Bought PLA - not vacuum-packed - should I send it back?

Well, basically my question is in the subject..
This is my first batch of PLA so I don't really know how I should react to that. Is it that big of a deal due to the hygroscopic behavior? I think the main problem is that nobody can tell how long it has been in the shops storage and how long it has been exposed to air.

What would you do in that case?

Thanks,
Rotz

I'd measure a good 10 meters of it. See how consistent the diameter is. If it is anything but good, I'd send it back.

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The diameter seems to be ok from what I measured. So you don't see a problem in not vacuum-packed filament alone?

Quote
Rotz
The diameter seems to be ok from what I measured. So you don't see a problem in not vacuum-packed filament alone?

Not automatically. Even if it was vacuum packed, you have no idea if it was sealed as soon as it came out of the extruder or if it was sitting in a humid room for the last 6 months before the sealed it right before it shipped.

Was it in any type of sealed packaging just not vacuum sealed? Was there any type of desiccant in the package?

There are those desiccant bags you shall not eat inside all of them. Regarding the other aspect, they are all different: one was perfectly sealed, one has a hole in the sealed bag, another one isn't even sealed. I wonder why nobody seemed to notice/care..

I've never had a roll of pla arrive vacuum packed, but they have always come in a bag with a couple of desiccant sachets. Haven't had a problem. Had a roll sitting on the printer in the air for 6 months - printed fine.

I don't think it's that big an issue if your not in a humid climate.

I wouldn't worry about it. Worst case you can always dry it in the oven.

I will say I have never had problems with my PLA absorbing moisture. *knocks on wood* I even had it next to a radiator that spewed steam all winter.

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Ditto with gmh39...

It's funny week after week, month after month over the last three years...

I read about people with "moisture problems" with their filament (many specifically mentioning using PLA Filament). AND LAUGH !
You have something else going wrong with your printer, slicing, and prints, and it's NOT Moisture in your PLA Filament, so please stop blaming humidity for any printing issues !... as many people out there will never fix their printing issues with the humidity excuse/blame game.

Fact : Being located in seemingly the rain capital, Seattle Washington, we get 9 months of rain a year, and humidity is 80%-95% during those months. Our filaments are always exposed to the humidity 24/7/365, our printer is within 20 feet of the entry door... so the filament is really constantly exposed to high humidity.

With PLA you never have to worry about your filament absorbing moisture, it's material properties are just not capable of absorbing any measurable/affecting amount of moisture. The amount of downright mis-information in the blogs, given by the inexperienced and or uneducated in the field, given as fact, is really unbelievable.

Hope my experience helps you... enjoy Happy Printing !

<sub>Shawn
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

25+ Years Experience as a Manufacturing Engineer and New Product Developer
Three Years Experience... Printing 6-8 hours a day, 5 days a week, complex and close tolerance functional engineering prototypes.
Printing PLA @0.1mm Layer Height with +- 0.05mm tolerance for all dimensional shapes (except slightly undersized hole I.D.s).
No printing of... toys, trinkets, low quality prints, or other useless printed objects.</sub>

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/06/2014 12:09PM by ShawnT98027.

Quote
ShawnT98027
The amount of downright mis-information in the blogs, given by the inexperienced and or uneducated in the field, given as fact, is really unbelievable.

Should we believe you, or are your statements just part of all the unbelievable misinformation? My mind just imploded from thinking of the paradox.

Thank you all for sharing your opinions and experiences.
I decided to keep the filament and if I do run into problems, I'll try drying it.

There shall be no BIG problem for PLA filament. We have printers here,the PLA filament exposed for about 1 year, it prints still good. If,I say IF, you found the printing
not good you may dry the PLA filament by yourself. 1) Woven 35 degrees for 30mins 2) Try hair dryer.

For ABS,please always keep it dry!

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Natureworks, for their Ingeo polylactides, doesn't seem to be too concerned about storage moisture levels, just moisture during the melt phase, so just drying should it be fine. It's great that the material degradation doesn't affect ShawnT98027's setup & material property needs. Yours may be different. (PLA manufacturers seem to be more particular than some users, but they service a wide range of customers). Here's a link: Natureworks Ingeo drying & crystalization guide
Apologies for the suboptimal link - it's intended for pellet & flake users, but it's still interesting reading.