1 Topic by datasmasher

  • datasmasher
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  • Registered: 2013-07-16
  • Posts: 13

Topic: Brittle PLA

Can anyone out there tell me of their experience printing PLA?  I seem to be getting very brittle filament and I am wondering what others have been experiencing.

2 Reply by elmoret

  • elmoret
  • Filastruder
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  • Registered: 2012-10-11
  • Posts: 6,048

Re: Brittle PLA

Are you completely predrying the PLA before extruding? Like -40F dewpoint air?

2n2r5 has had good experiences - here's a PLA print of his:

http://2n2r5.com/pictures/printer/show-n-tell/fs_vase_PLA_1.JPG

Filastruder - the robust, inexpensive filament extruder
E3Dv6 All Metal Hotend - the premier 3D printing hotend

3 Reply by notstarman

  • notstarman
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  • Registered: 2013-05-20
  • Posts: 21

Re: Brittle PLA

I can confirm that drying the PLA fixes the brittleness problem.

I used food dehydrator. I place the pellets inside with a few color changing silicate packs which are already in the wet state and let it run for ~6 hrs. Once the silicate packs indicated that they are dry I transfer the pellets to a sealed 2 liter bottle for storage.  I have found that using this process produces very nice filament with similar properties to the filament from commercial producers.