this post was submitted on 20 Nov 2024
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I found a small length of filament in the parts bin. I don't know what it is, and nobody else here does, or remembers ordering it. I'm pretty sure it's a sample that was sent by Prusa when we ordered the printer, and it's probably not a special material.

It's feels "gummy" and a lot softer than PLA, but not really rubbery either. And I tried printing something with it at 230C as if it was PLA and it's clearly not hot enough: it's able to flow out of the nozzle but it barely sticks to the bed.

Any idea what it could be?

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[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 hours ago* (last edited 1 hour ago)

Well, I toyed with the printer's temperature settings until I found a combination of nozzle temperature and bed temperature that finally made it spew out parts without making a disaster.

It seems to flow best at 260C, but then when it lands on the bed, it immediately shrinks as it cools and the part curls up and comes unstuck. I had to lower the temperature to 245C and raise the bed temperature to the maximum this printer does - 110C - for the part to stick enough to complete.

The nozzle clearly isn't hot enough because some layers on the final parts look like they're about to delaminate. But any hotter than that and the material curls up. And it doesn't matter what bed plate I use: that stuff doesn't seem to stick to anything properly.

I printed spectacles with that mystery filament. You can see how floppy it is here:

https://toobnix.org/w/qJJ1htb9eqmiHx7gSpq2RT

It looks like TPU alright, but the temperatures involved aren't really typical of TPU. Also, acetone does nothing to it whatsoever.

The material also doesn't like to be filed or sanded, and the best results for a nice finish without bits of material sticking out all over the place is to "polish" it by running a very sharp x-acto blade across the surface until all the junk is gone and the surface is shiny.

Weird filament. Kind of useless...

[–] [email protected] 4 points 3 hours ago

Need to know what material your build plate is made of to guess what wouldn't stick to it.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 4 hours ago (1 children)

TPU if it is soft and like gummy/rubbery

I use the stuff for seals some times, but more often it makes the perfect string for cat toys. Put a length on a stick, add some painter's tape on the end, and wave it around; cats go nuts.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 hour ago

Lol

Clearly that's progress 🙂

[–] [email protected] 1 points 4 hours ago

Sounds like TPU? Maybe soft one too.