Printing issues with PLA silk. Is it setup issue?

3D Printing Materials
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I have a new Flashforge Adventurer 5M Pro. Up until now I’ve been printing random items using PLA, which seems to work fine. But I just purchased some PLA Silk (print.exe brand, if it matters) and the prints are not going as well. Mostly, random parts will go ‘thready’.

There’s some indication on the interwebz that silk PLA might need different settings, but I can’t find enough detail, and let’s face it I’m still a total noob, so I don’t know what I don’t know yet.

So anyway, questions: 1. Do I need to alter settings for silk. 2. When I am altering settings, is it done on the printer or in the slicer? Or both?

Last thing, and I’m not sure how relevant this is–I’m using Orca-flashforge, which is Flashforge’s tweaked version of OrcaSlicer, and it only seems to have presets for flashforge-branded filament. How much difference does that make?

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I have printed Silk PLA on my Creality K1 without any problems, same settings as PLA.
If changing settings, most are done in the slicer.
I think if the filament is thready, as you say, try turning down the nozzle temp. It could be over melting the filament.

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My experience is the same as hobby maker. Same settings as all PLA. No stringing. Printed at .08mm in silk and the layer lines are all but invisible.

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I love printing with silk PLA. Like every spool of filament I buy, the first print is a temp tower. This will show you, over a range of temperatures, how THIS filament works on YOUR printer. Forget the presets: learn how every filament behaves and dial it in, accordingly.

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Thanks. The temp tower is a good example of things that I don’t know that I don’t know. Printing one now.

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I actually do find silk printed differently than regular.

There are also two types of silk. Regular PLA ‘silk’ that is just extra shiny. It is not a “true” silk.

Silk that is different adds an elastomer to get the silky look. This prints differently. It is easy to tell apart extra shiny pla behaves normally. Additive pla with elastomer if you extrude a bit it will contract and be shorter and fatter.

The additive silks often need retraction settings tinkered with. I find it prints better a bit on the hot side of the suggested range. It also doesn’t bond layer to layer as well. It’s not good for structural parts. I tend to also use glue stick as Tpu will stick too well by times, glue stick reduces this a bit.

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