HOW TO PRINT WITH RADIO SHACK PLA

[Sergio_Gris_Gom]

I AM HAVING TRUBLE PRINTING WITH RADIO SHACKS FILAMENT ANYONE CAN HELP? A HAVE A PRINTRBOT SIMPLE METAL

[MB3D]

AND YOU HAVE A BROKEN “CAPS”-BUTTON.

Just kidding

I would recommend to print with normal PLA settings, temp 210C and speed up to 50mm/s to start, you can later go faster to test the limits. Take the basic retraction settings and 50% cooling, improove upon gaining experience with the material. First print some test parts from thingiverse or similar platforms to test the best bridging settings, overhangs etc.

Cheers,

Marius Breuer

[gabriela3d]

Marius’s advice is very much on point. Hope it helps! But what exactly is the problem, Sergio?

[evan_lee]

Use a caliper to ensure the diameter is indeed 1.75mm. That has caused issues with other cheapo PLA with my printers before.

[Nick_Farrow]

Filament dries up and becomes brittle and humidity could cause it to absorb moisture which these problems are related to age. The US doesn’t currently mandate an expiration date which would be more than helpful for 3D printing technology. You have two options make a sealed case or use the filament quickly. I personally use Hatchbox filament.

http://3dprintingforbeginners.com/how-to-store-3d-printing-filament/

[Patrick_Raines]

there is a lot of good advice here already.

after a bit of experience with a printrbot simple I want to say that the z-probe not being calibrated right was the source much of MY head aches. also calibrating the extruder flow coefficient radically changes my results.

www.pintsteinpro.com/contact.html

[jesseslone]

I use a Simple Metal, and I agree with everyone’s comments, but we really would need more information.

Is the filament extruding?

Does it bubble or steam when it extrudes, or do you hear a popping sound?

Does it stick to the bed? If not, what are you putting on the bed?

Are you getting excessive stringing or dripping filament?

What speed are you printing at?

Can you post a picture of what is wrong?

Answering some of those questions will help people give you much better advice. I find that on my Simple Metal, the recommended settings didn’t work in many cases. For instance, I live in a humid area, so printing in a warm room at 197C on plain white masking tape was the only way for me to print on a cold bed without warping and without popping and bubbling the PLA.

[AutonomousAlex]

I print on my printrbot makers kit using radioshack filament at 200c and i use .2064 as my layer height most of the time because that is what the prusa calculator reccomended.

[magnacarte1133]

Radio Shack sells filament? Besides that I thought their stores were already locked up. If there’s still one open somewhere, I might experiment on my 5th Gen.

[stephancom]

I have the exact same printer and PLA, and have had no problem - I bought a bunch from Radio Shack - $4/kg when it got down to the last few! I use 210° and 70° for the print bed. Works fine.

[Sergio_Gris_Gom]

Here is what’s happening

[Sergio_Gris_Gom]

I don’t have a

heated bed

[Sergio_Gris_Gom]

First thank you all for the help looks like the minimal layer at 50 and 50 travel speed mm/s with 0.1 layer hight mm

is working better but now not sticking to the bed

[jesseslone]

What is on the bed? It looks like there is something on the blue tape. With the unheated bed, I found that I needed to use plain white masking tape, instead of blue masking tape. I would get corners peeling up with the blue tape on an unheated bed. Also, try lightly sanding the blue tape.

As mentioned by someone else, the z probe is pretty critical as well. I’ve had to go as far as M212 Z-0.62 before I had the proper depth, but start at M212 Z-0.2 and go down by .02 at at time, so: -0.2, test print; -0.22, test print; -0.24, test print, etc.