PLA Spool Lifespan

[ian@ivs 0]

Hello All.

New to the forum and ultimaker.

We've bought and ultimaker 2 for our design office a bout 2 months ago, loving it so far. But I've noticed we've started to get some build problems with one of our spools of PLA. The drive motor sounds like it skips (a but like a hiccup) and we're getting very patchy prints. I've cleaned the nozzle out and we're not having the same problem with the other spool we got with the machine, so I'm assuming the PLA has degraded. This particular spool was sealed in a plastic bag with a silicon gel pack when we received it so it's only been open to the elements for max 2 months.

How long do you find the PLA spools normally last before they showing signs of degrading?

 

[IRobertI 516]

I have spools that I've had for a couple of years at least and they work just fine. It could be that you're reaching the center of the spool which is wound more tightly which causes more friction in the bowden tube.

 

[yellowshark 153]

Certainly 12 months plus for me; I do keep them in the plastic bags that Faberdashery ship them in, i.e. loose not wound onto plastic reel/spool

 

[skint 61]

+1 for what Robert said. It sounds more like your filament is reaching the center of the coil, which means that the filament is tighter and the feeder has to work a little harder to pull the filament, causing your feeder to skip. You are not getting the same problem with your other spool... because its not at the centre.... YET