How to use  printing filaments PLA to print successfully?

（Santa printed with PLA）

For so many years, the 3D printing filaments PLA has been the leader in the 3D printing industry because of its convenient printing and a variety of colors and effects for printers to choose from, which makes it possible to print on almost any 3D printer. Before you find yourself able to handle more demanding use cases, printing successfully with PLA is a basic skill that needs to be cultivated, because you may stick to printing filaments PLA in most projects.

PLA is suitable for demonstration models, fixtures, fixtures, and your usual 3D printing, or even full-body clothing. Let us know more about printing filaments PLA.
What are  3D printing filaments PLA?

PLA, also known as polylactic acid, is a new type of biodegradable material. Use renewable resources for production, such as cassava root or sugar cane. It can be made from starch raw materials proposed by renewable plant resources (such as corn), and the production process is pollution-free and can be degraded. Low price, high strength, environmentally friendly material, large molding size, suitable for items that do not require high precision and finished surface. Suitable for making boxes, gifts, models and prototype parts. Printing filaments PLA is not suitable to be placed in things above 60°C, as this temperature will deform the material. In addition, this material is fragile and cannot be used to make handles of tools or parts that will drop repeatedly. Furthermore, PLA will break if it is bent slightly, so it is not suitable for making thin things.

Printing filaments PLA are very attractive to novices because they have good toughness, rich colors, and can be easily printed on a 3D printer. Printing filaments PLA has low heat shrinkability, so it will not be distorted and has high dimensional stability. Because of this feature, it can print large parts more easily. Rely on the print as close as possible to the size of the 3D model. But it should be noted that the harder, it means that it is more brittle. Printing filaments PLA may be broken if the parts you are printing are used in scenes that may receive severe impacts and a large number of assaults.

Another important consideration when printing parts with PLA filaments is to know what temperatures the parts can be exposed to. PLA plastic will soften at a temperature of 50°C and will quickly deform under this rather limited heat. Therefore, for scenes that are exposed to as much heat as the heat in the car in summer, the use of PLA should be avoided.

Hardware requirements

Hot end

Printing filaments PLA is a non-demanding filament, so starting and running a 3D printer and printing PLA does not require much consideration. On average, 200°C is a good temperature to start printing PLA, but even some brands and colors may need to adjust the high temperature or lower the temperature according to their personal configuration. If the temperature is too high, wood-filled PLA can easily clog, so reducing it to 180°C is a reasonable decision. Some black or white filaments use additives, which require a little more heat to flow well, and may require 220°C to print well. Basically, start at 200°C and move up and down 5°C to find the ideal print quality.

At such a (relatively) low printing temperature, Printing filaments PLA does not require an all-metal hot end (the hot end uses a thin-walled heat interrupter to keep the heat in the heater block away from the radiator) and is suitable for PTFE. Engineering lining the hot end (the PTFE tube passes completely through the radiator and hits the nozzle). But if your printer already has an all-metal hot end, don't worry, it is fully compatible with PLA.

Generally speaking, Printing filaments PLA is non-abrasive, but once you start using additives, it becomes a case. Although the sparkling filaments contain materials other than PLA, they are not abrasive, but the filament that glows in the dark is because the sparkling additives wear out from the nozzle even before a spool passes through. It is abrasive. PLA filled with wood will not wear brass nozzles, but it usually takes 0.6mm to prevent wood chips from clogging the nozzles. An easy way to avoid these problems is to replace them with Olsson Ruby nozzles or Nozzle X when using these materials.

Layer cooling is critical for PLA. In fact, there is no such thing as "excessive" cooling in Printing filaments PLA. The only requirement of many other filaments for the cooling fan is to turn it on in a very short number of layers, but it can be turned off at the rest of the time. The fan uses 100% of its power most of the time because PLA retains its softness for a longer time than other materials. Nevertheless, some models print better when printed in pairs, so the extruder has enough time to send it away from the part and give him time to cool down.

Bed requirements

Currently, printing filaments PLA does not actually need a heated bed. Of course, having a heated bed will only make things easier, but as long as you have the right bed surface, you can eliminate the need for a heated bed. If you have a heated bed, around 60°C is a good starting point. Then you can adjust 5°C in either direction to obtain the desired bond strength. Some bed materials require more heat to adhere to PLA than others, so please experiment until you are satisfied with the results.

As for the bed surface itself, there are many choices. Glass, Buildtak, Buildtak PEI, GeckoTek, Wham Bam PEX or LayerLock powder-coated PEI are all viable options for the bed surface of a 3D printer. The non-exhaustive list is a big problem. Let's take a look at each surface separately.

1.Glass: If you need a smooth glass 3D printed bottom, this is what you need. Usually, no glue is needed to glue PLA to bare glass, but a small amount of glue can fix the printing.

2. BuildTak-a 3D printer adhesive sheet that can be directly attached to the top of the bed or Flexplate. No glue is needed. Wait for the bed to cool down, and then use a BuildTak scraper or twist the Flexplate to remove the print.

3. LayerLock powdered PEI-a textured surface with a flexible structure that allows you to add a unique look to 3D printing. Make sure you have installed the magnetic system to make it work properly, and consider applying a glue stick quickly to help the PLA stick firmly.

4. BuildTak PEI-3D printer adhesive sheet, which can be directly attached to the top of the bed or Flexplate. This looks incredible. It sticks tight when it is hot, and pops out with a light tap when it is cold. It may be necessary to increase the temperature slightly to obtain sufficient adhesion (close to 70°C is sufficient).

5.GeckoTek-3D printer adhesive sheet, which can be directly attached to the top of the printer bed or Flexplate. Provide hot and cold versions to better adapt to the functions of your 3D printer.

6.WhamBamPEX-The entire flexible bed system is glued to the bed of the 3D printer. During the printing process, a strong magnet fixes the spring steel with PEX tape on the printer base, but it can be easily removed and bent to eject the print.

（Glue on the printing platform）

In addition to building surface upgrades, there are various 3D printer adhesives that can be applied to the base of the 3D printer to obtain a good first layer. These adhesives are specially developed and tested for the 3D printing industry and can be used as real 3D printer adhesives. The following are the best 3D printer glues. You can use these to get the best first layer of PLA filament.

1.Stick Stick 3D printer adhesive

2. Magigoo 3D printer adhesive

3.3DGloop! 3D printer adhesive

Most 3D printer bed adhesives have the same steps. Apply a thin layer on the surface of the active 3D printed version. Then wait for the parts to cool before removing them. Waiting for the 3D printed parts to cool will make them easier to remove. In addition, some glue may even "jump out" from a part of the bed after cooling.
 

Replace PLA3D printing filaments

When switching between two PLA spools and colors:

 

1. When the extruder has cooled down, set it to 120°C and wait for it to heat up.

2. When it reaches 90°C, it starts to pull the filaments until the filaments are finally released, pulling all the filaments from the nozzle into a long and thin line.

If you encounter problems when removing the filament, you can increase the temperature to 200°C and remove more filaments to make up for it.

3. Heat up normally and install new filament.

4. Run the new color filaments into the extruder until the new color consumables run clean and all the new color consumables come out of the extruder. If you switch from a dark color (such as black) to a light color (such as white or natural), do it for a while to ensure that there are no dark stains. Without this step, you can enter multiple layers and finally remove the last bit of filament.
Correctly handle the first layer of PLA3D prints

The first layer is the most important part of the printed matter. This is the basis of the entire printed matter. Here you can see detailed articles on how to get the perfect first layer, or briefly summarize the following things to consider to keep the first layer in good shape:

1. The print bed should be kept level.

2. The correct distance between the nozzle and the bed is required at the beginning of 3D printing.

3. PLA adhesion requires a good substrate.