Printing with PLA pt. 1 of ???

Since mid-November I have been printing with PLA onto a MBI Automatic Build Platform, with the PET film wrapped in blue painters tape. Initially I was just using the same settings as I was when I had been printing with ABS, but here recently I've been making changes and getting better calibration for when I finally get around to finishing the parts for my Imperial Prusa Mendel. This post, and possibly more to follow it are about my casual observations, and is mostly here as notes to myself, and I hope you can find some assistance from my follies!

w/t: Keep mostly the same as with ABS, while PLA can have a much finer thread, a Cupcake is ill equipped to handle it with the platform/carriage system, so don't get carried away.

Ooze: PLA Oozes like you wouldn't believe, makes all kinds of a mess if you let it go.

ABP Belt: See Ooze. The PLA will ooze out of the barrel and glue your nozzle to everything and anything it touches, Kapton, PET, BPT, whatever. It just sticks to it all. Also the belt will 'Curl' as Charles Pax likes to put it, Basically the outside edges of the belt will pull up during builds, though the part will remain securely on the belt most of the time.

ABP: Temperature: 0! You do not need to heat, in fact, I think that due to the way PLA behaves at any temperature above 60C, it's a waste of time since PLA tends to 'Melt all Together'. While this isn't a bad thing, when you are trying to print small parts like pulleys and gears(Like the p1011pull.stl of Spacexula's http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:4711) it WILL have an affect, since you have such a small mass you will have droopies and the gears will 'poof' out.

X-Y Carriage: Bearings are going to be a must from what I can tell. Its hard to see in any of my pictures, but you will if you print something off you will see artifacts of any vibrations, not enough tension in your belt, any slipping, backlash. All of it shows up in your X-Y stages.

Temperatures: When I first started I was just printing at 185C. While this is all fine and dandy, it was too hot, and I was getting inconsistent plastic flow. What I find is 177C to 180C is fairly good.

Infill: On small parts, you need very little infill, to the point its almost scary. On bigger parts, you can actually get MORE infill by raising the temperature slighly and reducing your layer height slightly, the plastic will melt down inside itself, and you will actually be able to get a heavier piece in the same amount of space, so long as you are not interested in the amount of resolution the outside has...

There will undoubtedly be more coming later, however I have work!

Ta!