Hi all.
I’m curious to know if people have ever purchased a filament that’s just not performed well at all.
A few months back I ordered a large 2kg roll of black ABS filament from eBay, I printed with it for around 20 hours with no issues other than the layers not blending so well. After a while though I experienced a whole load of extruder issues, I have fixed these now and have used other better filament but when ever I try the black 2kg ABS it will print for a short time then fail to extrude.
I am ready to accept that this is just bad filament, it’s not nearly as glossy as any others I have used, it’s rather matte and seems softer than others but it also did print for 20+ hours before any issues. Would the finish on the ABS even have any relevance?
I can post the link to the filament I purchased if you’re curious, I just don’t wish to give bad press without due reason.
1 Like
Hah, I know that - in my place it was the cheapest spool of PLA ever bought, about 1kg for 16€. Had the original da Vinci Extruder installed this time, he clogged after 1-2 hours. When i completely removed all the junk with cleaning wire + acetone…
->and printed with that PLA again: clog in 1-2 hours guaranteed
->other filaments were fine
Took more ABS since then, but couldn’t find the perfect vendor still, which gives quality for an ok-price and good shipping from germany.
For example my previous night print crashed again in an roll of ABS, nozzle got clogged first time with an silver ABS, I think there was a point that was too fat in the filament… as the new hotend (e3d v6) never really has problems with extruding ABS.
Yeah, I have bought a spool and it had been garbage. It was full of moisture and all. It was a Inland spool so it was only $15.
1 Like
Months back? Was it stored correctly? Anything more specific than “fails to extrude?” Theres so little information here it could easily be anything from wet filament to brittle plastic to dusty roll/debry in the extruder
It very much sounds like you have swollen filament, your filament has most likely soaked up water in the atmosphere if you are in a humid room this is probably the issue. This would seem the issue as when you received it, it worked fine with minor issues.
One solution to this problem is to dry the filament out, sealing it in an airtight bucket with some form of desiccant. good luck
We had a roll of Black ABS that gave similar results. I think from the entire roll we only got one or two successful prints. For us it was a roll of black velmann filament, however most people gave the velmann ABS a good review (perhaps we had a bad batch?)
Our problem roll would clog the print head time and time again after 30mins to an hour, and we were constantly cleaning out the nozzle and trying again. Look on the bright side though, you will get very good at cleaning the nozzle.
Hmmmm, were you storing your filament correctly? It sounds like your filament has just absorbed too much moisture. Did it ship airtight with desiccant? And when you got the filament were you storing it in a dry(ish) place? If not, then it could definitely be a moisture issue. However, if this isn’t the case, its also possible you just got a bad batch of filament. I once had a spool of Orange ABS that gave me 2-3 successful prints before clogging and failing. Its possible there was just bad quality control on that particular batch of filament.
I hope this helps, and good luck!
I do think it could be bad storage as I really did just leave this one out in the open, all my other filaments have been in a drawer and I can’t remember the filament arriving with any desiccant. It could also be just crappy quality, I’d certainly expect it for the price.
I’ll have to try drying it out as I’m not doing any printing for a while now.
Many thanks for the reply.
Yes this one I believe would clog and the extruder would grind away at the ABS till there was nothing to grip and push through. I do think it’s a mix of bad filament and bad storage on my behalf.
I’ll give that a go, many thanks.
I’m saving up for the e3d v6 and have already printed the parts to fit it to the Davinci, I’m also interested in the Titan extruder.
ive had the exact same problem with a heat transferred colour changing filament.
Hi, i had simular issue’s with filament a few weeks ago. What made a lot of difference for me was to use some oil.
Use a few drips on a paper towel and clip it around your filament before it goes into your extruder.
Your extruder will clogg less! At least, that’s what it did for me 
