PLA Filament, suppliers quality?

[futura65 0]

I'm sure I got an email many received today about the limited supply of PLA for shipment. I'm in the USA and I was looking to find a supplier on this side of the pond which would save time and money in shipping. As I haven't received my machine yet, I don't have any yard stick for measurement. But has anyone noticed any quality difference with various suppliers of PLA with their machine? Does any one companies product seem to work better/worse than others in the UM? I have found various places on this link

http://reprap.org/wiki/Printing_Material_Suppliers

but like I said, has anyone noticed major differences in print quality with different vendors materials? Any advice is appreciated.

[ddurant 0]

Check out www.ultimachine.com - they're quite popular and have a good reputation for selling quality stuff at competitive prices.

[futura65 0]

yeah they were top on my list. I've bookmarked all the good reputable looking USA places I could find. All their small rolls are out of stock and I was a little hesitant to order a 5lb beast without being sure their stuff work fine in the UM. I figure there have to be a good number of guys ordering from various vendors who may have seen a difference in the print quality because of some differences between suppliers. I want to order a color other than black or white. Seems the other colors offer better results when photographing to send to people. Black/white just does what it typically does in photos.

[ddurant 0]

Everybody seems to have a hard time keeping PLA in stock - just keep checking back..

They do have some 1lb unspooled rolls in stock at ultimachine. You can usually pick up spools at hardware stores - home depot and such - for free, if they have them. It's a real pain to spool filament yourself but with just 1lb, it shouldn't be too hard. You could even go without an actual spool, if you want.

[futura65 0]

Does the UM machine rotate the spool or does it pull the spool? You know what I mean? Does it unwind the material by pulling the material thus rotating the spool, or does the machine have a mech that rotates the spool to assist the feeding? In either case, you know the trick to handle large unspooled amounts might be to handle it like a box of wire.....pulling from the center. Putting the unspooled bundle in a box, tape down the "outside" end, then cut the wraps, and pull the center end out, things would likely stay totally fine. It's when you pull the outside end of an unspooled bundle that you create a nightmare birds nest.

[joergen 2]

Does the UM machine rotate the spool or does it pull the spool? You know what I mean? Does it unwind the material by pulling the material thus rotating the spool, or does the machine have a mech that rotates the spool to assist the feeding? In either case, you know the trick to handle large unspooled amounts might be to handle it like a box of wire.....pulling from the center. Putting the unspooled bundle in a box, tape down the "outside" end, then cut the wraps, and pull the center end out, things would likely stay totally fine. It's when you pull the outside end of an unspooled bundle that you create a nightmare birds nest.

it pulls, there is no "spool drive", most/everything that I saw in regards to "filament management" is passive.

If it's on a spool, it'll simply rotate it. you can also simply lay up to 0.5kg worth of filament flat on the table, of hang it loosely on the spool holder without any issues, as it will uncoil/unspool itself.

If you try to print from >2kg (5lb) of stationary and unspooled filament, "rats nest" isn't beginning to describe the problem you will have. Simply cut of as much as you think you need for a print job, plus a bit more (if you have to deal with unspooled filament). if you buy the 30lbs spool from protoparadigm, enjoy building a spool holder for it.

[owen 19]

Does the UM machine rotate the spool or does it pull the spool? You know what I mean? Does it unwind the material by pulling the material thus rotating the spool, or does the machine have a mech that rotates the spool to assist the feeding? In either case, you know the trick to handle large unspooled amounts might be to handle it like a box of wire.....pulling from the center. Putting the unspooled bundle in a box, tape down the "outside" end, then cut the wraps, and pull the center end out, things would likely stay totally fine. It's when you pull the outside end of an unspooled bundle that you create a nightmare birds nest.

I have been using the 5lb unspooled coils from Ultimachine. The products seems good. I have been getting great feeding of filament by putting the coil in a salad bowl, and pulling from the centre. I have the salad bowl sitting on a platter of an opened hard drive (these have a good base and a great bearing). I have printed a platter that sits in between the hard drive platter and the salad bowl. This never stops. It works that well I have abandoned all other ideas of making spools etc. I also have a bowl for each different filament I have which makes swapping filament just a matter of swapping the salad bowl on the turn table. You should be able to get a crook 3.5" hard drive from a computer shop very cheap or free.

[futura65 0]

ok thanks....and yeah right on Owen, I figured someone had to be pulling from the center with success on the 5lb bundles. I feel safe doing it that way just because I've done it before with everything from wire, cable, rope, etc.... think I'll place an order from Ultimachine. Then I'll just need a machine to print with :lol:

[ultimate-x 0]

I use the PLA 45 filament from Orbi Tech

http://www.orbi-tech.de/shop/Kunststoff-Schweissdraht/PLA:::30_46.html

I tried many, but this type has no wrap at all, even if you use the whole platform.

They sell 2.2kg spools either, but you have to mail them.

The PLA 45 is not as stiff as others but that prevents extruder jams either.

Happy printing

[c-ernst 1]

I just picked up a huge spool of PLA from Ultimachine (silver) and it takes a ton of heat to get this to do anything decent. Anyone else have issues with their PLA like this?

With the PLA from Ultimaker I could run high speed at 220-230. The Ultimachine stuff needs a minimum of 250 and I can't run at the speeds I dd before. It also tends to web and curl more coming out of the nozzle.

Good thing I bought the 5lb spool... it has taken me 2 hours and a lot of blown prints to figure this stuff out.

Anyone know where the Ultimaker guys buy their stuff from?

Chuck

[mr_seeker 0]

Anyone know where the Ultimaker guys buy their stuff from?

If we knew, then they would be out of business

[Daid 306]

Anyone know where the Ultimaker guys buy their stuff from?

If we knew, then they would be out of business

Usually shops like Ultimaker buy stuff in big batches from suppliers that only sell in big batches. So it won't do you to much good.

Note that there is difference in PLA quality. I talked to someone who had cheaper PLA then most shops (less then 20euro per kg) however, it seemed to perform pretty bad. On inspection it wasn't as the same thickness everywhere. Not sure if that caused the problems, but he had quite a few issues with printing with it.

[zmaster 0]

I use the PLA 45 filament from Orbi Tech

http://www.orbi-tech.de/shop/Kunststoff-Schweissdraht/PLA:::30_46.html

I tried many, but this type has no wrap at all, even if you use the whole platform.

They sell 2.2kg spools either, but you have to mail them.

The PLA 45 is not as stiff as others but that prevents extruder jams either.

Happy printing

Interesting, their PLA 90 seems to resist at higher temperatures, which is nice. Have you tried it?

[ultimate-x 0]

No I haven't tried the Premium 90 grade from Orbitech. But from the good performance of their Premium 45 grade I think it's worth a try.

I looked for a real low wrab solution and the PLA 45 is really good. The prints are really dense, like solid material. I run with 230°C at 100mm/sec. I run this material now for about 120 hours almost nonstop for my remote control aircraft project, making the primary molds to laminate carbon fibre.

There is no wrap in this material, all the segments fit together like CNC milled.

I will need some time to get it done then I will post it in thingiverse and on RCgroups

Michael

[ultimate-x 0]

By the way, the magenta material I bought from the ultimaker shop. Works pretty good, but it has far too much wrap. The edges of the bottom plane curled up about 5mm.

[ultimate-x 0]

Just for the ones interested to follow the build of my SR71:

http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1588486

Please post in rcgroups regarding the project, so this thread does not go off topic.

Michael

[owen 19]

They are excellent looking prints.

[ultimate-x 0]

They are excellent looking prints.

Thanks, I'm quite happy with them

[zmaster 0]

Yeah, they look really good!

I think i'll try the PLA90 before thinking about ABS + HBP. Too bad i still have to wait 1 month for my UM.

[c-ernst 1]

nice stuff... wish I could print big... having issues with long print jobs skipping.

Chuck

[Daid 306]

nice stuff... wish I could print big... having issues with long print jobs skipping.

Chuck

Check your power connector. Mine was not making a very good contact. When talking to Erik about it he told me that they got a bad batch of supplies with 0.4mm too small plugs. Replacing the connector can help. I did this:

http://daid.eu/~daid/IMG_20120118_203802.jpeg

 

[ultimate-x 0]

nice stuff... wish I could print big... having issues with long print jobs skipping.

Chuck

I would strongly recommend to us a SD-Card like the one from Snootlab to get an stand alone printer.

http://forum.ultimaker.com/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=43

http://wiki.ultimaker.com/Deuligne_LCD_interface

http://shop.snootlab.com/lang-en/snootlab-shields/140-lcd-kit-for-ultimaker.html

It's worth every cent. Since I use it, no aborted prints any more. Start a print in the evening, get the part in the morning.

[c-ernst 1]

Definitely on my next purchase list. I can print very fast now 100mm+ with 150mm travel speeds. Jobs under 3 hours print flawlessly. Once I get into the 3-12 hour mark, large prints I have skipping in the Y. I have awesome belt tension (due to my new clips i designed http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:17058 ). The xy shafts are super smooth (took em apart, sanded the interiors lubed with low viscosity sewing machine oil) I am using Pronterface, Marlin etc... whole nine yards. This thing is moving at crazy speeds. I started suspecting temps being an issue seeing this never fails under 3-4 hours. Someone suggested it might be printer driver temps. Anyone else tweaked their printer driver voltage?

[c-ernst 1]

The power supply thing makes sense... now that I think about it. It will printing fine for 10 hours, I'll come in the room to check on it and BAM that's when it skips. I wonder if vibration is shaking the plug loose. Was joking with my wife, the machine functions on the quantum level.. works fine until you look at it.

hmmmm.....

[c-ernst 1]

I tried wiggling the power connector... didn't mess with the print I just tried. How did you know it was bad. I mean what were your symptoms leading up to find out about the connector?

Chuck