Polyplus PLA

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jdurand
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Polyplus PLA

Post by jdurand »

I've been using Afinia Premium PLA on my Afinia printer (the only stuff that doesn't jam) but their quality has has declined (returned several spools this year so far) and they just discontinued a color so I've been looking for something that I could use on both printers.

It turns out the Polyplus PLA works fine on the Afinia, so that's one problem solved but trying to print on my Max v2 results in strings. I tried running the temperature down but I get holes in the print so that won't work.

Anyone have a set of parameters that works for this stuff? I'm using Simplify3D to control the printer. I still have the stock print head on as I haven't had time to put on the new all metal head, a customer dumped a lot of extra work on me (two of his "team" members flaked).

Anyway, any hints would be much appreciated. I need to get the Max printing reliably with food safe PLA so I can start filling a backlog of orders.
Standing on the edge of reality... (me)
Quando omni flunkus moritati (Red Green)
Let no man belong to another that can belong to himself. (Paracelsus)
All things are poison and nothing is without poison; only the dose makes a thing not a poison. (Ibid.)
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Glacian22
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Re: Polyplus PLA

Post by Glacian22 »

To combat stringing you could try upping retraction (sorry that's the obvious one), but there's also a trick I found works well with S3D: set you extrusion width slightly smaller than your nozzle diameter. I have a .4mm nozzle, and set the extrusion width to .35 for PLA, and it does definitely cut down on stringing. My theory is that it reduces backpressure, but who knows?
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jdurand
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Re: Polyplus PLA

Post by jdurand »

Thanks, I'll try that. I seem to be cursed with strings on this printer and haven't had time to sort out the settings. The Afinia has zero strings but of course all their settings are secret and not changeable.
Standing on the edge of reality... (me)
Quando omni flunkus moritati (Red Green)
Let no man belong to another that can belong to himself. (Paracelsus)
All things are poison and nothing is without poison; only the dose makes a thing not a poison. (Ibid.)
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jdurand
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Posts: 397
Joined: Mon Dec 01, 2014 12:41 am
Location: Silicon Valley, California
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Re: Polyplus PLA

Post by jdurand »

Since the retract was already at the default 8.5mm I slowed it down to half speed and also changed the nozzle size to 0.45mm. There's still a few strings but MUCH better. I just printed a test sample at more like a normal temperature and will test it for water tightness tomorrow (easy test for holes).

Thanks for the help.
Standing on the edge of reality... (me)
Quando omni flunkus moritati (Red Green)
Let no man belong to another that can belong to himself. (Paracelsus)
All things are poison and nothing is without poison; only the dose makes a thing not a poison. (Ibid.)
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