Printing with bronze

[Heath Bond]

I am having issues getting bronze to print. I keep having the filament clog the nozzle and not print at all. I have a Monoprice Maker Select with a Micro Swiss all metal hotend with .5 mm nozzle. I have tried temps from 205 degrees to 215 degrees and it clogs without laying down a line. The lot number I have is 10-05-17-Bz-PLA. If there is something I need to change please let me know because I would like to see this work. Thank you for your time.

[JTanko]

I have the same setup, just with a .4 nozzle, and I'm having the same problem as you with the CU filament.  I've tried it all the way up to 235° and it doesn't make any difference, if I can get the filament loaded without breaking it, I always get an immediate clog when it starts to print. 

[lofton...@gmail.com]

Out of curiosity, what print speed are you using? I recently got some bronze but haven’t tried it yet. Previously I was able to print copper with both 0.4 and 0.5mm nozzles at 25 mm/sec and extruder temp of 220C.

[Heath Bond]

I started printing at 30 mm/sec and tried all the way down to 15 mm/sec with a .4 mm nozzle with it clogging.  I have since went with a .8 mm nozzle and it will print but I am having issues with the filament breaking as it is super brittle.

[lofton...@gmail.com]

I saw a post somewhere by Jeremiah that an 0.8 nozzle is required to print with the bronze filament.

[Chris Kohlhepp]

So I am having the same problem,:more or less immediate clog using bronze. I have a Lulzbot Taz 5 with various hotness, both stock 0.5 mm brass as well as 0.5mm Micro Swiss. CU prints fine, always has. Bronze lays down start of the model but clogs within a minute approximately of startup. I'm fairly sure it's not heat creep as I have a modified fan over the hot end heat sink that appears to eliminate heat creep with all other forms of filament, fiber etc. Does anyone have settings that work?

Regards 

Chris Kohlhepp

[lofton...@gmail.com]

Chris: did you see my post regarding the need to use a 0.8mm nozzle for the bronze? The geometry of the metal particles in the filament is critical. If they are too large or misshapen the smaller nozzles will clog no matter what you do with other settings. I happen to have a 0.8 nozzle but am working on another project and can’t play with the bronze stuff for a few days. The folks at VF apparently don’t look at this site, for some weird reason. You may want to contact Jeremiah directly or send a note to VF support. Sorry I cannot be more helpful.