Help, Halfway during print job, the PLA stops extruding. What setting can affect this

[alokpant 0]

Hi, 

 I am new to 3D printing. I bought Ultimaker 2+ last week. It came with 2.85 mm spool and worked great. Yesterday I changed to generic PLA (Hatchback 1.75mm) that I have and it seems to print OK for first several layer but then nothing comes out of nozzle after ~15-25% of print job. Nozzle keeps moving but nothing is coming out.. When I restart the job same thing happen at different point. I changed to another new PLA spool but saw the same result.

 

I am assuming my CURA setting for material is wrong but not sure which one. I did change the diameter of material (diameter - 1.75mm, retraction distance 5.5mm, retraction speed 25mm/sec). Is there cura profile for 1.75mm spool that I can find.

 

Oh I also moved to use Octoprint (reprep profile). I am now backtracking to find the root cause but it will be helpful to know what all can cause such issues

 

Can you help suggest what I may be doing wrong here

Thanksyou for your help

[Job_van_gennip 23]

Hi Alokpant,

 

The Ultimaker is made for 2.85. it is possible to print with 1,75, but this will never be reliable unless you modify your printer itself. Make sure you use 2,85 filament. Hope this helps.

 

[gr5 2,234]

@alokpant - please don't print 1.75mm filament in an Ultimaker printer.  There are conversion kits but you will get the best results if you stick with "3mm" (actually 2.85 to 2.9mm) filament.

 

[alokpant 0]

Thankyou. Yes I was not aware of it and just assumed. After few google search I came to same conclusion.  Thanks again for help

 

BTW can I get suggestion on some economical brand for filament spool.  These PLA spools are 2X price of what I used before for 1.75mm (>$40 for 2.85mm vs $20 for 1.75mm). Can I use any 2.85 mm PLA. Any suggestion on a reasonable good brand that is not too expensive (not cheep either).  

[gr5 2,234]

eSun is quite cheap and is a decent filament.  It's on amazon.  Their quality used to suck years ago but it's been fine for the last few years.  It's kind of funny to hear people spend a lot of money on an S5 and then want to save on filament.  🙂

 

In USA I recommend printedsolid.com.  They are really good about filament and have some amazing deals occasionally.  Their owners visit and test various filament manufacturers in the USA and have relationships.  They know what's good and what isn't (almost everything is fine when it comes to basic PLA).

 

I've tested many filaments.  The best quality is Ultimaker in my opinion.  Better than colorFabb.

 

White filaments of all brands (and types, ABS, PETG, etc) are lower quality and harder to deal with (somethign about the additives to make white).

 

Ultimaker S5 makes it a bit of a pain for someone new to deal with non-Ultimaker spools.  I recommend you stick with Ultimaker for the first 10 spools.  You have to have a bit of engineering in your soul to print with a 5kg spool for example.  For example you can put the spool on the table or floor behind the printer.  You can make a spool holder or just use a brick or something to keep it from rolling across the room.

[alokpant 0]

Thankyou gr5. Much appreciated your prompt reply and helpful suggestions