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Curling Filament Before Running a Print Job

Discussion in 'Troubleshooting' started by Clarence, Nov 11, 2013.

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  1. Clarence

    Clarence New Member

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    So, I notice that right before a print begins there is always a little curls of filament hanging off. The extruder gets heated up to 220 for the first layer. The curl itself is about 2-4mm long by the time the print begins.

    I always try to clean that little curl off right before the print job, my question is does it really matter? Or will it ruin the print?
     
  2. tesseract

    tesseract Moderator
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    I do the same thing and I use that as a way to keep the nozzle semi clear of old filament it will most likely never be an issues especially if you use skirts (highly recommended) as these are printed first and outside of your print the extra filament will be taken care of before your actual print starts.

    If I may, the 220 you mentioned seems a bit high are you using PLA. If you are new you should probably start out with PLA it is much easier to get things going as you become accustomed to the aspects of 3d printing once familiar then I would move to ABS If you are using PLA then I would recommend temps starting at about 200 first 195 others or even a bit lower 195-190.
     
  3. Clarence

    Clarence New Member

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    I am using ABS but it sounds like PLA is good to begin with. Just wondering what makes PLA easier? Is it the lower temps and does it stick better to the bed etc?
     
  4. tesseract

    tesseract Moderator
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    ABS tends to cool off very quickly so extreme differences can easily occur when using ABS and if this happens your print can lift off the bed even if every other aspect of teh print goes well it can lift right off and it can also warp getting a long flat level print is tricky again because of the temp issues it can twist and warp. That is why you hear using a heated chamber works well for ABS because the temp is much more controlled.

    PLA has little if any of this
     
  5. Clarence

    Clarence New Member

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    Thanks for the info tesseract, I just gotta get a spool of PLA now :)
     
  6. Clarence

    Clarence New Member

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    I ordered two spools of PLA, anyone know how long it takes for Robo 3D to send them out?
     
  7. tesseract

    tesseract Moderator
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    It should be pretty quick you may want to drop them a line as well though just to make sure they got it
     
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