PLA breaking question

[Jules]

Okay guys, what does it mean when your PLA gets rather brittle and starts breaking easily? Too much humidity? Too little humidity? Bad roll? Bad additives in that color?

I've had a couple of breaks at the filament guide lately, when i left a spool on overnight, and one inside the tube. One of them was on a fresh spool that had just been opened. The problem ones are very stiff coming off the roll.

Anybody else seen this?

[jimc]

yeah its just a bad spool of filament. pla is brittle to begin with and some suppliers just have batches that are like that. a long time ago i had a few spools of filament from a china manufacturer who put a shrinkwrap around the spool. the chemicals in the shrinkwrap broke down the filament making break like its spaghetti. just toss the rest of the spool.

[Jules]

Bummer! (I like the color.) That's too bad.

[jsc]

I've had that happen recently with some black esun PLA. There isn't an issue during printing, just snaps off at the filament guide overnight. Have to remember to withdraw it after every print and wind it back so just the tip is being held by the printed guide, then replace the tube and reinsert next time. I now have five or six foot-long lengths of PLA lying around which I use for clearing/priming.

[Jules]

I've had that happen recently with some black esun PLA. There isn't an issue during printing, just snaps off at the filament guide overnight. Have to remember to withdraw it after every print and wind it back so just the tip is being held by the printed guide, then replace the tube and reinsert next time. I now have five or six foot-long lengths of PLA lying around which I use for clearing/priming.

Yeah, it's the Pine Green eSun. And it did print okay - it just doesn't like to sit in one spot for long....maybe it's just the darker colors. Good to know I can still use it once in a while if I need it.

[jimc]

hmm interesting. i guess dont leave it in the machine. i only ever used 1 spool of pla from esun since i almost never print pla. i thought the stuff printed awesome but i used the whole spool in one shot so it never got a chance to sit. mine was just the black. if you got it from intservo be sure to let will know so he can pass that on to esun.

[jsc]

I dropped a note to William about it a few weeks ago.

[Jules]

I dropped a note to William about it a few weeks ago.

PM'd him this morning as well.

[Slipshine]

I have found if it gets in sunlight the will get brittle pretty quick.

[Jules]

Will seems to think humidity exposure causes it. (But, i was having problems off a "fresh-out-of-the-wrapper" spool, and the older stuff that I've had for months is fine.)

Whatever is causing it, I'm glad it's not a common thing - I'd hate to lose the whole batch.