r/polymaker

I print a bunch of TPU, and a few months ago noticed a change in the texture of the filament. At the same time, I started having issues with the spool. The filament is polymaker TPU 95a in white, ordered from amazon, same as always.

The filament is ...well, stuck to itself? Wedged between itself and the side of the spool or between two strands of filament to either side? It just gets stuck and takes more force than my extruder (prusa core 1) puts out. this has happened across the last 4 or so spools I've used. First half of the spool prints fine, but after that things start getting stuck like this, leading to underextrusion and failed prints.

filament is dried and printed from a Polydryer box, positioned above the printer, so the filament feeds out the front of the polydryer. It's stuck firmly enough that the spool lifts and jams in the box.

Anyone seen similar? Was there a formula change in the last 6 months maybe, or am i just having terrible luck with ordering from amazon?

I want to update about an issue that I wrongly attributed to a polymaker spool — the Panchroma dual matte camouflage PLA.

TLDR: It was the Bambu P1S that was the major issue; using camo on the wrong setting was the straw that broke the printer’s back, but wasn’t the problem itself.

I made a post in January about a camo spool that seemed to be messing up in the Bambu P1S. The printer was working with other polymaker spools, then died with camo (still working on the external spool for a while with regular polymaker spools).

Polymaker replaced that first camo spool in case it had been the issue, and gave a credit for the store. They were fast to reply to my inquiry and offered possible reasons/solutions for what could be up with the spool.

For some reason the other polymaker spools did continue to work (at first) on the external spool. I think part of this was because we had the wrong profile setting for camo: if you’re having P1S & camo issues, try using the Overture Matte PLA setting from Bambu. But ultimately it was definitely something wrong with the printer overall.

In the end, after a 100+ hours troubleshooting with Bambu (they would’t take back the printer for repairs despite it being only 5 months old and under full warranty, nor pay for a repair tech to come out in person), it was a random, incredibly kind and helpful stranger from a fb group that came over and found the problem (a tiny broken piece that didn’t look broken) and fixed it with his own supplies.

Overall I still think Polymaker makes the best quality out there, and I appreciate their fast reply & troubleshooting & accountability (when it wasn’t even their fault).

Feeling very frustrated with my choice of filament vendors. They already seem to not be able to keep things in stock. And now things are now less in stock? Why the sale when they already can’t meet demand?

I found something a bit confusing with the default Fiberon PETG-rcf08 profiles available at https://presets.polymaker.com/. I imported the P1S and H2D profiles into Studio, and restarted Studio per the warning. Both printers are using standard flow, 0.4mm nozzles.

I was debating which printer to run this part through, and noticed a huge difference in print time. P1S = 2hr49m, 109g. H2D= 3hr50m, 105g.

I expect minor differences due to kinematics in the process profiles, preprint calibration times, etc. But a 1 hour swing seemed excessive. So I dug into the filament profiles and found that on the P1S, volumetric flow was capped at 12 mm^(3)/s. While on the H2D, the volumetric flow was capped at 8 mm^(3)/s.

My question: Why would the H2 series profiles have a lower volumetric flow limitation than the P1S? Per the TDS, the H2D is capable of 40mm^(3)/s while the P1S is capable of 32mm^(3)/s. I'm guessing it's a mistake in the filament profile, but maybe I'm missing something?

https://preview.redd.it/o0m4hroxf99h1.png?width=709&format=png&auto=webp&s=fa9e922a5d32d1d54e77ebba6811383c251a6c77

https://preview.redd.it/yvg5wrypj99h1.png?width=727&format=png&auto=webp&s=29605fe578190679906bfcc55bec9ec5ac6b83c3

https://preview.redd.it/lyrkyxlayu8h1.jpg?width=934&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=58b850418c47b912a51486d12b67804918e7e91b

I am using Bambu A1 and trying to print with HT-PLA from polymaker.

I have downloaded a preset from https://presets.polymaker.com/ and white HT-PLA after tiny bit of tuning I manaaged to get a smooth surface.

When it comes to the red HT-PLA, whatever I try I get imperfections. What you see in the picture is the downloaded preset with flow rate changed.

I tried temperature change, calibration, drying the filament (passively) and I don't remember anymore what else. Whatever I change surface quality is not best. Yes, there is improvement and picture above is the best I got.

Does anyone has experience with HT-PLA and can share how I can I approach this issue? Any hint is appreciated.

Thanks

My wife and I compete against each other in every contest we come across. Always have, and as long as we are living, probably will. It's just fun, and we like to razz each other when one of us wins over the other. I was trying to figure out how Ai determined the cheaters. We each have our own phones, email addresses, and computers we compete on. Did Ai look at IP addresses or what to determine the cheaters. Since I did not see our names I was hoping we were not taken out of the contest.