I have some filament from a vendor I haven’t used before that I got last year and only just got around to it. My machine was printing pretty decently with Ultimachine ABS, but went through some repairs/upgrades and now there are some irregular artifacts on my prints with this new stuff. The artifacts are primarily poor bonding of one or two perimeters (harder to notice with infill if it does happen there) on one layer at a time, with irregular z spacing.
What would be some some ways to confirm poorly dimensioned filament or filament that’s absorbed too much moisture? I don’t notice much of a difference in filament diameters along the spool, but I just may not be catching it.
Filament that’s absorbed too much moisture will often have pock-marks in it while extruding, or little puffs of steam come out. It all really comes down to forming bubbles when it heats up. This can also end up causing a lot of oozing, and inconsistent flow.
I will listen again, but I’m pretty sure I’m not getting any popping while printing, and I’ve certainly never seen steam. I do sort of remember hearing popping as filament heats up for the first time, but can’t remember if that’s happened for a while.
Turns out not at all a filament problem. I switched filament and printed something less arty and the Z defects are totally regular and line up with my z-ribbing, so I just need to take care of that.