Prints are falling apart?!?

[Brian_Michael_T]

Hey everyone, so I’ve been using Hatchbox ABS filament for a while now and I absolutely love it! But recently I bought some gold ABS from them and it prints fine, but after about a day of sitting around it starts to just fall apart. Cracks begin to show up and its just incredibly brittle to the point it just falls apart. Has anyone else experienced this or have any guesses as to what it could be? Thanks

[wirlybird]

Biggest issue I have had with Hatchbox is counterfeit stuff. I use Hatchbox all the time and like it. Between eBay and Amazon there are a lot of unauthorized sellers.

Megalomart.com, Fire Sale Merchant, The Smoke Mart and Low Baller are the only authorized sellers at the time according the their site.

I usually by from Amazon or newegg.com but look for the actual seller and if it is not a listed on get a hold of Hatchbox and let them know.

What temps where you using and what printer?

[keebie81]

Could be stress cracks from you forcing in the bearings

[MadBuggyofDoom]

Shrinkage around the bearings by the look of it.

[wirlybird]

I does look like it broke but I though ABS might have a bit of stretch like that or in that direction.

That’s why I wondered if it could be bad filament and only because I get a lot of hatchbox and see many bogus sellers.

It will be interesting to see what it is.

[wirlybird]

Are those the skateboard bearings? If so what is the file? I have some and could try this out with some fresh Hatchbox ABS.

[NicDawg]

Where are you storing the filament? It might be that its getting moisture in it. This can cause the issues you describe.

[shahramrobotics]

That’s not ABS for sure. Something very rigid like PLA will crack like that. Manufacturers use around 4% coloring in the filaments so the additives for the gold color is not the issue. I have printed tons of gold PLA models with not a single crack. That’s definitely a counterfeit filament. Print it without a heated bed and if it doesn’t warp, that’s PLA or at least something like that. You can try olive oil as well and see if it still cracks again after a while.

[Brian_Michael_T]

Okay so update. I baked the filament in the oven to get rid of the moisture, and so far so good. At least the parts aren’t falling apart on me. But when I push the filament through the extruder it almost has a white hint to it. Almost like its bubbling, rather than a nice smooth extrusion like all of my other filaments. Could it be that I’m running it a too high of a temperature?? Its a printrbot Plus running a 235 hot end and 75 build plate. (Also the bearings dont seem to affect the other prints im making.)

[gareth_6]

I haven’t had this exact thing but a couple of parts went really brittle over time. The parts weren’t in direct sun and just sat on my mantel piece so moisture shouldn’t be an issue. Very odd.

I have ran out of the black hatcbox ABS that i had, and ordered some more but the packaging is completely different.

I wonder if either are legit. I haven’t tried the new stuff yet.

[twiesner]

Hatchbox is junk. I stopped buying that stuff a long time ago because of filament inconsistency and too many purchased rolls arrived contaminated (bubbles and debris inside the filament). I would recommend investing in filaments where the manufacture guarantees quality. Check out filaments such as colorfab, meltink3d, filament.ca, and 3d-fuel just to name a few

[wirlybird]

Hatchbox is hardly junk. There is a huge amount of counterfeit filament being sold as Hatchbox by unauthorized sellers. I learned this by complaining about a bad roll to Hatchbox.

[twiesner]

Everyone has their opinions and I may be overly picky about filament quality but a +/- 0.1 filament change instead of the +/- 0.05 isn’t good filament to me. Might not seem like much to fuss about but that much tolerance difference when I was using the filament caused a lot of frustration. At the time I was using Hatchbox I was buying directly from the seller. Since my last purchase the company could have improved their quality control but I still won’t purchase from them anymore especially when I had one too many rolls arrive with bubbles or debris visible without open the package. Some people may have better luck with the brand but I always recommend to other users that when issues such as what Brian_Michael_T is having that it may be time to try other filaments that have a tighter standards on their filament quality and sellers.

[wirlybird]

Yes they do. Hatchbox advertises ±.05 and they do not sell direct so no telling what you were getting from the “seller”.

[wirlybird]

I would have to agree with this. I have not had ABS react like this. I am sure it is possible but odd. PLA would seem much more likely to do this.

As Tanya said, it is definitely a good idea to try another brand to see how it goes.

Still though, it is critical to make sure you are getting legit material. If you are not buying direct from the maker, like Makergeeks, then the risk of counterfeit is real.

[twiesner]

HATCHBOX | 3D Filaments

[wirlybird]

I know where it is. They do not sell direct. They intend to in the future.

I wish they did sell direct since it would eliminate weeding through so many bogus sellers on Amazon to get the real stuff!

I had a string of bad filament from Makergeeks (similar issue that you mention) which caused me to try Hatchbox and so far my results have been good.

The Amazon price fluctuates a lot though.

[twiesner]

Amazon link on hatchbox3d.com site. Sorry. Typing on a phone. I probably would give them another chance if the did not sell through amazon but on their own website too. Could have cases where amazon sends orders to nearest “storage warehouse” which could be a storage house selling the counterfiet. Don’t know. But since my last purchase of hatchbox I’ve found many other filaments more suited to my printers and works I create.

[wirlybird]

Yea, when I use Amazon I have to look at who the actual seller is. There are a ton of bad ones or non authorized!

newegg.com has done ok and has stable prices.

As I mentioned I went to Hatchbox after trouble with Makergeeks. Hatcbox has been decent for general use with good colors and a low price but can be hard to get at the good price point!

But not every filament is good for every print that is for sure.

Back to this guys issues, I haven’t seen ABS behave like that by splitting. I’d like to try his file with some junky ABS I have and see if it does the same thing.