Calling all USA 3mm PLA users

I have been printing in nothing but ABS since I got my printer and im looking to try out some PLA. My only issue is the mixed reviews I find on people using PLA in E3D V5 hot ends. Some people claim its perfect and others state nothing but jams.
Im at a cross road in that I can buy a spool for ~30 bucks but if it doesnt work out im stuck with PLA that I cant use.
I was seeing if anyone can confirm or deny that this works in this hot end or if someone could bother sending me a few feet to try on my own. I would pay for shipping if needed.

Thanks everyone!

3mm has increased friction naturally, so you're problems are likely to be on the worse end. Filament suppliers also play a role. I've got MatterHacker's PLA [1.75mm] and I have both their standard and their Pro series filament. The cheap stuff actually prints a lot easier, it runs through easily and has never jammed to something that wasn't my fault [forgetting to plug the heatsink fan back in]. The pro series filament, although running buttery smooth and consistent, has increased friction and requires higher temps [which I like, it prevents oozing and prints naturally at a higher quality] and I have had that jam a few times. Not a big deal, I just don't print anything using their Pro filament unattended. I can hear my extruder skip so I know right away and can unjam right away.

It's hit and miss.

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Realizer- One who realizes dreams by making them a reality either by possibility or by completion. Also creating or renewing hopes of dreams.
"keep in mind, even the best printer can not print with the best filament if the user is the problem." -Ohmarinus

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MrDoctorDIV
3mm has increased friction naturally, so you're problems are likely to be on the worse end. Filament suppliers also play a role. I've got MatterHacker's PLA [1.75mm] and I have both their standard and their Pro series filament. The cheap stuff actually prints a lot easier, it runs through easily and has never jammed to something that wasn't my fault [forgetting to plug the heatsink fan back in]. The pro series filament, although running buttery smooth and consistent, has increased friction and requires higher temps [which I like, it prevents oozing and prints naturally at a higher quality] and I have had that jam a few times. Not a big deal, I just don't print anything using their Pro filament unattended. I can hear my extruder skip so I know right away and can unjam right away.

It's hit and miss.

How do you recover when your extruder starts to skip? Assuming my issue is the same, I have started to encounter that problem in my last few prints.

I pause the print and home the X-Axis immediately [so it doesn't ooze all over where it pauses], remove the filament, chop off the expanded end [the reason it stops is the expansion of the PLA plugging it up if the heat gets too high up the filament], reinsert and resume. It leaves that layer a little lacking, you can definitely see it, but it's better than no print at all [unless it's a product for a customer, then I'll do it all over again, which hasn't happened yet].

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Realizer- One who realizes dreams by making them a reality either by possibility or by completion. Also creating or renewing hopes of dreams.
"keep in mind, even the best printer can not print with the best filament if the user is the problem." -Ohmarinus

Hmm, I also have the option I guess to swap out to a 1.75mm hot end... Im almost done my spool of 3mm ABS and then thats all the 3mm I have.

If I'm not mistaken, the majority of the people having troubles with the E3D v5 and PLA are 1.75mm users. The 3mm PLA has no issues there.

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amramsey
If I'm not mistaken, the majority of the people having troubles with the E3D v5 and PLA are 1.75mm users. The 3mm PLA has no issues there.

See this is what im wanting to find out! If the 3mm works then im golden and ill get a spool but if the 1.75 is better then ill look into a new hot end.
Although I hear the V6 E3D does PLA without issues.

I ran a whole spool of 1.75mm PLA through my E3Dv5 without a single jam. MTW warned me that there were reports of PLA jamming them when I bought my first E3Dv5 from them, but I never experienced a problem. I'm printing ABS now, and other than a jam from a fan failure I have had no reliability problems with the 1.75mm E3Dv5 on a long Bowden setup. I suspect that the first batch of E3D's may have had a problem with PLA, but it appears that they have fixed the problem......

Hmm. Is there no one that uses 3mm PLA on a V5?
If worse comes to worse ill just get the V6 in 1.75mm flavor and call it a day.

I just installed my v6 yesterday and woah. I didn't think it was that much of a jump. Everything flows so smoothly and I've used much lower temps, by about 35C. I didn't retune my printer at all but it made it look so much better. My fan isn't permanently connected, so if it shakes to much it only works intermittently. That's when the PLA would jam, but after the fan resumed it would actually unjam. I've never seen a hotend unjam before, nor have I seen one make such a quality improvement on such a crappy printer. I can't wait to see what it prints on my progressing build. It's your money, but if I were you I would get the upgrade and then have no regrets.

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Realizer- One who realizes dreams by making them a reality either by possibility or by completion. Also creating or renewing hopes of dreams.
"keep in mind, even the best printer can not print with the best filament if the user is the problem." -Ohmarinus

I used 3mm PLA on an E3D v5 for months without problems.