White PLA not printing ok

[gedp 0]

Hi,

I'm quite new to ultimaker (approx 7 weeks). When I ordered, I also ordered a spool of white PLA. The Ultimaker included also a spool of ugly gold color. However, every print I made with the gold colored PLA was extremely well and very uniform.

Since switching to the white PLA, half of the prints failed because the filament was not fed anymore.

I printed Bertho's extruder drive upgrade from thingiverse and installed that. 3 prints further, filament still feeding.

But: the prints are very on-uniform. Every now and then, it seems there is not enough material deposited.

Could it be that the PLA from Ultimaker is no good? Or do I have another problem somewhere? Any help would be appreciated.

Pls check the attached photos. One shows my latest (still running test)(don't mind the colors: where sharpie marks to see if filament still feeding). The other shows the same gcode, but with the gold filament. Unfortunately, I only have the epoxied version left, but even without the epoxy layer, it was near perfect.

Geert

[Daid 297]

If you have digital calipers, try measuring the white filament, maybe it has varying thickness?

[chopmeister 0]

I would bet that it has perfect thickness all around. But it's too soft. I got a roll of white PLA from Ultimaker last year when I got my printer. I spent a month tuning the printer thinking I was doing something wrong, but as soon as I swapped that white filament for something else, it became obvious that the printer worked perfectly.

I don't really get why this happens, but beside the UM white, one other roll of material I ordered from reprapworld, i think, demonstrated the same properties. The bolt just grinds it too easily and too often.

[ian 32]

ultimaker had some issues with its PLA suppliers about constant diamater the last few months.

But they have now corrected this problem and also check every roll before it goes out the door.

I got about 7 rools of PLA last week from them and every packet came with a sticker. diameter checked for quality. ultimaker team.

[gedp 0]

All,

Thanks for the info. I'll order some new rolls.

Geert

[simmonsstummer 0]

This is something i experienced too with the white filamens and ultimaker 2.