3D Filament

I have heard some stories about filament from china the person expect the acetone gas to smooth it out. The acetone had no effect on it because it was not pure enough.
 
The price of 3D printer filament has been constantly going down since I got my printer nearly 2 years ago, so cheap pricing may not necessarily be a pointer towards bad quality
 
I agree fasteddy but have read that there is a difference if you want to say acetone vapour them as the cheaper 1 can't doesn't work well.
 
yes correct there will always be inferior products and some may not handle acetone vapour, but what im saying is that price alone may not determine quality as prices have fallen a lot over the last 2 years and volume may play a factor in the pricing now making it cheaper
 
Noticed in the recent Aldi catalogue here in SA they have a 3d printer and filament listed. Not sure of the quality of either as I don't have a 3d printer but perhaps it might be useful for some.
 
Just so you guys know have bought some from them. Ask another question I was talking to a friend who works for a Uni and he looks after several 3D printers he told me if not using the filament for a while make sure I store the filament in a sealed container with silicon to stop moisture getting into it. As this will cause problems when printing how do you guys store yours or doesn't last long.
 
What happens is that moisture in the air gets absorbed by the filament and can become slightly larger in diameter thus causing blockages as the filament enters the extruder head, so this is why its important to store your filament in a dry cool place with some moisture absorbing satchels
 
Actually it's not so much the diameter as much as the flexibility that suffers. Yes filament will grow, but usually less than 0.05mm, which should not be an issue for most printers, but the main issue is that the filament becomes brittle and will break as you unspool it. There are ways to dry it out, and the simplest method is to re-use the silica gel packets that come with the printer

1. Get an old rice cooker or similar (New ones are about $12 at Target)
2. put a few of the old silica gel packets on the base. I normally heat 10-12 at a time as any more and they dont get dry enough.
3. warm it up - this usually takes 20-30 minutes, and I run it on high for 5 minutes then low for the remainder. I leave the lid on, but slightly ajar so I can see the water condensing on the top. I turn the packets around every 10 minutes or so to make sure they get completely heated. You dont want to boil off the water, just heat it enough to drive it out, so 60-80c is all thats needed normally.
4. let the packets cool down
5. Store them in a good ziplock bag or plastic container with a good seal.

I put 2-3 packs in my filament roll bags now when I store them away when not in use, and when I get the filament out, I usually put the filament that was on the printer away straight away, but I'll swap out the silica gel for freshly dried ones, and put the other ones aside for drying later. The largest ziplock bags from Coles are just large enough for every filament roll I have here, and then they just get put under the 3D Printer bench in plastic totes. I normally have 30-40 open filaments at a time and another 20 awaiting use left in their packaging.

Now if you ever use Nylon filament, I would suggest throwing 10+ packets in there, rotating the packets with new ones every 2-3 days and do this for a week or two before you use it. That stuff is like a sponge with water, and I had to resort to real silica gel in 100g 3D Printed holders to keep that sucker dry!
 
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