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what filament and storage


mekks-mechanics

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Posted · what filament and storage

hello everyone :)

first of i just want to say sorry about my english. i talk alot better than i write :)

i wanted to ask all of you a couple of questions about filaments and storage

i am looking to buy a ultimaker original plus and before i spend this money i want to get a couple of things in order first.

when i order my ultimaker i also want to order some filament and i am having a hard time choosing what toorder.

soo my question is should i buy faberdashery or colorfabb PLA?

i have family in the uk that can ship me faberdashery to norway so no problem there. and i thought about buying test packs from faberdashery and colorfabb but should i just drop test packs and buy faberdashery?

question 2

faberdashery and colorfabb have PLA/pha that is the most used plastic. but what is colorfabb XT? is it like a hybrid between pla and abs?

abs or stuff that smells bad is not a option for me cuse my printer is going to stay in my computer corner in the hallway and i dont want to stink down the whole apartment. and gets my fiance angry :S

question 3

storage of filament.

i have a vacum kitchen packer and was wondering if that is a good option with som silica gel instead of those vacum bags for vacum cleaners ?

and i just want to say i love this community!!!

if anyone have a problem understanding says so and i will try to explain better :)

is there a thread somewhere about maintaing and how to store 3dprinter when not in use?

 

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    Posted · what filament and storage

    Welcome to the forum Mekks! Your English is perfectly fine too!

    Both Faberdashery and Colorfabb are an excellent choice of filament. I use both and the results are great, choice just comes down to a matter of colours and price. The price is not too different unless you start using colorfabb bronze and copperfill ( two other great filaments ).

    XT is a copolyester which is more like a PLA, but acts more like ABS when printing, i.e should be printed at higher temps like 220-240 ( newer stuff even higher upto 260 ). Whereas I print most PLA`s around 200.

    The smell of all of them is about the same. Sometimes my house smells like weed, marijuana lol.

    Storage depends on how long you intend to leave them un-used, probably not very long :) I have just bought some standard plastic storage containers ( with lids ) from stationary stores, the ones that stack on top of each other. There are a couple of those silica bags of gel inside each box, but to be honest I dont think you need these unless you are going to leave the filament for months n months without use.

    Some filament comes supplied within a zip-bag and I store filament in these too.

    Printer can just be left as it is, unless in a very dusty environment. Mine gets the occasional wipe down from dust and cat hairs ( grrrrr cat hairs ) but typically I just leave it alone most of the time and its still printing perfectly :)

    Good luck with your purchase, you will have great fun with the UMO!

     

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    Posted · what filament and storage

    Hi Mekks, welcome! To be absolutely accurate, Faberdashery is PLA and Colourfabb is PLA/PHA; personally I could not tell you what the difference is in the printed model. Both are great filaments and for PLA they are the only suppliers I use.

    I used to really love Colorfabb but now I use Faberdashery mostly; because I did find problems with a few reels of Colorfabb filament and I have never had a problem with Faberdashery. For me also Fab has two advantages, firstly living in England postage is a bit cheaper and secondly you can buy Fab loose rather than wound on a reel which I prefer. But you will get great prints with either of the two.

    Storage - I store Colorfabb in the delivery box and Fab in the plastic delivery bags. No silica or anything like that. In a room varying from 8c to 22c. I have filament greater than 12 months old which still prints great. If you but nylon filament then storage is more important as it hydroscopic, I keep mine sealed and in the airing cupboard i.e.the space housing the hot water tank for the house. And I must admit sometimes the PLA can be left laying on the floor for a number of weeks, if not longer :)

     

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    Posted · what filament and storage

    thanks for quick answers :)

    okey so its just a choise about colors and money :p

    what is the diffrence between colorfabb PLA/pha and XT?

    is pla more soft and not as hard as xt or is xt more britle but stronger than pla?

    and how is it to swap between pla and xt?

    the only thing i have understand about xt is the higher print temprature and less warping than abs?

    is pla is biodegradable ?

    is xt biodegradable?

    like if i want to make a door sign i wouldnt want it to degrade and is xt better than pla for this?

    and from what i understand there is a big question of uv stability on some filament?

    i am really looking forward to just take the plunge and buy me a umo+ :)

    but i have to save some more money first :(

    hehehe well maybe not the best smell if it suddenly starts to smell like weed, hmm wander what my landlord müst think if he suddenly smells weed :O he is a good friend so i think he would just laugh and say print me a harley davidson sign :)

    yeah bronzefill and copperfill looks awsome! woodfill to :)

    okey i was wondering about buying some ordinary plastic bins and store the filament in but since i allready have a kitchen vacum sealer i thought it would be a better fit if filament isnt going to be used in a couple of months??

    when i dont have opend the filament its okay to store it as it was shipped? but when a spool is opend it can stay out for long? but the best is to seal the filament?

    okey dust is a bad thing. well my wiffe has a cavalier king charles spaniels that sheeds soo mutch hair soo thats going to be a problem! just hate dog hair everywere!!! in the towels, in my clean clothes, its just freackin everywere! event tho i vacum clean 4 times a week! soo i know your pain about animal hair!!

    should i clean out the nozzle or do a atomic pull befor shuting down the printer and leaving it for a coulpe off weeks?

    i dont think il be printing with nylon for a good while but i will remeber that about nylon!

    why do you like filament loose instead of on a spool?

     

     

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    Posted · what filament and storage

    Hi mekks,

    The only main difference between PLA and XT is the temperatures.

    PLA prints at ~210C and has a glass transition temperature (Tg) of ~55C

    XT prints at ~ 240C and has a Tg of ~ 75C

    So on a hot sunny day PLA will be a little softer than XT.

    Both materials are biodegradable, I ve not had my machine long to look into UV stability of filament.

    I like both Faberdashery and ColorFabb, the benifit of Faberdashery is that you can buy any length of any colour, with ColorFabb you must buy a whole reel, or a sample pack but for PLA it's only about 1/2 their range of colours.

    No need really to go to the higher temperatures of ABS.

    To store my filaments I have a couple of "Really Usefull Boxes" my Faberdashery fillaments fit into a 42litre Box along with several spools of origional Ultimaker PLA, it's a larger dimension box to take larger diameters (48x44x30cm), my 4 boxes of ColorFabb Are in a 19 Litre box.

    Re the Dust, I have a pipe cleaner wound round the filament just before the feeder, photos of my fitting of Robert's alternative feeder can be seen on YouMagine my designer name is Izzy. When not in just just cover the printer with a Cotten sheet.

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    Posted · what filament and storage

    is pla is biodegradable ?

    is xt biodegradable?

     

    PLA is biodegradable, though opinions vary on how easy it degrades. It appears it needs somewhat specific conditions to do so. The biodegradability of XT does not get mentioned anywhere, so I assume this is not degradable, as you would want to clearly advertise that if it is.

     

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    Posted · what filament and storage

    Okey thx for answer :)

    well yeah i have been looking on the advertising for colorfabb xt to to see if its biodegradable but i cant find anything that suggest that or i am blind?

    i am going to order a umo+ and som spare parts on thursday :)

    soo i want to order som filament to soo i am going to order from colorfabb thanks to you guys :) and think i am going to buy a couple spools of xt to have for the prints that needs a bit higher glass transition temprature and that little extra strenght :) any tips and hints on stuff to get or spareparts that i might need is higly apreciated

    Looking forward to get the umo and get started printing :)

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    Posted · what filament and storage

    Okey thx for answer :)

    well yeah i have been looking on the advertising for colorfabb xt to to see if its biodegradable but i cant find anything that suggest that or i am blind?

    i am going to order a umo+ and som spare parts on thursday :)

    soo i want to order som filament to soo i am going to order from colorfabb thanks to you guys :) and think i am going to buy a couple spools of xt to have for the prints that needs a bit higher glass transition temprature and that little extra strenght :) any tips and hints on stuff to get or spareparts that i might need is higly apreciated

    Looking forward to get the umo and get started printing :)

     

    The hot end isolator is a consumable, so you will need that eventually. You might consider getting a spare nozzle too, and maybe a PEEK part, though that last one should not be needed if you don't do anything weird.

    Other than that you would probably better order as you need. Unless you have specific time constraints that require you to deliver prints to customers or something.

    Colorfabb PLA is quite good, that is a good choice :)

     

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    Posted · what filament and storage

    Colorfabb XT is essentially PET.. it is absolutely NOT biodegradable in the common sense of the word.

    please note that neither is PLA. for PLA you need professional breakdown equipment, you can't just throw it in the garden :)

    XT is not biodegradable in that way but if you leave it outside for a couple of 100 years, i'm sure it's gone..

     

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