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SoliForum - 3D Printing Community → Solidoodle Press → Has anyone figured out PLA printing yet?
Been trying for the past few hours and always get jams when I stop extruding. Have tried temps from 190 to 215c. Anyone have tips or tricks?
Been trying with monoprice blue PLA I believe. Not sure if it is monoprice, but the spool and logo seem to fit their bill.
On my CTC PLA prints at 230..
Okay, heating her up to 230...
nope.. jams up almost instantly 
Those are two completely different machines. Different thermistors, the placement of which, all else is different.
With PLA you need to print at the lower temps. The hotter the setting, the faster the jam. Attempting 230 points this out quite clearly.
Tweak your retraction a bit as well. PLA is kinda goopy, so keeping it melted is a bad idea. You don't want it molten any longer than the act of extruding.
Another tip, add a fan and print with the enclosure open. This material takes longer to cool than ABS.
Could just be a bad spool. I have bought a few over the years.
To my knowledge there is no good fan solution for the Press yet, so that is out of the question. I have tried lower temps as well with similar results. I have done my best to tweak retraction but i know without a cold-end fan on the press it is going to be an uphill battle.
im using 207c for pla but if you had abs before then start whit 230 then when you see pla coming out insted then lower the temp to 207c and extrude again so only pla coming out.
and put some sewing machine oil on the pla first cm then it not sticking to inside of extruder
I have an SD4 been printing for almost a year have only used PLA. IIRC 195- 200 c for first layer then lower for later lares. So I think you may be printing too hot and burning the filament. My blue la is marked 190 - 220. And remember you senor temp and heater temp can be different from each other and the nozzle by a few degrees. An my first prints were cold and not exactly on the bed and were more like harp stings than a solid object.
The biggest problem I have is with a long thin ,vertical object. just cant print one without a fan but if printed with a a larger object at least as tall works fine the other workaround is print two or tree and the layers of each one have some time to cool.
Could just be a bad spool. I have bought a few over the years.
Yep could be , try another roll.
Tin
im using 207c for pla but if you had abs before then start whit 230 then when you see pla coming out insted then lower the temp to 207c and extrude again so only pla coming out.
and put some sewing machine oil on the pla first cm then it not sticking to inside of extruder
I will have to give the oil a try. Odd question, but does it have to be sewing machine oil? I have tons of different oils around the house, but that is not one of them. If so, I will go get me some!
selkess wrote:im using 207c for pla but if you had abs before then start whit 230 then when you see pla coming out insted then lower the temp to 207c and extrude again so only pla coming out.
and put some sewing machine oil on the pla first cm then it not sticking to inside of extruder
I will have to give the oil a try. Odd question, but does it have to be sewing machine oil? I have tons of different oils around the house, but that is not one of them. If so, I will go get me some!
Any light machine oil should work.
It's telling that SD only officially supports Press printing with filament they sell, yet they don't sell PLA.
My experience with PLA on the press is that eventually the top of the heat break tube gets too warm and the filament bulges there and jams. The extruder body is the heat sink and is also heted by the motor, so it's just oo warm. Ideas:
Make sure your extruder fan is blowing in - some presses were misassembled
If you're not having troubles with the extruder motor thumping, you could turn down VRef a bit so the motor heats up less - it's a balancing act though.
Printing with the lid open lowers ambient in the printer, which cools the extruder a bit better
Don't park the extruder at X=200 - (which is what SP does) This puts the fan very near the right side, which reduces air flow through the fan.
Those are just ideas - I haven't seriously messed with trying to get PLA working. In terms of mods, eventually I might also try:
A small bit of ceramic insulation on top of the heater block to reduce thermal coupling between heater block and extruder
Replacing the fan with a blower and duct
Redirecting some blower air directly to the top of the heat break.
A slightly longer heat break tube with attached heat sink.
i have modify me press to do pla and ninjaflex
i did it by drilling up a 3mm in the 2mm channel on the alu heatsink then put a 3mm 2mm ptfe tube inside
more info on solidoodle facebook posts from mattias wikström
it works realy good mutch better but if you still have warranty on the machine it will be void do it on your own risk.
SoliForum - 3D Printing Community → Solidoodle Press → Has anyone figured out PLA printing yet?
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