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There could be several reasons for grinding material, but specifically for PVA incorrect handling or storage of the material
can lead to grinding. PVA should be printed and stored at a low humidity to avoid problems while printing. We advise
a humidity below 50% for storage and below 55% while printing. It is also recommended to keep the environmental
temperature below 28 °C while printing. In a standard air conditioned office room this humidity and temperature should be
easy to reach.
When PVA is ground down by the feeder, there are three main causes.
Incorrect storage
PVA is a material that absorbs moisture relatively easily and therefore storing it correctly (resealable bag, humidity below
50%) is important. If PVA absorbs too much moisture it will get soft and malleable/pliable and in some cases even sticky.
This can cause problems in the feeder as it might not be able to forward the PVA properly anymore.
Coated bowden tube
The bowden tube can get coated on the inside due to incorrect printing conditions (mainly a too high humidity). If the
humidity of the printing environment is too high (above 55%) and temperature is too high (above 28 °C) PVA might not be
able to move easily through the bowden tube. A solution for this is to clean the bowden tube and dry it very well.
Clogged print core
Due to a too high humidity PVA can lose quality over time and lead to clogs in the print core. As a consequence filament
might not be forwarded anymore, causing grinding in the feeder. When this happens, the print core should be cleaned by
following the procedure described on page 46 and 47.
For more information on how to resolve grinding issues, you can take a look at this page.
Grinding PVA
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