Don’t leave your extruder on and not running too long. It will drip, then the PLA will turn amber, and then it will clog.
That’s all I’ve learned about PLA first hand.
Oh, well, that and it’s a royal pain in the ass.
Rebuilding my extruder
Over the weekend I rebuilt my extruder after some adventures with a blowtorch.
I used Rick’s single nichrome wrap method, which served me well on my last re-build. The documentation of his method is absolutely fantastic and a must-read if you’re rebuilding your heater. (That page is about PLA, but the nichrome wrapping is pretty universal).
I’m not sure if I wrapped my thermistor better or what, but I seem to be getting more consistent readings from it. Perhaps this is due to RepG v12? I would tend to think not since I’m using RepG v12 with the Zach 1 temperature table – the same table I was using before RepG v12.
How are you printing with PLA?
I’d like to print in PLA, I really would. No warping? No rafts? Smells like syrup? Makes kittens and rainbows? Sign me up!
Rick from MakerGear has the following suggestions for printing in PLA:
- Have a 150-160 C degree temperature for the entry of the barrel
- He notes that the nozzle temperature is roughly 190 C degrees
- However, later he suggests printing at 220-235 was possible
- He suggests not to worry overmuch about PLA in the threads – its just one of those things
Nick McCoy offered several pieces of wisdom:
- He found that 10W-30 oil added lightly to the PLA as it entered the extruder, by adding oil to a piece of cotton wrapped around the filament, helped it print without jamming
- He noticed that pausing the extruder for more than a few seconds would jam the barrel
- He found he could print at 180-210 degrees (I assume he’s measuring the nozzle temperature as you would with an ABS setup)
Nick’s results suggesting a nozzle temperature of 180-210 seem to match up with Rick’s findings of 190 or so. I think I’ll give Polly another shot and see if I can extrude at those temperatures.