Just bought a roll of “glow in the dark” pla filament, getting this issue when the extruded filament comes out lumpy at the beginning of the print, but then seems to smooth itself out. The roll of filament has a slightly rough texture, compared to how smooth normal pla is. I have tried playing with the temp settings, but nothing seems to fix it. Any ideas? Printer is a prusa I3

https://www.simplify3d.com/support/print-quality-troubleshooting/#inconsistent-extrusion

A few things to keep in mind with a filament such as “glow in the dark” is that #1 it contains an abrasive chemical that gives it the glow. Also I have found that sometimes adjusting the temperature a little higher can greatly improve how a print turns out due to additives in the filament causing an “insulating” effect.

Also beware that the glow in the dark filament can chew up a nozzle super fast due to the hard particles that make it glow in the dark so you may want to invest in a hardened nozzle (there’s loads out there!) and give that a try.

Hi kissfan4,

The ‘lumpy’ parts may mean that your printer nozzle is getting clogged. This would also explain why it smoothness out afterwards. To fix this make sure you regularly clean you printer nozzle after a certain amount of hours of use. As the print is not as good normal filament, it may mean the printer is not suited to that filament or the printers settings. A lot of these new or recent filaments have initial faults which are adapted over time.

I hope this helps

This looks like filament jamming.

Few reasons could be there:

- Nozzle clogged

- Extruder do not push with enough force

- Filament is too wide

- Nozzle too narrow

- Speed too fast

- Temperature too low

- …

I have adjusted the temp to the highest temp i ever have, all that did was make the oozing much worse, i was thinking clogged nozzle, but since it seems to straighten out after a bit i am not so sure. I have tried printing this multiple times, and it is the same result everytime, which leads me to believe it is not a clogged nozzle.

With PlA too hot can cause reverse melting so fillament is too soft to be pushed by preassure. Try also to decrease temp. Also, have you tried to stop filament movements with fingers. If you succseed, your extruder do not make enought preassure.

I used to have issues with the filament not feeding due to the spring not applying enough pressure, so i modded the extruder to use a screw to apply the pressure instead of the spring. Temp wise i have tried just about everything between 195-200.

200 ?, some PLA derivative require even 230 !

192-200 is too small difference to have any significant impact.

Most of my PLA are with 195 ideal temp. But two rolls have minimum of 200, and optimal of 205 temp.

Some conductive PLA require event 210-215C.

Usually, I am working with ABS, and there is also huge variations. On roll of ABS I have that works best at 210 but extrude fine even at 200. Another roll of ABS requires 235 as minimum and 245 for optimum.

It is all about testing different setup for different material.