Jump to content

Recommended Posts

Posted · broken PLA filament

Recently I had serveral breaks in PLA filament (not from Ultimaker) which was still mounted to the Ultimaker but not used (therefore stayed at the same position).

It's clear that (standard) PLA is a quite brittle material. But these breaks did not occur when the PLA was 'fresh' out of the plastic. Of course I had to twist the filament by 90° between reel and bowden tube.

The room I run my Ultimaker has a temperature between 19 and 25°C and a relative humidity of 50-60%.

I would like to ask the PLA experts among you what might be the cause for these breaks. Humidity? Too much stress in the filament? Poor quality of the filament?

thxs

 

  • Link to post
    Share on other sites

    Posted · broken PLA filament

    I can't comment on the humidity because I have no experience there but it could certainly be poor quality. I got a spool of filament a year or so back that was terrible. The first few meters of it seemed to work just fine but then... I could barely unspool it very carefully by hand without it breaking. It was like handling glass.

     

  • Link to post
    Share on other sites

    Posted · broken PLA filament

    same problems here....:(.

    Any tips and tricks on storing PLA?

    New rolls are obvious, but what with the opened ones?

    For welding rods I used an old refrigerator, with a timer for the light bulb, to keep them dry..

    Would that help? (If the moisture is the problem?)

     

  • Link to post
    Share on other sites

    Posted · broken PLA filament

    I had failures like this with filament delivered on spools with a very small inner diameter, about 20mm. Having used about 1/2 to 2/3 it inevitably broke.

    The filament had so much tension that it hardly slided through the boden tube. It was obvious that it broke because of bending it back straight, coming from a diameter too tight. I tried to transfer it to a can with larger diameter, to let the material relax. But within two days, the filament completely disintegrated into hundred of small pieces of 5-10cm.

    Next trial will be a transfer to an empty standard spool, and then I want to put it immediately in an oven at ~50-60°C to support relaxation.

     

  • Link to post
    Share on other sites

    Create an account or sign in to comment

    You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

    Create an account

    Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

    Register a new account

    Sign in

    Already have an account? Sign in here.

    Sign In Now
    • Our picks

      • Help Us Improve Cura – Join the Ultimaker Research Program
        🚀 Help Shape the Future of Cura and Digital Factory – Join Our Power User Research Program!
        We’re looking for active users of Cura and Digital Factory — across professional and educational use cases — to help us improve the next generation of our tools.
        Our Power User Research Program kicks off with a quick 15-minute interview to learn about your setup and workflows. If selected, you’ll be invited into a small group of users who get early access to features and help us shape the future of 3D printing software.

        🧪 What to Expect:
        A short 15-minute kickoff interview to help us get to know you If selected, bi-monthly research sessions (15–30 minutes) where we’ll test features, review workflows, or gather feedback Occasional invites to try out early prototypes or vote on upcoming improvements
        🎁 What You’ll Get:
         
        Selected participants receive a free 1-year Studio or Classroom license Early access to new features and tools A direct voice in what we build next
        👉 Interested? Please fill out this quick form
        Your feedback helps us make Cura Cloud more powerful, more intuitive, and more aligned with how you actually print and manage your workflow.
        Thanks for being part of the community,

        — The Ultimaker Software Team
        • 0 replies
      • Cura 5.10 stable released!
        The full stable release of Cura 5.10 has arrived, and it brings support for the new Ultimaker S8, as well as new materials and profiles for previously supported UltiMaker printers. Additionally, you can now control your models in Cura using a 3D SpaceMouse and more!
          • Like
        • 18 replies
    ×
    ×
    • Create New...