

Well, at least I'm not the only one with eSun issues, lol.

I don't really need it per se. I mostly bought it since it had good reviews online and was affordable. It's fine for models that don't have lots of travels between parts, like a cube versus the benchy.

I've been looking into this more and found the "fan at full height" setting. I wonder if this has anything to do with it? As in the layer is turning on at 100% at the second layer and subsequently cooling the hot end slightly causing an underextrusion. Unless it's already enabled. I do have Cura 4.0 as my slicer, will need to look into this setting some more.

Me too. I know it's not very scientific but I have noticed that whenever I try to pull extruded filament away from the nozzle, like while doing an atomic, the filament stretches noticeably while hot compared to other materials. Which makes me think this might just be a characteristic of the PLA+ which results in the stringing.

Well, I went ahead and bought a roll of Filamentum. I'll update with the results after it comes in.

I've been having issues with the eSun PLA+ as well. It just keeps stringing no matter how much retraction I add.

Yeah, that's what I'm thinking too. I've never had an issue with the default print profiles, and what is strange is that it was printing fine initially.

Gotcha. Makes sense though. Also, not overly surprising but the PTFE coupler that was in there was due for replacement. I just didn’t think I put that many hours on it already. The coupler on my work printer didn’t need replacement until about 1000 hrs. But I’m pretty sure that one had a TFM coupler, which is what I replaced this one with. Filament is still stringing though, ugh.

I’ll have to check out those brands. The eSun is nice since it’s prime on Amazon. Yep, bought a hardened nozzle to go with it. Wasn’t aware about the feeder gears being damaged by it though.

Yeah, I just tried drying because that’s what the filament seller recommended. I’ll definitely check the coupler. I’ve replaced it on the UM2+ extended before, so no big deal. The eSun has a lot of good reviews on Amazon but there are a few reviews with similar issues regarding the stringing. I stuck to UM filament only because that’s what the reseller told me. I did end up getting a roll of carbon fiber nylon filament from 3DXTech that worked well. I only mentioned getting the UM filament because it’s normally pretty reliable.

Hi all, not sure how much experience everyone has here with this material but I’ve been having some issues with it lately. It’s been driving me crazy, I’m close to just buying some Ultimaker PLA or other brand. I recently picked up a used UM2+ after working with a UM2+ Extended at my previous job for a few years. There we used all Ultimaker brand filament to retain the warranty. This used one has a few upgrades on it, like PEI sheet, low friction spool holder, etc. supposedly the PTFE coupler had been replaced before I bought it. But I need to check it still. Anyway, the PLA+ was good at first. Printed well with the regular UM2+ profile. Then about halfway through the roll after a few months it started stringing badly. I did a few atomic pulls nozzle is clean. Then I baked the roll for a few hours to dry it out. Still strings regardless of retraction settings. Went up to 12mm retraction still lots of stringing. I tried lowering the temp from 220 to 210 but then it starts underextruding unless I slow down the speed. Even down to 205 (the min temp recommended by eSun) it still strings. So so I thought maybe it was an issue with that roll and bought a white roll of PLA+. Even right out of a sealed bag with desiccant, it strings with the standard profile. The only way to reduce it somewhat was to enable wipe and z-hop. The grey benchy on the left was when the roll was new. The right is current. The white benchy on the left was right after opening the roll. The right is after enabling wipe and z-hop. I’m going to try drying the white roll to see if that helps. Any other suggestions?

Just an update, this seems to be more material dependent. I normally print with eSun PLA+ and that seems to have the slight under extrusion at the 3rd or so layer. However, the wood PLA shown above prints fine. Maybe it is a temperature issue, PLA+ has a recommended print temp of 205-225C.

A few months back I bought a UM2+ with an uninstalled Mark 2 upgrade. I have most of the parts except for some odds and ends, mainly wiring. I figured I'd post here first instead of buying a lot of extra cables and connectors I won't use from Digikey/eBay/etc. Looking for: Stepper Motor Extension Cable Temp Sensor 2 Cable (from Mark 2 expansion board to main board) 24VDC cable (from Mark 2 expansion board to main board) 18 AWG wire for Heater 2 (from Mark 2 expansion board to main board)

For what it's worth, the z-screw has an anti-backlash nut that was added by the previous owner. The z-screw had no grease on it(!) when I bought it and greased it maybe 1-2 months ago. But definitely had more than one pea sized amount on the entire thread. I went ahead and cleaned the screw and went a little lighter on the grease this time.

Managed to get a pic right after the 2nd layer finished. Doesn’t appear to be any underextruding going on... must be an intermittent issue or something. The cube came out fine after a slight nozzle height adjustment and I also tried the “initial horizontal expansion” setting in Cura like GR5 suggested.

I'll have to snap a pic while it's printing the second layer. I'm not sure about bed adhesion, I'm using a PEI sheet and the heated bed is on as well. So the prints seem to stick fine as long as I wipe it down with IPA regularly. Yes, for the printed items in the pics, that is wood fill PLA. Is "initial horizontal expansion" a setting in Cura? I will definitely look into that. I normally print with a slight elephant foot as well, but for these dice I was trying to avoid that.

Hi all, first time poster, long time lurker. Been using an UM2+ for about two years now between my previous job and a used printer I picked up a few months ago. I’ve recently noticed an issue where the first layer lays down well, then it appears to under extrude for 2nd or 3rd layer, then is fine after that. It seems to be less of a problem if I adjust the clearance between the bed and nozzle but then elephant foot is more prominent. On these dice I’ve printed you can peel the first layer off from the rest of the print. I can’t imagine it’s a nozzle clearance issue. It does this with both wood filled PLA and normal PLA, printing at default Ultimaker settings. Will need to double check to see if ABS has this issue. Any suggestions on things to check?