Have had a few prints recently with PLA that look like underextrusion and the only way to get a decent print is to wack up the extruder temperature to 240c!! ABS prints absolutely fine, no issues at 240c. Photo of pink PLA blocks - left is 240c, right is 230c. Grey PLA blocks range from 215c to 240c left to right. Could it be the filament? The grey and pink are both PLA as sniff tested and their full adherence to glass and glue would also confirm this. Have used both these spools of PLA before with success at 220c but now both refuse to work at this temperature. I recently had a blocked nozzle and wondered if I had damaged something however I have had good ABS prints since then. Any ideas what the issue could be? Confused.
I agree on temp, seems way to hot for regular PLA. I can get good prints between 180-210 for Makergeeks PLA. 190 is a good temp with a 60 bed. On their Crystal PLA I have tested up to 230 and it prints nice but also does good at 190 on my machines.
Yeah i also would say this looks like a clogged extruder that may lead to partially underextrusion… printing PLA on 240° seems a lot to hot to me and leads to parts like you’ve shown us on your pictures. The layers can’t cool down enough and solidify before the next one will be applied. I’m printing PLA usually at 195° to 205° but of course this depends on your printer/hotend.
Simplify3D has a great guide with troubleshooting for the most common 3d-printing issues, it’s totally worth a read even if you don’t have issues at the moment with your printer.
Ok so, it was recently cleaned out and prints ABS perfectly fine at regular ABS temperatures. I have printed the block in green ABS very nicely before and after the grey and pink PLA blocks. As for lower temperatures working better I understand the theory however the better quality has been on the higher temperature settings??!! ABS prints fine so I cannot see how it could be a blockage otherwise I would experience the same thing with the ABS??!!
Can anyone explain why ABS is printing fine and PLA is not? If it is a deformed PTFE tube then why does ABS get through and the PLA not? In the case of “pull your nozzle off” is there a way that this can be done without removing the printhead from the bars, taking off the fans and heatsink, removing the thermocouple from the heatblock so it doesn’t get broken to just get the nozzle off on a CTC??
