PVC Jamming in Feeder - Ultimaker 3 Extended

[Shirly 1]

Hi,

 

Just wondering if anyone has any advice on this issue? The PVC filament is getting jammed in the feeder, it curls around the wheel and I have had to take the feeder apart to get it out. When it first happened I made sure the nozzle wasn't blocked and cleaned it. I have also un-loaded it and re-loaded it a couple of times.

 

It only happens when a job is running. It will feed fine when i re-load it each time.

 

Thanks!

[Smithy 1,144]

Hi and welcome!

 

I assume you mean PVA filament and not PVC?

So in that case your filament has probably absorbed too much moisture and is now to soft. PVA is very sensible for too much moisture, so keep it always is a dry place - Lock & Lock box or bags with silica gel.

 

To rescue your PVA filement you can bake it in the oven to dry it. Not sure right now about the temperature, but as far as I can remember it is round about 50°/60° celsius.

[Shirly 1]

Yes sorry,PVA! ?

 

Ok thats great to know thank you for your reply! I will try baking it. Any idea for how long for?

[Smithy 1,144]

Here you find all informations about temperature and duration:

https://ultimaker.com/en/resources/52682-how-to-dry-pva

 

The article mentions not to use a household oven, I think the reason is, that such ovens often heat much higher and cannot hold a constant temperature, but there are a lot of people that have successfully used their oven. Just check if before, that you don't overheat your PVA which would result in a "block of plastic" ? 

 

[Shirly 1]

Great, thanks for your help. I will try it on the build plate today.

[Smithy 1,144]

You are welcome, just one more hint: I don't think that the mentioned 2 hours are enough, so try it a little bit longer - would also depend on how much moisture your PVA has already absorbed.

[Baychattan 1]

I use a food dryer/dehydrator. The one I have has digital temperature (max 70 degC) and timer (max 8 hours) controls - the timer means you don't have to remember when the PVA will be 'cooked'. It came with stacking trays - I cut out the centre of a couple of trays to give enough height for a filament spool but others have printed riser pieces to get the height.

[Shirly 1]

How do you both store it if you dont mind me asking? Do you take it off at the end of each job and put it away? Store in a plastic container/bag with dessicant?

 

Thanks for the replies so far.

[Baychattan 1]

I store the PVA in a clip-lock container when not in use, with a large indicating silica-gel bag in there.

 

When printing, I run a dehumidifier if needed to keep the room RH below 50%.

 

I also like to have two spools of PVA on the go, so I can be printing with one whilst the other is being dried out.

[Shirly 1]

So I tried drying the PVA today and the same thing happened when I tried to use it a couple of hours later. Thinking it was just that PVC I tried a brand new one and its doing the same thing. It will feed it in to a certain point and then it stops and starts getting stuck, chipping the PVC and not going anywhere! I'm at a loss now.