PCL (Polycaprolacton) with UMS5

[herzchirurgie001 0]

Hey,

we were trying to print small (approx 2cm) scaffolds with PCL and used extruder 2 and PVA as support. You can see our models printed with PLA below.

The printing temperature was set in Cura as 110°C and we added M302 to the gcode after each T0. Still the PCL didn't really came out of the extruder (just small dots).

Do you have any recommendations how to print PCL with the Ultimaker S5?

 

Thanks in advance!

[ElogioAM 0]

Hi there!

 

Which PCL are you using? Please consider there are several not pure PCL or direclty not PCL but labeled as such out there in the market.

In any case, if you are using ElogioAM Ortho or PCL100 then I recomend to check this post for suggestion on printing settings.

I hope that helps.

[herzchirurgie001 0]

Dear @ElogioAM,

 

thank you very much for your response. We tried to adopt some of the recommended settings from this post. We managed to print the PCL scaffold partially using a PVA support structure. Unfortunately, neither the printing process nor the result meet the requirements and have a poor quality. And most important the below reported problem also occurs when using a smooth PLA filament.

Ultimaker S5-Printing a scaffold with PCL filament (AA 0,25) and Ultimaker PVA (BB 0,4) as a support material: Within the 8h printing process for 10 scaffolds at a time the printer stops around 20 times, giving the alert that there is material empty and the filament spool needs to be checked. Of course this is not the case. If I change the filament I recognize always that the respective filament (PCL/PLA) is damaged on the location where it lies within the motor, is eroded on this location from the tooth wheel of the motor and therefore the filament seems to be stuck within the motor. We recognized the same problem in the Ultimaker 3.

Even if I pretend to change the material 20 times within this process and remove the damaged filament part every time, the received printing result is poor! There are always layers missing or poorly extruded (obviously whenever the motor is not able to protrude the filament anymore). As this also happens while using the PLA filament and not only the experimental PCL I do not know how to proceed.  

The scaffold parts that are printed in the time between the alerts are perfectly fine. I conclude that there is neither a Problem with the model, printing accuracy or Filaments.

We use Facilan PCL, 2.85mm. https://www.3d4makers.com/products/facilan-pcl-100-filament?variant=22537902212

 

I am happy for every all suggestions and experiences

[geert_2 558]

On 3/30/2019 at 12:17 PM, herzchirurgie001 said:

@ElogioAM

 

...

And most important the below reported problem also occurs when using a smooth PLA filament.

...

 

This sounds like general underextrusion, and may be not related to the type of filament (PCL). I think you would first need to sort this out with a well known standard filament like PLA, until that prints smooth. It could be a (partially) blocked nozzle, incorrect feeder tension, incorrectly mounted bowden tube, worn out teflon in the nozzle (not sure if this also applies to an UM S5?), too much friction somewhere in the feeding traject, etc... Search for "underextrusion".

 

Personally I have no UM S5 and no experience with PCL, so it's hard to give more suggestions.

 

[Till187 0]

Hello @herzchirurgie001

I'm facing similar problems, have you managed to solve the problem? I'm simply trying to print a PCL cube with my UMS5 but just a big chunk of PCL on the nozzle is all I get. How did you make your PCL stick to the (glass) surface? Or did you use a different material for the bed?