ASA-AERO just SUCKS

ASA-Aero is flat out useless. Tried the profile given by Bambu labs and just have to laugh at how actual useless this filament is. Its a waste of money and should be avoided at all cost. I’ve wasted countless hours trying to get ANYTHING to print with this garbage filament. Cant print with any infill, cant print with any retracts. What good is this filament if you can only run an outline of it? Wish I could get my money back as I feel complexly ripped off by bambu labs on this filament. Not to mention the HOURS wasted in what I feel like I’m a beta tester for their filament now.

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I’m yet to try a full on print, and so far I’ve managed to print a small part for testers.
I’ve come to the conclusion I need to experiment with the profile settings to tweak somethings.

Here’s the small part which I printed with a bed temperature of 95 but showed a need to raise the Bed to 100C, Test infill is at 3% Gyroid / Grid and also tested Monolithic 2 Top and Bottom layers.

This filament is very sensitive draft and although I’ve taped the door while printing, I had 2 failures of small parts. I’ve put it on hold while designing an air scrubber which seems to have reduced the smell to zero or perhaps it’s my old nose not working anymore.

Here’s the part…

I’m not yet at the point where I’m happy for a 5Hr print because I’m yet to find the best cooling for the smallest protrusions to print well without too much cooling of the chamber.
When I get the time to experiment further with profile I’ll try the larger parts…

It’s a broken record but ASA is noted as needing drying before using for prints. Can you give details on how you dry and store the ASA?

“Foaming ASA materials (ASA Aero) have high requirements for material drying and parameter settings. Please carefully read ASA Aero Printing Guide before starting the printing process.”

I don’t know what you do about drying or if you dry, but if you are “drying” and it’s ineffective, you may as well not be drying. High ambient humidity during drying and how filament is stored can both cause problems. With especially hygroscopic filaments, printers need to be on their game.

It may be totally off base with your situation but whenever filament misbehaves - especially badly misbehaves - I look at drying issues since it is such a common cause of problems.

Moisture may not be your issue. Not enough information to say for sure. But it is a common problem for a lot of people. I’ve printed with ASA (not foaming) and for me it prints fine using stock settings. Same for PLA and PETG HF. The stock profiles work great for me unmodified. I know my drying is effective and thorough, though. I use the stock settings set by RFID on everything I print and it works great.

Who are you directing your comments to? or is it just general information you’re giving?

Personally I always dry all my filaments, despite having not mentioned in my reply.

This ASA -Aero test print was straight after 8Hr drying in the oven…

Here too is PLA-LW after drying…

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I have a dryer and had it in there for 48 hours before printing. The issue for me seems to be the part I’m trying to print just chips away as it stacks up. Turns out clumpy. I have tried all the settings, with and without the asa-aero filament config file. The part I have needs to have infill. It cant be a single walled hollow object like the profile makes it out to be. Bottom line the filament is useless.

I dont have any of these issues with any other filaments. For the record, I have 4 printers and about 60 rolls of filament on hand. I’m no rookie but this filament sure make me feel stupid.

I am not sure what PLA-LW is. Are these prints hollow single walled objects or do they have an infill with 2-3 wall layers?

I was directing them at OP since he/she was the one having print issues. Your print looked pretty good and you weren’t really noting big problems.

Unfortunately many assume that following the drying instructions is all you need to do - some number of hours at some temperature. What manufacturers leave out is that’s with special ovens while home filament dryers are really only approximations.

Many don’t know to pay attention to ambient humidity since when it’s high, home filament dryers are generally fairly ineffective and if the filament is already somewhat dry, you can even add moisture on humid days. Think of how clothes can get drenched with sweat on hot humid days but stay dry on very dry days. The humidity slows evaporation and sets a limit on how dry you can get.

You can use a scale to monitor weight before and after drying to know somewhat how you did but you can only trust it as much as you get a big loss since weighing doesn’t tell you starting or ending moisture content - just a difference. The best way to measure filament moisture is in a closed, air tight and impermeable container with a hygrometer. The relative humidity will move to match the level of water in the filament. It’s an indirect measurement.

All of my filament pegs my hygrometers at 10% after drying in my own tests which is the lowest the hygrometers I bought can read, unfortunately. It doesn’t say anything about how dry is dry enough but I get consistently good prints that don’t have water issues using the stock settings.

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It’s Foaming PLA for printing Model Airplanes, can I ask how new are you to 3D printing?

FWIW, I live in Florida (high humidity) and I don’t bother with filament warmers, and instead just use a large food dehydrator. I can effectively dry ABS for 12-24hrs at 165F. I also use PPA-CF, and I dry that in my oven set to 220F. After drying, the prints look SO much better.

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Have you checked your settings are not set to Vase Mode, if not, navigate to Strength> Sparse Infill Density> Set it to 3% Gyroid or Grid and 2 Top and Bottom Monotonic, Bed 100, Flow Ratio 0.6, Nozzle 260.

I live in CA and humidity is not an issue here. Plus I store it in my mancave which is a complexly sealed separated building and the temp is always 72 degrees with no humidity. I run a dehumidifier 24\7 as well in the room. The only openings are a sealed metal door and a skylight. Even tho, Yes I still dry out all my filament before printing. For the high heat one I use the bambu labs enclosure with a box over it like the directions say to do. Left it in there for 48 hours even. No difference with the prints at all. They come out choppy and flaky parts all over the printer cabinet.

How new are you to printing? Just because I never heard of PLA-LW I’m a newbie? I take offense to you asking me that question.

I have a feeling if you put a hygrometer in that room it would not read “0”. I’d bet more like 30% or so with a dehumidifier - which would be pretty good probably if you were printing PLA. Dehumidifiers don’t pull down to 0. You don’t want them to. It can damage anything wood by making it overly dry, shrinking it, loosening furniture and other bits, etc. Plus static electricity starts being a factor below 40% RH. If you aren’t getting shocks then bet your humidity may even be above 40%.

I’d guess that box over the print bed thing is great for basic drying but you are trying to print a pretty hygroscopic filament. With the more water-loving stuff, in light of what you’ve said in your post, I do think it’s just not dry enough.

I wish I have read this before. I made the mistake of buying not one, but 2 spools and now I’m trying to return one and they require the “original shipping box and label” for me to return it. I have the filament box and the second one is sealed, but apparently that’s not enough. Good way to avoid getting their crappy product back.

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ASA AERO, I have lost too may hours trying to get a good print with it, it is just garbage or I got a bad batch. Trust me, I did everything by the book, had it on dryer for over 8 hours straight from packaging, Followed all instructions and parameters from ASA AERO wiki page, did everything that the customer support told me to do, some contradictions here and there about temperatures…not one good print, plain garbage. over $100 in two spools (one still sealed). The filament breaks to easy, like pasta, you cannot even bend it to put in spool small holes. Now, waiting on customer service, they asked me the batch code. I have had zero problems printing the same RC Helicopter parts with other filaments, I saw they claim of 50% less weight so I wanted to try, but is plain GARBAGE!

I did the same, got 2 , do yourself a favor and don’t open and send back for a refund

It is not you, ASA AERO is plain garbage or a real bad batch…I am going rounds with customer service for weeks now, I have lost too many hours with this garbage and not one good print

I am in the same situation, they just asked for the original packing for the spools, not the outer package with the label that come to me. They also said they are going to send the prepaid label once I give them the batch numbers in the boxes. Still waiting…