silly question, right ?
i used it to stimulate discussion…
this regards PLA, almost always silk;
i am on my third printer with the 4th arriving in the next couple days;
all 3 of my first three printers have broken down at some time, some multiple times and i have had to replace hotends, take apart print-heads/tool heads and such;
frustrating: so i asked myself if it was worth all the aggravation and why these top-of-the-line machines were breaking down;
was i doing something wrong ?
hundreds of successful prints suggested my technique was ok;
so what was going on ?
i believe i have identified One of the causes;
that being filament quality;
after a couple months after i started 3D, i recognized the importance of dry boxes and bought 3 and thereafter only used filament that was dried at least 24 hours;
S.t.i.l.l : breakdowns…
so i started seeing a pattern where filaments from certain e-tailers that we have here in thailand were the culprits; thankfully these e-tailers, i noted 3, were not the big players but much lesser**;
so i promptly threw all filament from them away ( along the way i realized that marking the filament as they arrive with the vendor Might have some value…);
so where-ever these good e-tailers are getting the PLA filament ( surely that is china) i dont have to know but only that i can trust that supply chain enough;
thoughts ?
** silly me i should have detected a red-flag when their pricing was lower
( an allied question might be “what do those “cleaning filaments” do ?”)
Filament quality will only get you so far unfortunately,
Many if not all 3D Printers on the market now still rely on parts that, given enough time, will break down and wear out. How long have all of your printers run for before breaking down, things like hotends are destined to break down over time. You can minimize the potential of this happening by changing your nozzle regularly, and cleaning out the extruder gears and the inside of the extruder every once in a while. But even things like the heater cartridge or the thermistor only have finite lives.
So yes, I would say using high quality filament can still lead to more reliability overall, but you are still at the mercy of physics when it comes to these things. The best you can do is just to keep on top of things and continually tune and check on your machine, but even then things can still happen…
Filament quality these days is fairly consistent. High end filament is would really neatly and is free of tangles. Some low end stuff is not either. Color stability and accuracy roll to roll is better in the higher end brands and poor in the lower end. I find more water issues in new rolls of low end stuff than high but that is occasional. Low end filaments are sometimes broken down rolls off bigger rolls so it sits out. Not as common as it once might have been.
I tend to buy higher end gear. it lasts longer and needs less mucking about with. Every now and again I revert to lower end stuff and regret it as I don’t have the time to mess with it to get and keep it running well. V400… Sidewinder…
you mention sidewinder, can i presume that is the artillery brand ?
if so i would appreciate any input on my proposed purchase of the new Artillery Sidewinder X4 ( plus or max)
as soon as they are made public;
i was attrcted to the sidewinder x’s due to their print head design, anticipating at some time i would be digging around inside them ;
thoughts ?
Mine is an X1. I rebuilt it completely there is no parts other than the skirt that I didn’t take apart and or replace. I is the worst printer I ever owned. Oh it has issues again. The worst part is at the end of all the hours trying to get it to actually work it made so so prints at best. Many times the most expensive printer I ever owned. It made maybe 40 ok prints that were acceptable and I spent twice what I bought if for in replacement parts.
Support is the worst. Emails took weeks and then they asked the same questions over and over. Useless.
If you want a reliable printer buy one not filled with non name brand parts. Use ones from a company that actually prints using the printers they sell in volume. This is RandD.
I have regretted every printer that is filled with parts that I can’t tell you how makes them. They are filled with the cheapest possible parts and often need upgrades, mods, or something. Some like the hobby of the printer. To me it is just a tool to be used if it needs constant attention it is not a tool for me.
Short answer my experience with sidewinder was really bad. I was strung along for so long that it was inevitable I voided the warranty. Nothing about my experience with it was positive. It sits in the corner, reminding me of a bad decision.
yikes; i guess i will watch how the x4 pro, which is released now, fares and attempt to extend that to the x4 max,plus models that are not yet out;
at least they arent uber expensive