I’m not new to 3D printing, but I’m also no expert. I tried printing complex structures with PVA supports, but I am yet to have a successful print. I killed two nozzles in the process due to severe clogs, so I desperately need your assistance and wisdom. Please consider sharing your settings and knowledge with the rest of us if you used or are using PVA supports.
I discussed my previous issues in this post PVA Problem. I reduced the print setting for the PVA material significantly, but I was still having the same problems until I encountered a clog.
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I have printed with PVA supports and did not have issues. I dried the filament thoroughly before using in the AMS.
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Could you please share your print settings for PVA as well? Also, isn’t the PVA filament already dry when you receive it with a vacuum sealed bag?
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Hello,
I have printed PVA without problems or clogs but I only use it for support interface I see you lower your first layer speed and yes that will help when using pva on the first layer until slicer is fixed.
What pva are you using ?
I would drop the nozzle temp down and also set the recommended nozzle temp lower you do not want it to be to hot when it changes filament or pva will clog the nozzle unless you are using a pva that can take more heat soak for a longer time like Atlas can go up to 225c for 256 seconds with no flow.
I have used on the bambu;
- Form Futura Atlas Support with PLA & PETG.
- 3dXTech Aquatek x1 USM but I have not used this with PLA as it’s my high temp filaments like ASA.
- I have also used petg for support interface but it depends on the part design.
The photos is what I have used for PLA when using Atlas for the support interface only.
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I’m using Polymaker PolyDissolve S1 as both support interface and the support itself as I have read about problems printing PVA on PLA causes.
I’ve already lowered the nozzle temperature to recommended temperatures and also lowered the max. volumetric speed and tweaked the flow rate. I use Polylite PLA together with the PVA support. You can see my PLA settings below:
Do you have any temperature suggestions? I have seen PVA flow during nozzle wipe, which then freezes and shatters all over the printing area, but the most typical printing fault I see is a lack of adhesion or spaghettis on the support, which the nozzle then collides with.
I used the Generic PVA preset, and specified interfaces only. Yes, you need to dry the filament even if new from vacuum packed bag. That you had the filament shatter, etc., tells me it’s not dry enough. The filament I used was AquaSys GP, which I suppose is not pure PVA but has some additives.
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Double check your filament is dry.
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Change your PolyDissolve S1 PVA settings:
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Set the PVA Flow to 0.95 = less nozzle pressure.
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Set PVA Nozzle to 220
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Set the Recommend max nozzle temp to 220 you want this low for filament changes.
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Set the PVA filament override setting on the wipe distance to 0.5
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You might have to bump your support line width to 0.45 for both PVA support and interface.
I use pla support base and pva support interface with out any problems see if your filaments with work happy together.
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Thank a lot for the suggestions. I’m currently waiting for the delivery of the new nozzles and as soon as I receive them, I will try these settings and give feedback.
Maybe the following helps:
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For PLA support I only use Bambu Support W (its also currently in stock again)
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For PETG Support I use either PLA as support or Verbatim BVOH (but be careful: Do not use this for base support, only as support interface! It has very bad bed adhesion, so in the support settings, you choose your main material as “base” and BVOH as support interface / this setting should be used anyway in any case). The flush from any support to PETG should always be set at least to 700 to avoid contanimation of the PETG by supprot material. From PETG to support you can set the flush to 250 (which is fully enough)
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For Fiber Nylon etc. you can use ASA as support. There is also an intersted post here:
ASA as support for PAHT-CF Fiber Nylon
I hope that helps.
I know it’s been a month but this topic has people specifically chatting about Polymaker Dissolve S1 which is what I’m trying to use right now. I want to use it as a floating support and need it for the base / underside of several objects.
I have a Wham PEX sheet and haven’t had issues with ANYTHING sticking to it but I can’t get this to adhere for the life of me.
220C/60C
Tried 15/12/6/2 Max volumetric speed
Flow ratio 0.95
no Pressure advance
no cooling for the first layer (which is fine for now cause I can’t get past that)
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Hello cyrus104,
Try setting the PVA flow ratio to 1 and set both first layer speeds to 20 & 20 and first layer acceleration to 250mm/s also you can try some Elmer’s extra strength craft bond glue.
keep us updated 
Right before you sent this, I made one more attempt by using some Magigoo the basic for PLA,ASA, ABS, PETG, etc. and the part stuck and looks ok. I’m just printing a benchy as a test, I don’t expect to make full models out of it but figure it would be a good test. If I was going to refine it I would try to fix the front bow section, it doesn’t look great.
Might try it again with flow set to 1 but .98 looks pretty good. Is there a way to set the layer speed and acceleration for the filament versus the full print?
Yes but it takes custom g code and edits but you can save like a custom process profile when you need them slow settings for only the bottom base layers with PVA so it would only be slow for the first layer speeds.
I think this might also work for you if you set the S1 PVA filament volumetric speed to like 2.74 range
you want the bottom base layers and interface layers with PVA to be around 20 to 30mm’s the max is 40mm/s for most PVA filaments.
You can use a flow calculation to get your volumetric setting for the layer height and extrusion width.
Sample: First layer if we wanted to cap the speed say @ 30mm/s but the 0.42 interface support layers would be @ 36.3mm/s speed.
First time I seen a 3dbenchy in S1 
Even with the WhamBam I will use glue sometimes but my favorite is the NANO POLYMER ADHESIVE
Also you are turning off flow calibration before you print correct ?
To help with the 3dbenchy rotate it and move it closer to the aux fan with the bow pointing to it and set the aux fan to say maybe 30% or 50% the bow needs more cooling with most filaments.
Happy 3D Printing
@3DTech
I got somes questions for you. I’m trying to print some ABS part with the aquatek X1 USM, but it doesnt stick to the ABS. Did you have any issues with it ? What is your parameters that you used ?
Hi Ory,
This is what I use for ASA as my base line settings.
But sometime I will tweak my settings for the part.
This is Orca Slicer 1.6.3 Beta this is why you see support interface fan speed setting.
Also I just did a big & long part on the Bambu X1 today with no problems 2 interface layers & support interface speed 30 mm/s
This is just two of the support interface layers I just peeled off the part 
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Thank you for the quick answer. I will try it tonignt !
HI @3DTech !
Thank you for the tip. I can finally print with the USM. HOWEVER, hahaha, i got another issue.
Whenever I print using a support material, the material layer that is on the same plane of the support layer(IMAGE 3), have always the tendency to snap ( the layers wont fuse well together). I understand the concept behind this issue (the layer is cooling between the purging of the materials, etc). I was wondering if you knew a quick tip
I’ve had this problem with quite a few support combinations and unfortunately it is a difficult one. It’s why PLA and PETG don’t actually work as support materials for each other for engineering-grade parts. I had enough problems with PVA that I didn’t get to revisiting it yet (the brand I used suffered from snapping in the AMS when it was too dry, and the usual jam due to flexibility when it was too wet, so it was quite a pain). Other tips I’ll reiterate for everyone, drying, drying parameters, and brand all make a huge difference, and most PVAs won’t print with the same settings as another. I did not need retraction to get my PVA to print; my suspicion is that is far more important if your PVA is not quite fully dry yet (because the adsorbed moisture will bubble up inside the extruder, causing defects if you don’t retract more than default)
Anyway, Re: part strength, you need to turn up your flush volume, possibly all the way to the max that the slicer supports (999mm^3). See if that fixes it. If not, then someone needs to ask Bambu to support larger flush volumes, which an issue I ran into earlier with certain material combinations - they were so sensitive to cross contamination you really had to flush a ton of material to solve the problem.
Incidentally this is one of the big reasons PVA is most commonly used only on IDEX printers
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Need to have the flushing volumes adjusted correctly and both filaments must be super dry or you will get weak layers.
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