Re: Filament Colors and Extruder Temperatures

[neoteric]

I have found that different colors do indeed behave differently.  I record my settings for each color, as well as the manufacturer.  This way, after I am finished calibrating, and I switch colors, I can go back to a setup that worked for that color.

[Hammerhead]

I can't speak to PLA, but I did feel as though the MBI white required a higher temperature than the black, though it still worked alright.  I'm also finding that the filament from 3dperinterstuff might need either a slightly higher temperature, or an adjustment to feed rate because it's a slightly narrower diameter than the MBI stuff.  I have no empirical data to support this, just anecdotal observation.  Not sure if that helps, but the thought did cross my mind a while ago.

On Sunday, December 16, 2012 11:03:20 AM UTC-5, Toby Morral wrote:

Has anyone else had difficulties printing in particular colors of PLA with Rep 2?  I have consistently reliable performance with MBI green, yellow, orange, clear blue, and clear at 220/230C with the standard Replicator 2 "Medium" profile, but I've spent about 8 hours trying to get fluorescent red and teal colors to print (and have left some of the other colors I bought unopened).  The issue is that the raft will often print properly but subsequent layers will not adhere, or one corner of the raft will buckle and the build will slowly shake itself from the build plate completely.  Since the other colors print perfectly and I've gotten good with my feeler guage, I don't think this is a leveling issue.

 I've tried setting the temperature as low as 189C (a recommendation seen in another post) and 245C.  With the 'best', but still unacceptable, results around 234C.   I've noted and adjusted the filament sizes accordingly in RepG, spent hours fidgetting with the build plate level, systematically went through various temperatures etc, tried raft/no raft, Makerware/RepG, etc. If it's true that these different colors have different characteristics/properties, I wish MBI would send them out with specific recommendations on temp and feedrate (? - Do I need to change feedrate if I change temp? maybe that's my problem?).

My first few weeks with Rep 2 have certainly been an adventure.  Many exciting successes but also much wasted plastic, a shorted thermocouple (and the fun of replacing it), warped build-plate. Makerware, 'fluorescent red' filament.  I'm not sure this technology is consumer/user-friendly enough at this stage to be appropriate outside the professional designer or committed hobbyist/DIYer markets.  

Incidentally, on the topic of colors: if you use Fluorescent red or the Teal color and then change color spools, the previous color will continue to extrude/mix in diminishing parts with the new color for some time (~10 mins?) until the old color clears - seemingly regardless of temp.  I've found that this can be used to good creative effect in the subsequent build or can be an annoying waste of plastic as you wait for the old color to wash out.  At least it's one thing I can use these colors for.

[Big-E]

Yes, I so far have gotten the best results with makerbot natural PLA, Green seems to like it a little hotter (by like 10 degrees) I haven't tried my yellow spool yet.

I think layer height may have a lot to do with it too. If you print in high quality, tru bumping your layer height up from .1 to .15 or .20, if it prints without issue, check the leveling of your build plate.

I was given some temps to try, I was told 210 is good for green, I didn't have much success with that temperature. Maybe my bot registers the temps as higher than they actually are.

[Melody Brandston]

Is the filament you're having trouble with also from MakerBot? Because it sounds like you might have ordered ABS instead of PLA by accident. Teal and Fluorescent Red are colors we only carry in ABS, and that would definitely explain the adhesion problems.

Melody Brandston

Documentation
Makerbot Industries
melody.b...@makerbot.com

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[Toby Morral]

Melody - You're right.  It turns out I bought ABS.   Anybody want some cheap ABS in Fluorescent Red, Dark Teal, and/or Stellar Pink?

[Melody Brandston]

If they're unopened, open a support ticket--we might be able to take them back.

[Hammerhead]

Not my first choice of colors, but I might be interested if the price is right so I can have 'em on hand for those unusual projects.  Feel free to Email me if you can't resolve with the folks at MBI.

[Peter McDade]

Oops!  It happens mate!

On Monday, December 17, 2012 7:16:27 PM UTC-5, Toby Morral wrote:

[Joseph Chiu]

One possibility that I think I've encountered is that I was extruding too much plastic by not compensating for filament diameter changes, and eventually, there was back pressure forming as the layers were creeping higher and higher until the extruder head could not deflect upward anymore to accomodate the increasing height of the already-extruded plastic.  This is an easy one to test -- just report a higher filament diameter when slicing to extrude less plastic.  If similar prints are failing at similar heights, regardless of speed, this is likely the reason.

On Tue, Feb 26, 2013 at 1:25 PM, <annem...@gmail.com> wrote:

I think you might be on to something here.  I'm having the same issues. 

I opened and used the MB on Saturday and made plenty of things in clear with lovely success!  I also switched to red and was able to make a few successful things.  (My default keeps saying its heating to 240°C.)

When I tried it again the next day things started messing up.  I couldn't make another Stretchlet to save my life!  There seemed to be skipped layers or something that created cracks in the middle of the bracelet.  Then I switched to white.  Same issues!

I tried troubleshooting everything I could think of, but have since returned to clear and all is fine.... so far.

Please let me know what you find out!  Maybe we can narrow it down to a ballpark temp range for the colors.

Thanks!

On Sunday, February 24, 2013 3:55:52 AM UTC-8, Henk Kiela wrote:

Hi Toby,
Running my Makerbot for twoo weeks now, I can confirm your obeservations on my makerbot 2 with PLA filament. Green, transparant, translucent blue work fine with medium profile and 230 degree. White is more difficult.  It never makes a fresh start, but first needs an unload and re-load before it works fine. Red is problematic. So far I spnt time on temperature variations with no succes. Same problems as you report. Generally inconsistent. I start to believe that the ratio of the feed rate of the filament and feed rate of the print head is wrong.

To experiment with that kind of setting, Makerware is not usable I think. Replicator G probable could be used for that purpose. But the amount of variables taht ar  available in that program requires a few more days of experimenting.

So YES, I AGREE with your statement, that there should become more or less standard profiles for different plastics. At least the ones sold by Makerbot should have a profile in Makerware.

On Sunday, December 16, 2012 5:03:20 PM UTC+1, Toby22 wrote:

Has anyone else had difficulties printing in particular colors of PLA with Rep 2?  I have consistently reliable performance with MBI green, yellow, orange, clear blue, and clear at 220/230C with the standard Replicator 2 "Medium" profile, but I've spent about 8 hours trying to get fluorescent red and teal colors to print (and have left some of the other colors I bought unopened).  The issue is that the raft will often print properly but subsequent layers will not adhere, or one corner of the raft will buckle and the build will slowly shake itself from the build plate completely.  Since the other colors print perfectly and I've gotten good with my feeler guage, I don't think this is a leveling issue.

 I've tried setting the temperature as low as 189C (a recommendation seen in another post) and 245C.  With the 'best', but still unacceptable, results around 234C.   I've noted and adjusted the filament sizes accordingly in RepG, spent hours fidgetting with the build plate level, systematically went through various temperatures etc, tried raft/no raft, Makerware/RepG, etc. If it's true that these different colors have different characteristics/properties, I wish MBI would send them out with specific recommendations on temp and feedrate (? - Do I need to change feedrate if I change temp? maybe that's my problem?).

My first few weeks with Rep 2 have certainly been an adventure.  Many exciting successes but also much wasted plastic, a shorted thermocouple (and the fun of replacing it), warped build-plate. Makerware, 'fluorescent red' filament.  I'm not sure this technology is consumer/user-friendly enough at this stage to be appropriate outside the professional designer or committed hobbyist/DIYer markets.  

Incidentally, on the topic of colors: if you use Fluorescent red or the Teal color and then change color spools, the previous color will continue to extrude/mix in diminishing parts with the new color for some time (~10 mins?) until the old color clears - seemingly regardless of temp.  I've found that this can be used to good creative effect in the subsequent build or can be an annoying waste of plastic as you wait for the old color to wash out.  At least it's one thing I can use these colors for.

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[WinkT]

Just installed the new feed mechanism (http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:53125)

and it worked well on the initial test print. Going to run a few more test prints and see how it goes, but seems like a solid improvement.

 

Wink

[Anne McMills]

excellent!  I have one coming my way soon.  I hear it is a vast improvement.... I'm glad because I've had to adjust the tension a couple times now.

:)

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[Kletus VanDamme]

I run my MBI green, translucent blue and natural at 250 or 260 C and they flow very nicely.

I tried 270 C and things started burn burn and smoke.