Which filament

The_Dark_Side

The_Dark_Side

The_Dark_Side

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Back with a Vengeance.
So, today I've taken the plunge and ordered a 3d printer from Creality. I know almost nothing about 3d printing, in fact I'm not even sure what I'm going to use it for, but I thought it time I dipped my toe in the water so yo speak. I dare say I'll be reading this forum intently, punctuating with the occasional stupid question so I'll ask in advance for your patience. For now I'm hoping you could recommend some filament to get me started.
Thanks in advance.
 
1.75mm PLA is best to get started with. You can print PLA or PETG with a stock Ender 3, but generally PLA is much nicer to print with for a beginner especially. I've used loads of different brands off Amazon (Geetech, Sunlu, Eryone, Amazon Basics etc) and never had issues with any of them so far.
 
Any PLA will work but you may have to tweak the nozzle temperature depending on the band. Im currently using technologyoutlets professional pla but this needs 210 hot end temperature whereas others ive tried need the standard 200.

Which model creality have you gone for?
 
The_Dark_Side said:
I ordered the ender 3 max. The ender 3 series isn't the best but it has a huge community so, knowing less than nothing, I thought it a better option than something like a sidewinder. That and the extra build area can only be a bonus.
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Get Prusa slicer beta.
It has a profile for your printer. And will set everything up for you.

Just buy the cheapest pla to you get it all setup.
And don't forget that levelling the table is important.
 
Dempsey22 said:
BLtouch only accounts for a warped bed. You'll still need to level the bed.

I use eSun PLA+ with my Ender 3. Prints at 200c and have some very good results with all their colours.
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Do you have any experience with esuns white pla+? I'm having a few issues with my roll, just seems prone to underextrusion.
 
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Calibrated esteps, tried printing at 200/207/ 210/215c (found 210 to be about the best), increased flow up to 110% which helped at first but later into the print leads to a fair bit of over extrusion.

Beginning to think it maybe a duff reel tolerance is about 0.07 checking with calipers.
 
Highly recommend 3Djake’s line of ecoPLA, especially the Matt which prints beautifully and is tougher than standard PLA. Recently used their tough ecoPLA and that’s brilliant too, not quite as nice a finish as the Matt but it’s extremely strong, especially in layer adhesion.

Both are also pretty reasonable price wise.
 
Zeeflyboy said:
Highly recommend 3Djake’s line of ecoPLA, especially the Matt which prints beautifully and is tougher than standard PLA. Recently used their tough ecoPLA and that’s brilliant too, not quite as nice a finish as the Matt but it’s extremely strong, especially in layer adhesion.

Both are also pretty reasonable price wise.
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Up until now I've mostly used eSun PLA+, have you tried it? Tougher than standard PLA, and seems slightly cheaper than ecoPLA (and much cheaper than Tough ecoPLA). Though the 3D Jake stuff is now tempting, if its actually better.
 
Update. I ordered some amazon basics pla and its slowly dawning on me how little I know. Thus far I've only managed two successful prints and I have no idea how to correct my failures. I've levelled the bed using a feeler gauge to 0.1mm. What seems to be happening is one of two things. Either the first layer isn't sticking to the bed or I have mistakenly set something incorrectly causing the nozzle to dislodge the first layer as it makes its passes. I'm trying anything and everything I can read online with little or no luck.
Grr.
 
Nirurin said:
Up until now I've mostly used eSun PLA+, have you tried it? Tougher than standard PLA, and seems slightly cheaper than ecoPLA (and much cheaper than Tough ecoPLA). Though the 3D Jake stuff is now tempting, if its actually better.
Click to expand...

Not tried so can’t compare I’m afraid.

The_Dark_Side said:
Update. I ordered some amazon basics pla and its slowly dawning on me how little I know. Thus far I've only managed two successful prints and I have no idea how to correct my failures. I've levelled the bed using a feeler gauge to 0.1mm. What seems to be happening is one of two things. Either the first layer isn't sticking to the bed or I have mistakenly set something incorrectly causing the nozzle to dislodge the first layer as it makes its passes. I'm trying anything and everything I can read online with little or no luck.
Grr.
Click to expand...

- what build surface?

- Temps of both nozzle and bed?

- Using fan on first layers? If yes, don’t.

- Print speed - what speeds and are you slowing down for first layer, if so by how much?

- you can add a z-lift between moves to avoid running the nozzle across the part which can help prevent dislodging, but usually only an issue on taller prints rather than first couple of layers.

- what slicer are you using?
 
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I'd up the temps to 215/70, clean the bed with IPA and then clean it again.

For the fan, go to Filament settings, Fan setting and then set Disable fan for the first >3 layers.

Prints speeds are fine, you want the first layer <20mm/s - Z lift is under Printer settings, then retraction and Z lift, 0.5 should be fine.

Can you post a picture of the bottom of a failed print so I can see if the first layer is to close to the bed.
 
I always use the paper method, instead of feeler gauge. I wouldn't be surprised if you were ending up with too large a gap between the bed and the nozzle.

Learning how to get the right z-offset between bed and nozzle is like 90% of printing failures/issues in my experience.
 
If it's the same coating as on the ender 3v2 try turning it over and printing on the smooth side.
Also give the bed a bloody good wash with hot soapy water.

Failing that re-level, glue stick, or hairspray.
 
First up, I really appreciate your advice. I'm rapidly losing patience with it (the printer, not your help. Lol). Only two successful prints so far, a whistle and a benchy. I ran the chep gcode to level the bed in 5 points and used a 0.1 feeler gauge.

Sometimes during heat up the filament coils up onto itself rather than extruding straight down.

It almost always strings when moving from the test line on the left of the bed to printing position for the object.

Prints almost always fail during the first layer although I printed a nut last night and that was going well for about 20 minutes before the print detached from the bed and was dragged around by the nozzle.

I'll try to upload pics of a few failed prints.
Thanks again for putting up with the newbie. So much conflicting advice online so it is much better to get tips from real people.
 
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