PVA mess

[waldo 3]

Printing PVA isn't working for me lately - result is a mess on the buildplate, and as you can see on the picture, the support even came lose under the chin of the second turtle.. . Also the eyes should have been filled with PVA...
The result is quite a mess of PVA all over the build plate...
Any ideas?

 

I used quite default settings - only the "overhang angle" was set to 55  (if I remember correctly...)

[rcfocus 0]

The failure rate of PVA is too high so that I decide to give up PVA. Now I use breakaway filament for support. The result is so good. The bad news is the price is much more expensive than PVA.

[Smithy 1,144]

Breakaway Support is good, but not possible for all objects.

But PVA is much more expensive than BreakAway. Here in Europe, a spool of UM PVA 705g costs 100€ and BreakAway is about 65€.- The PVA spools which cost only 50€, have only 350g, so be careful 🙂 

 

There are also possibilities, to mix PLA and Breakaway for support to save costs. So you can print the Support with PLA and only the support roof with the other extruder with Breakaway loaded.

 

 

[waldo 3]

I have about 1Kg of PVA - I'm going to put that to good use and than turn to BreakAway (as a lot of people are liking that so much better, it seems).

 

 

[Smithy 1,144]

Ok, if you have a 1kg spool than it is not UM PVA. Other brands are cheaper, so it is possible that Breakaway is more expensive than your PVA. But anyway, Breakaway is great, I like it.

[gr5 2,170]

PVA is harder to print than PLA and there is a learning curve.  In this particular case most likely your PVA got too wet.  You can dry it out by putting it on a print bed set to 80C overnight with a towel over it.  That should help quite a bit.  loosen the spool a bit also to let moisture out.

 

Never leave the PVA on the printer for longer than necessary.  For day long prints I keep the pva in a ziplock bag with just a small hole to let the pva out and 2 large packs (250g?) of freshlay baked dessicant.

[fbrc8-erin 272]

Based on the photos, screen shots, and settings, I'd recommend increasing your support horizontal expansion. It's going to use more PVA (which is expensive as mentioned), but the part with the eyes will stick better if it's attached to the part under the chin. I also usually use a PVA brim for prints with PVA supports.