I’ve been printing geckos as colour swatches. I’ve got a purple “PLA” labelled as printing at 190-220 nozzle and 40-50 bed.
Well, it doesn’t. Tried every temperature in that range and all that happens is the filament has NO affinity for the bed and just balls up under the nozzle. If I left it to run the nozzle would be entirely encased.
But rather than just bin it, there was something about it that looked…familiar…so I boosted it to print at 250/70, and whilst not perfect, it did at least work. I think bed temp of 80° might actually improve things…which for PLA is extreme to say the least.
Do you think it’s actually PETG (or even ABS?), mislabelled as PLA, and are there any quick tests to confirm?
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I have a mislabeled magenta PLA that is really PETG and its obvious with gooiness, the opacity and sheen of PETG. Its been sitting unused for while and don’t recall where it came from.
Yeah…this purple is now printing fine at 260 on the nozzle (Eek!) and 80 on the bed. I dunno what it is, but it ain’t PLA.
Edit: anyone who uses it, could you confirm if ABS would print at 260/80? (pic of quality achieved at these temps shown - just trying to ascertain if I should open a window!).
Looks like ABS to me, quite similar in looks to PLA, definitely not super glossy like PETG. ABS when you bend it readily changes colour due to stress, PLA doesn’t so much. To the original question it could well be mislabelled, if it is really glossy on the reel it is likely to be PETG, most PLA is quite matt in comparison. TPU is pretty glossy, but it is floppy like wet spaghetti and prints at roughly PLA temps.
