PP QuickPrinting Tips
1- Printing temperature
PP can print succesfully in a wide range of temperatures, from 180° to 260°, however in our test the best quality/performance ratio is delivered with the following settings
Hot-End 225°c– 235°c
Bed 85°c
Temperature above 240°c can damage the PTFE tubing present in many hot-ends, so unless you have a all-metal hot-end we recommend printing always below 240°c
2- How to install the PP printing film
PP filament will not stick to the printing surfaces commonly used to print other materials. Surfaces as glass, PEI, black plastic, won’t work even using glue. However, PP can be printed succesfully by using the adhesive films included with the spool. These films are autoadhesive and can be stuck to our usual printing surface to print on them.
Follow these instructions to install the film in your printing surface:
1- If your printing surface (glass, PEI, etc..) has a smooth side and a rough side, stick the film on the smooth side to maximize adhesion.
2- Ensure that the printing surface is free of dust or oil that can reduce the film’s adhesion.
3- Stick the film carefully, avoid creating wrinkles or bubbles.
4- If some air bubbles are created, use a sharp tool to puncture them and let out the air.
5- Use a flat tool to apply pressure on the film and flatten it. This will maximize adhesion.
6- After the film is installed, you are ready to print PP
The film can be removed manually by pulling it off. If some glue residue is left, it can be easily cleaned with alcohol.
If you run out of films you can purchase more because they are also sold separately. Is addition is possible to use a home-made solution to print PP, because some commonly used adhesive tapes are made of PP and can be used to cover our printing surface and print on them. However, the performance and convenience of home-made solutions will be inferior than our special film.
3- How to prevent and reduce warping?
PP filament is a material that suffer from warping if printed in domestic 3D printers without a heated printing enviroment. The warping happens when the material coolsdown and deform the parts, bending them upwards and detaching them from the surface.
Small parts or models without big volumes can be printed without warping. However, bigger models will warp if printed in a domestic printer. The warping not always affect the functionability of a part.
Despite the only way to completely control warping is to print the filament in a printer with a heated chamber, there are some tips we can follow to minimize it´s impact.
1- Ensure the bed is perfectly leveled
2- Put a enclosure around our printer to reduce air currents and keep the air around the model as hot as possible.
3- Reduce the printing speed and increase the temperature for the first layer. Try 20mm/s and 250°c.
4- Turn off the cooling fan
5- Use brim or raft option in our slicer settings.
6- Reduce the infill and the shells of our objects.
4- Stringing?
1- Decrease the temperature
2- Use standard retraction parameters
3- Run a retraction test
https://teachingtechyt.github.io/calibration.html#retraction
or
http://retractioncalibration.com/
4- Check and calibrate you e-steps
https://teachingtechyt.github.io/calibration.html#esteps
or
https://all3dp.com/2/extruder-calibration-6-easy-steps-2/
5- How to avoid knots and entanglements
Some spools may look better coiled than others not none should contain knots
99% of the times the knots are created after opening the spool due to incorrect manipulation
To avoid formation of knots always fix the tip of the filament to the holder holes in the spool.
What if I discover a knot?
If you discover a knot, you will need to unroll some filament, find the spot with the knot happens and solve it.
3D printing can be tricky!
But we are here to help you with any problems related to your order and give you technical support to use this filament.
PP can print succesfully in a wide range of temperatures, from 180° to 260°, however in our test the best quality/performance ratio is delivered with the following settings
Hot-End 225°c– 235°c
Bed 85°c
Temperature above 240°c can damage the PTFE tubing present in many hot-ends, so unless you have a all-metal hot-end we recommend printing always below 240°c
2- How to install the PP printing film
PP filament will not stick to the printing surfaces commonly used to print other materials. Surfaces as glass, PEI, black plastic, won’t work even using glue. However, PP can be printed succesfully by using the adhesive films included with the spool. These films are autoadhesive and can be stuck to our usual printing surface to print on them.
Follow these instructions to install the film in your printing surface:
1- If your printing surface (glass, PEI, etc..) has a smooth side and a rough side, stick the film on the smooth side to maximize adhesion.
2- Ensure that the printing surface is free of dust or oil that can reduce the film’s adhesion.
3- Stick the film carefully, avoid creating wrinkles or bubbles.
4- If some air bubbles are created, use a sharp tool to puncture them and let out the air.
5- Use a flat tool to apply pressure on the film and flatten it. This will maximize adhesion.
6- After the film is installed, you are ready to print PP
The film can be removed manually by pulling it off. If some glue residue is left, it can be easily cleaned with alcohol.
If you run out of films you can purchase more because they are also sold separately. Is addition is possible to use a home-made solution to print PP, because some commonly used adhesive tapes are made of PP and can be used to cover our printing surface and print on them. However, the performance and convenience of home-made solutions will be inferior than our special film.
3- How to prevent and reduce warping?
PP filament is a material that suffer from warping if printed in domestic 3D printers without a heated printing enviroment. The warping happens when the material coolsdown and deform the parts, bending them upwards and detaching them from the surface.
Small parts or models without big volumes can be printed without warping. However, bigger models will warp if printed in a domestic printer. The warping not always affect the functionability of a part.
Despite the only way to completely control warping is to print the filament in a printer with a heated chamber, there are some tips we can follow to minimize it´s impact.
1- Ensure the bed is perfectly leveled
2- Put a enclosure around our printer to reduce air currents and keep the air around the model as hot as possible.
3- Reduce the printing speed and increase the temperature for the first layer. Try 20mm/s and 250°c.
4- Turn off the cooling fan
5- Use brim or raft option in our slicer settings.
6- Reduce the infill and the shells of our objects.
4- Stringing?
1- Decrease the temperature
2- Use standard retraction parameters
| Direct Extruder | Bowden Extruder | |
| Distance / Speed | 1.5 mm / 30 mm/s | 4 mm / 30 mm/s |
3- Run a retraction test
https://teachingtechyt.github.io/calibration.html#retraction
or
http://retractioncalibration.com/
4- Check and calibrate you e-steps
https://teachingtechyt.github.io/calibration.html#esteps
or
https://all3dp.com/2/extruder-calibration-6-easy-steps-2/
5- How to avoid knots and entanglements
Some spools may look better coiled than others not none should contain knots
99% of the times the knots are created after opening the spool due to incorrect manipulation
To avoid formation of knots always fix the tip of the filament to the holder holes in the spool.
What if I discover a knot?
If you discover a knot, you will need to unroll some filament, find the spot with the knot happens and solve it.
3D printing can be tricky!
But we are here to help you with any problems related to your order and give you technical support to use this filament.
