So I have some cheap filament but I have heard that higher quality will actually give better prints, is that true? Also what are some good websites to get filament from I dont mind spending extra as long as it will be worth it.
Hey @3dprintss , feel free to browse the Filament community to see what other users use for their prints. Cheers
SOC3D
May 16, 2016, 3:43pm
3
Filament quality can be related to cost. Especially in the sub $20 per kg roll. A lot of mid-range filaments print with very similar results but at very different print settings. This makes changing filament brands often a bit more difficult.
Ok, I am looking to make a transition to one company so I can do all the fine tuning once, do you have any recommendations, I just ordered a spool from matterhackers, is there any other place that would do better?
That statement can be true for some manufacturers but not true for all. In the price you pay you have to think about a few points, a large point being location of manufacturer, I’m in the US so ColorFabb and other European companies charge an arm and a leg just to ship compared to local manufacturers. You also have to think of how large the company is, larger companies may tend to produce more filament at a lower cost where as younger, smaller companies may produce less filament at a high cost. Larger producers also may be about quantity and not quality or may have more experience with producing filament to have better quality.
Something else I have discovered, in the US at least, is that most brands are produced my the same manufacturer and just branded different. For cheap proto-types I tend to use Inland Filament at MicroCenter because I have one 5 minutes down the street from me and its hard to beat $14.99 a spool and even sometimes $4.99. With these though being so cheap I have only bought a handful of terrible spools and for the price it a risk I am willing to take.
In the US I like to use MakerGeeks for the basic filaments and Proto-Pasta for exotics. To make sure I don’t sink a lot of money in subpar filament I buy a couple samples in a few different colors and plastic types that way they are not all form the same batch.
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That sounds great I will look more into those cites, and actually my first few rolls of filament were from microcenter but when I went to get some pla whatever I got had inconsistent diameter and that jammed my printer which was very hard to fix due to the odd head design, so right now paying more to avoid breaking the head is totally worth it to me. but thanks a million for all the info!!
SOC3D
May 16, 2016, 5:49pm
7
Amazon sells a variety of filaments. Shipping should be fairly quick and cheap to you! Something to look for is the tolerance of the filament. Hatchbox lists +/-.05mm to +/-.03mm and is cheaper than a lot of filament that goes for 2x the cost with tolerances in the .08 range. 3D hubs has some partners thay offer discounts to hubs: Talk Manufacturing | Hubs
That’s interesting that you say that about the PLA because that’s the only Inland filament I have had a problem with.
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I will go through and check all that out!
