Underextrusion..Bad PLA Spool from Ultimaker

[luckybob 0]

First off, I absolutely love my Ultimaker 2. I have managed to eat through 1.5KG of PLA in 3 weeks with minimal bad prints (mainly my fault or the model).

I ordered a few extra spools of PLA from Ultimaker with my purchase, and the Teal and Red spool have printed without issues. I also purchased a spool of the Blue and I have been having nothing but problems. If I can get the material to load (this usually requires me to cut large chunks off the spool) it will print fine for a little bit, but then starts to make a loud clicking from the feeder and starts severely under extruding. I have had entire prints of nothing but very holey sponge like models. I did a bit of research and the only thing I can come up with is that the PLA diameter is not as listed (2.85mm). **No micrometer to find out exactly.

Before I start tweaking the feeder settings (because everything else has worked) I wanted to see if it is a common issue to get PLA from Ultimaker that falls out of specifications? I opened a support ticket to see if I can get the spool replaced, but I am not sure of the process here, or if the printer is designed around inconsistent diameter of PLA. Should I have to adjust the feeder every time I change material? This could be problematic when I start playing with pausing prints and swapping material colors.

thanks for you help and guidance.

 

[izzy 33]

I was having some problems / errors, test pieces worked fine, my parts had problems inc warping and poor extruding. I updated Cura and the firmware and I would say check the grub screw on the filament feeders knurled nut, mine was loose. My UM2 is working fine now.

[DidierKlein 729]

Have you tried adjusting the temperature? Some colors need more or less temperature (in your case more because you have under-extrusion).

If you also have this with other colors (after you experience under-extrusion) then you might need to clean the nozzle:

http://support.3dverkstan.se/article/10-the

 

[luckybob 0]

I was having some problems / errors, test pieces worked fine, my parts had problems inc warping and poor extruding. I updated Cura and the firmware and I would say check the grub screw on the filament feeders knurled nut, mine was loose. My UM2 is working fine now.

 

I will double check the firmware and make sure I am up to date (I know Cura is the latest version). I do not have any issues with the other colors I have, just the blue, so I am not sure I have a feeder issue on the printer.

 

Have you tried adjusting the temperature? Some colors need more or less temperature (in your case more because you have under-extrusion).

If you also have this with other colors (after you experience under-extrusion) then you might need to clean the nozzle:

http://support.3dverkstan.se/article/10-the

 

I have played around with different temp settings and speeds with no success. I followed the troubleshooting guide on the site for under extrusion. I do not have this issue with the other colors I have (all from Ultimaker), just the blue.

I am looking to order some more PLA and try some ABS, but I want to figure this out first. I know there are a lot of variances in diameter with plastic from different providers, and want to make sure I can find a good quality plastic I don't have to reconfigure the machine for if I want to use.

 

[DidierKlein 729]

Do you have a caliper to see if the filament is 2.85mm or more? take measures at different segments to check. It can happen that some spools are not constant. Ultimaker brand is most likely to be constant but i guess that it can happen to have a bad spool :(

 

[yellowshark 153]

Yes it is possible to receive a bad spool whether it be of the same colour used before or a different colour. I received a bad spool from Colorfabb about a year ago (a filament that I had bought from them previously) and they changed it immediately. Of course you need calliper to be sure that it is the spool measurements that are wrong.

 

[Daid 306]

Also, if you bend the material, does it turn white? If it does, the spool is actually ABS, not PLA. (Simple check that can save a lot of headache)

 

[luckybob 0]

Do you have a caliper to see if the filament is 2.85mm or more? take measures at different segments to check. It can happen that some spools are not constant. Ultimaker brand is most likely to be constant but i guess that it can happen to have a bad spool :(

 

I do not have a caliper and I don't think I would be accurate with a ruler

I plan to pick one up soon, just need to get to the store.

 

Also, if you bend the material, does it turn white? If it does, the spool is actually ABS, not PLA. (Simple check that can save a lot of headache)

 

It does not bend, it snaps almost immediately with a clean break.

 

[luckybob 0]

I check the firmware last night and found I was on 14.09.0. I upgrade to 15.x.x (don't remember now), the latest version from the current Cura version. After this I loaded the Blue PLA for a test, and had the same issues. I decided to get a bit more aggressive with the temperature and I was able to get a few small prints. I will try to do something larger tonight to see if that addresses it.

What temperature range is safe for PLA? Because I am a beginner, I wanted to take it slow and make sure I do not damage the printer. The default temp is 210 and originally I tried up to 220 with no luck. Last night I tried bumping the temp to 225 and it helped, but I was short on time and did not get around to a bigger print.

I will do more testing tonight and update.

Here is an example of a few prints of the same model in different colors. I also included another model printed with the blue that was 100% under extruded. I also included the PLA information.

 

 

[DidierKlein 729]

You can go up to 230°c - 240°c with PLA no problem.

Indeed i must say you have serious underextrusion on your pictures. This might be caused by the color i have so UltraMarine Blue from Colorfabb that gives bad results (looks like the same color) and i know at least two people who have the same experience.

Try with 225°c and slow down the speed a bit.

What are your print settings by the way? (layer height and speed)

 

[luckybob 0]

You can go up to 230°c - 240°c with PLA no problem.

Indeed i must say you have serious underextrusion on your pictures. This might be caused by the color i have so UltraMarine Blue from Colorfabb that gives bad results (looks like the same color) and i know at least two people who have the same experience.

Try with 225°c and slow down the speed a bit.

What are your print settings by the way? (layer height and speed)

 

I did try at 225, but did not have time to thoroughly test last night. I did a quick print at 225 and it looked good, but it was only 8mm high. I will do more tonight.

I typically do not get into the advance settings of Cura. I use the default print options and I tried all three. The prints in the image were done with the low and med settings. I did adjust the speed to 50%, but had no luck.

 

[luckybob 0]

So I did some testing with the temperature last night and found 225 was a bit too hot as I had some stringing going on. I lowered the temp to 223 and tried a log print. It came out perfectly.

I guess I can file this under experience now, but it has been an excellent lesson on temperature settings. Long gone is the assumption all plastic from the same vendor work the same.

Thanks for all the help!

 

[luckybob 0]

So it turns out it was a bad spool of PLA. Support finally got back with me and said they had issues with the batch of Dark Blue.

It was a good thing too, I was still getting frustrated with bad prints.....thought it was me.