I’ve been using Verbatim PLA now for quite a while, with great results. However, lately I have been finding sections of filament that are extremely brittle. Without exaggerating, it is about like uncooked spaghetti. I have actually had filament spontaneously break in several places within the guide tube while the printer sat unused for a few weeks.
And I say “sections” of filament, because an entire roll won’t be bad, it remains flexible and pliable in some sections, and then suddenly I will encounter a brittle section. So far I think all of the affected filament has been black, and from the lot number “PKB-385-AC”. At first I thought it might have been from UV exposure (the printer is near a window), so I took a section of filament off of one affected roll, verified it was pliable, and then set it in the windowsill. After several weeks in the sun, the sample remained pliable.
I have contacted Verbatim THREE TIMES now and have not received even an acknowledgement of the problem. Generally I have had great success with this filament, and would like to continue using it, but I would like to find out what’s going on and see if anyone else is experiencing it. I am also using other colors of the same filament and to date I have not found any that is brittle.