Silver PLA Temp suggestion?

[Bill]

I just received a spool of Ultimaker silver PLA.  I've tried printing with the usual 230C in my replicator 2 and it seems like

the plastic doesn't seem to stick to itself causing a mess.  I upped the temp to 235 and it seems better.  I was even thinking, 

maybe a little higher...which sounds crazy for PLA.

Thoughts/experiences, anyone?

Cheers,

Bill

[whpthomas]

Yes Silver is a bit tricky - check the diameter, and maybe go up just a little from that if layers are not binding properly together - I think sometimes that PLA with more visible pigment has a different packing density to the more translucent colours, something closer to 0.95 or 0.93 than 0.97 for translucent and 1 for clear. Also be careful going too hot, try going up in small increments like 2c at a time, 240 in my experience is likely to cause problems for longer prints because it heat travels further up the nozzle tube towards the heating block - or some such thing.

[Bill]

Thanks. I think I'll stick with the 235C in that case. Also, I think perhaps I'll use the silver for larger items. I have great luck with tiny tiny gears in translucent blue. I doubt I could get that sort of detail from the silver.

Bill

[Conrad Link]

I've been printing w/ silver PLA on my rep1 with no issues. I print @
220C onto blue painters tape.

E.g. see http://www.thingiverse.com/derivative:52791

-Conrad

On Wed, Jan 16, 2013 at 8:22 PM, Bill <big...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Thanks. I think I'll stick with the 235C in that case. Also, I think perhaps I'll use the silver for larger items. I have great luck with tiny tiny gears in translucent blue. I doubt I could get that sort of detail from the silver.
>
> Bill
>

> --
>
>

[whpthomas]

Conrad: I love Totoro - that and Nausica are two of my kids favourite animations! Will definitely have to make one of these for them. 

I think the Rep 1 and Rep 2 printing temperatures are quite different for some reason. 220c for me is too cool, but 228 seems to work well for some PLAs on really hot humid days, but the rest of the time I run best at 230c.

[AKron]

I've been printing with silver PLA from protoparadigm since I got
myRepr1 last Spring, and it's one of the best printing filaments that
I have. I use standard settings of 230C at the extruder, and 60C on
the build platform now with super hold hairspray on glass.
Unfortunately I'm getting low, and they're out of stock, or were. I'd
better check! I guess my suggestion is to try some PLA from proto. I
like natural, translucent green, silver, but I'm no too partial to
their white so far.

[David Mytchak]

I too have used silver PLA from Protoparadigm on my rep2 - great stuff.   I should be receiving my black and yellow PLA spools today!   

[Bill]

So, it seems like 235C was the magic number for the ultimaker silver PLA.
Check out the results of my companion cube print:
http://www.thingiverse.com/image:232426
I'm still no certain how it will fair on tiny parts, but, this silver looks fantastic in bright light.

Bill

[wingcomander whpthomas]

Nice!

[hellphish]

I think it is important when discussing temperature, to also mention what feed rate you are using. The two numbers are intrinsically related. ie the temperature needs to increase as feed rate increases. Knowing that you use 220 or 230 or 235 for a particular plastic doesn't help unless we also know how fast you are trying to push it through the nozzle.

On Thu, Jan 17, 2013 at 10:42 AM, wingcomander whpthomas <m...@henri.net> wrote:

Nice!

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[Bill]

You make a good point. I'm printing at 80mm/sec, travel 150- the defaults on the replicator 2.