A Cautionary Tale

I am having huge problems with 3d solutech clear filament. It is so brittle that it has broken at least twice while I was printing with it and it often breaks when being threaded into the bowden tube. I just sent the company an email and I will see how they respond. I also sent amazon a review. I bought it July first and haven"t used it much but left it printing last night while I fell asleep and it failed after printing a couple of hours. Not good.

And this is PLA?

Yes the most brittle pla you will ever see.

Wow, filament breakage is the worst. I have filament that is three years old and prints fine, when needed (transparent), but I got a badge of spools that I got two years ago. Same brand, but they rot away like crazy. Before starting to print I need to cut 10cm or so, before I am able to straighten it without breaking it and after the print I need to remove it instantly or two hours later it breaks flat on my extruder, which then requires disassembly to get it out. Crappy shit.

Is the humidity in your area so high that filament rots away that fast?

Montreal is a river island. It is actually a seaport because the St. Lawrence river is very bid. It drains the Great Lakes. The only time I have trouble with humidity is when the weather is extremely hot.

I have been to Montreal a few times. It is, primarily, a fairly large island, right in the middle of the St. Lawrence. There are some impressive bridges leading into and out of it. It’s also densely built up and, from what I recall, pretty chaotic. I rode in a taxi a few times in downtown Montreal. The traffic was nuts. It reminded me of traffic in parts of Italy or Hong Kong, including people making traffic lanes at whim.

They are the worst drivers I have seen except for France. I’m glad I don’t need a car any more. Worse than driving is trying to find a place to park.

Speaking of Filament and moister. I just bought my first TPU on Monday and gave that noodle filament a go.

After having a some issues with the bed adhesion, I found that glue stick on my glas bed at 65°C works perfect.

I printed spoolholders for my TPU spool. I print them in the filament on the spool, so I can see the printed color in storage before even inserting the spool. So it is a double practical print.

I also printed my very first benchy! After about three years I am now a member of that club, too :smiley:

That is right. I never did that, but gave it a try. One is 100% und the other is 120%. Both of course printed in TPU.

The quality of the print is amazing. If I place the white PLA version of my spool holders next to the TPU version, I couldn´t spot a difference. As soon as you touch it, you notice its rubbery feel and the light weight of the TPU prints. When dropping them on the table they just plop down instead of jumping around in a noisy fashion PLA would do.

TPU: check :smiley:

PS: I used Noyes TPU in white.

Very impressive @Geit. 'Course, I could ask where the requisite squishy photo is: you know, everyone shows a photo of the model being squished, to show how flexible it is. :slight_smile:

Well, for the unbelievers and conspiracy enthusiasts, here pictures with bend objects. :smiley:

I will have to see if I can print flexible on my ender 3 pro one of these days. I think I could print semi flexible but probably not the real squishy stuff.

I just realized that I have another roll of filament from 3d Solutech that is in a flesh colour that isn’t brittle at all. I am doing another print with it to check it out again.

LOL, very good @Geit , and even more impressive. Tell me, what are the round, faucet handle ones for?

Is your E3 direct drive?

Thats part of my spool holder system I use on my TronXY X5 and the Anet A8 and later on with my GeitPrinter, too.

That is why it was so easy to convert the food dehydrator into a spool holder. I kind of started with that three years ago and expanded the system all over my work shop.

I don´t like bearing in spool holders. You don´t want the filament to unroll easy. That causes tangling. Just the axle is enough.

I have a set of two on each spool, so I can see what the printed result looks like as well as have a proper spool holder.

I wonder if it could stick to pla. Probably not but it would be interesting to try. Maybe I shall order a roll to play with.

I would not have thought to use flexible filament to hold spools.

It will work, but absorb vibrations, so the spool is sleeping well, while not being printed with. Flexible does not automatically mean floppy.

That’s what she said :smiley:

That’s a good one.

You print orthotics?