[Matilda]

Matilda on January 13, 2015 at 5:39 pm #1820

Some of the printer’s specifications mention that preferred material is ABS. Few mention that there preferred material is PLA. What is the fundamental difference with respect their construction when they mention preferred materials. What are the implications of not using the preferred material?

[Genie]

Genie on April 26, 2015 at 6:59 am #1923

Hello Matilda

The answer to your questions come straight from the properties of the preferred material. Each material or plastic has its own set of thermal properties. All the thermal elements along with thermal sensors used in the printers would have operating ranges in which they are designed to operate.

As you have mentioned, ABS and PLA have different thermal characteristics. In case of higher or lower temperatures, extruders as well as the entire plastic extrusion chain tend to clog and develop snags leading to lot of issues.

You could use filament other than the preferred filament, provided you take care of the temperature settings as specified in the specification sheet which comes along with the filament.