Is this PLA any good ???

[www.ebay.co.uk]


Just wondering, is there such a bad thing as bad PLA???

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Another RS Ormerod Mk1 meets the world

Retired now but I used to make....
CNC Machined Mk1 aluminium bed support plates for the Ormerod
CNC machined X-plates and ribs for Mk1 & Mk2 Ormerods
CNC machined bed support arms for the Mk2 Ormerod.
Dual Hot-End heatsink blocks.

Yes, there is such a thing as bad PLA, I have some I bought via Amazon. But the PLA from supplier latest-bidder (aka Galactic Warehouse) that you linked to is good, I use it and so do several other people on this forum.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/04/2014 11:12AM by dc42.

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Large delta printer [miscsolutions.wordpress.com], E3D tool changer, Robotdigg SCARA printer, Crane Quad and Ormerod

Disclosure: I design Duet electronics and work on RepRapFirmware, [duet3d.com].

I've had a few PLA reels now from Galactic Warehouse on that link and they have all worked well, just as good as the material supplied with the machine.

I did get 1 PLA reel from a different eBay source which did not work so well and came out a bit thin. It might be that it needed a higher temp so I'll revisit that at some point but for now I'm sticking with Galactic.

I highly recommend these guys, great price, great product, great service, my first order was a Friday evening about 9 a clock!, could not get the order finalized as there were no country code for Denmark, so I send a email, got response in about 15 minutes!, my order was 10x1kg + a roll of kapton tape, ping-pong emails back and forth, mailed them a screen shot of my basket and they manually made and mailed me a paypall invoice and my order was payed and finalized - on a friday evening! - they even payed the shipping costs and added 10 x 0.4mm print nozzles to the package

Can't get better than that, my highest recommendations

[3dfilaprint.com]

Erik

Great stuff, looks like I picked a winner

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Another RS Ormerod Mk1 meets the world

Retired now but I used to make....
CNC Machined Mk1 aluminium bed support plates for the Ormerod
CNC machined X-plates and ribs for Mk1 & Mk2 Ormerods
CNC machined bed support arms for the Mk2 Ormerod.
Dual Hot-End heatsink blocks.

I was about to order some from the Ebay seller linked at the top of this thread but I want to print matching parts for my RS Ormorod - do we know if the red matches, or is it orange?

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RS Components Reprap Ormerod No. 481

Quote
ormerod168
I highly recommend these guys, great price, great product, great service, my first order was a Friday evening about 9 a clock!, could not get the order finalized as there were no country code for Denmark, so I send a email, got response in about 15 minutes!, my order was 10x1kg + a roll of kapton tape, ping-pong emails back and forth, mailed them a screen shot of my basket and they manually made and mailed me a paypall invoice and my order was payed and finalized - on a friday evening! - they even payed the shipping costs and added 10 x 0.4mm print nozzles to the package

Can't get better than that, my highest recommendations

[3dfilaprint.com]

Erik

You may be a special customer. When just ordering a single 1kg real of PLA from the web-site, you pay more for the (international) shipping costs than for the real...

I've been using these guys.....
Filament Supplier on Ebay

They are good, but I ordered 2 spools of filament, and one of the spools that arrived was 3mm not 1.74mm (we all have bad days....lol).
But they are willing to replace it, and paying for free postage for the return...
Just a minor problem you don't need these days when everyone is Busy..

I want to print WOOD, but don't like the price...

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Please send me a PM if you have suggestions, or problems with Big Blue 360.
I won't see comments in threads, as I move around to much.
Working Link to Big Blue 360 Complete

@Radian
I bought the Galactic Warehouse(as in that link) red in order to print the adjustable Z runner.
At first glance, you would not notice the difference - a closer look reveals it to be slightly more red
There it is in the top right

Greg

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Ormerod #17

Quote
KimBrown
I want to print WOOD, but don't like the price...

Hi Kim
I bought some wood filament Laywoo-D3 Light Cherry. I'm struggling with it. Breaks really easily and it is difficult to extrude. I think it may be a little thin for the extruder as it slips. It measures 1.6 on my calipers so I think that is the problem. However if I can get it to print It looks very good.
John

I got some of that wood lying around here, and the shop selling it recommended having the spool standing on the radiator at home, to make sure the temperature remains well above room temperatures, or in the alternative, fix another heated bed to warm it up,. supposedly it's less brittle when the temperature of it remains above 30 degrees (celcius)

How about positioning the spool behind the ATX PSU fan? That should keep it warm, at least when the heated bed is running.

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Large delta printer [miscsolutions.wordpress.com], E3D tool changer, Robotdigg SCARA printer, Crane Quad and Ormerod

Disclosure: I design Duet electronics and work on RepRapFirmware, [duet3d.com].

For me it won't work, the power supply runs too cool. But for some this might work. For me the best alternative to this is moving to a warmer place

Quote
onno
I got some of that wood lying around here, and the shop selling it recommended having the spool standing on the radiator at home, to make sure the temperature remains well above room temperatures, or in the alternative, fix another heated bed to warm it up,. supposedly it's less brittle when the temperature of it remains above 30 degrees (celcius)

That’s a good tip but still wondering how to accomplish it. I use a EZ cool 700W PSU and it has been printing all day and it is still stone cold so that won't work. I think maybe the radiator and if that prints ok I'll knock up something more permanent as you suggested with a second bed heater, I'm quite keen to solve this one and print in wood. Not sure that the increase in temperature will however produce enough increase in filament cross section to extrude reliably. I have seen another producer mentioned in another thread so may try that.
John

Thanks John.... Yes 1.6 sounds to thin. I hope they make it thicker soon... That sounds like an odd size.

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Please send me a PM if you have suggestions, or problems with Big Blue 360.
I won't see comments in threads, as I move around to much.
Working Link to Big Blue 360 Complete

Maybe the extruder feed can be modded enough to either guide it close to the printing bed (but difficult as during printing it moves away from the bed).
I think that a cheaper and easier solution for warming up the filament might be to use a heating block similar to the one currently holding the nozzle, and mount it one way or another as close as possible to the extruder block entry, and feed the filament through the nozzle-opening of it, while the firmware treats the heater + thermistor as a second extruder. I think that it will remain warm enough while inside the extruder block, and after that the bend of the laywood is not that strong anymore to break it.
I have exactly this issue with laybrick as well, which comes with the same problems. I was thinking of looking for an extruder where the filament doesn't have to make such a sharp bend before reaching the hobbed bolt.

Quote
KimBrown
Thanks John.... Yes 1.6 sounds to thin. I hope they make it thicker soon... That sounds like an odd size.

Kim It is actually sold as 1.75mm but I have checked it at various points and it's diameter ranges from 1.6 mm to 1.7mm, not great quality control.

Quote
onno
I have exactly this issue with laybrick as well, which comes with the same problems. I was thinking of looking for an extruder where the filament doesn't have to make such a sharp bend before reaching the hobbed bolt.

I am going to look into making an extruder that has a larger bend radius for this filament and can be adjusted or is slightly under size and therefore accommodate these brittle undersize filaments.
John

Quote
johneato
I am going to look into making an extruder that has a larger bend radius for this filament and can be adjusted or is slightly under size and therefore accommodate these brittle undersize filaments.
John

That would be great. An extruder with a (slightly?) higher radius would help. Next to that, it would help if the ptfe tube could go in much further, as I suspect that irregularities in the surface inside cause the breakage, and that cause can almost be eliminated by taking the ptfe tube in all the way, and maybe even locking it in place, to avoid that tube dancing back and forth with retraction.

Quote
onno
and maybe even locking it in place, to avoid that tube dancing back and forth with retraction.

I'll get on with the extruder but in the meantime look at Matt's thread [forums.reprap.org] he's produced a modified tongue to hold the tube more rigidly
John

I noticed that thread, but it's the end going to the hotend, I was referring to the incoming tube. I think the problem with laywood and laybrick could be solved first by increasing the radius in the extruder block, and by making the lining towards the gears smoother. For the second point I think it would be best to bring the tube further in, and maybe tap one or two M3 nuts on it, which slot into some piece of plastic, not sure what would work there.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/05/2014 04:40PM by onno.

It might be worth looking at the modified extruder block here extruder wear. This can line the input with ptfe tube. Although the same ptfe tube as the output will work it is a bit stiff. I used a 0.3mm wall ptfe tube which has a bigger internal diameter and is more flexible. This allows the filament to slide through nicely.