Review: Polymaker PolyLite PLA
Polymaker PolyLite PLA: A premium quality PLA
Company: Polymaker is not an American company. They are located in Shanghai, China, but they have offices in China, the EU, and the US.
Products: Polymaker is not a one-product wonder. They offer a wide variety of 3D printing materials with just as equal of a variety of colors to meet your needs. I have printed in yellow, orange, and black. This review will be of the Polylite True Orange.
Price: The current price is under $25 on Amazon.
Introduction: To be honest, I have not purchased a whole roll yet, but it is one my list. I received a sample of this filament to try in the sample box in December. I decided to do a little review. I started off with the generic settings on my Prusa MK3S and they never needed adjusting. I printed 3 items with the sample: a swatch, a whistle, and some of my maker coins. I got perfect prints every time.
Color: When I opened the sample box to see the orange, I was mesmerized by the brightness and crispness of the orange. True Orange is a very appropriate color. I like orange but this is truly a bright orange. It is much brighter than the Prusa Orange.
Filament quality: The quality is top-notch. It is not brittle and even though I left it out for 3 weeks without hydration protection, I still got a top-quality print. Uniform diameter.
Ease of use: Polymaker filament is by far and away the easiest to print with filament I've found, very similar to Prusament for ease of use. If you bought a Prusa printer you will love this filament. I used both Prusament and generic PLA settings and both worked well.
Print quality: None of the test prints failed. The surfaces turned out to be smooth and slightly shiny. The orange color came out just as it was on the spool. The color and print consistency are perfect in my book. I printed about 8-10 small prints with the filament. I had zero jams and 100% print success. Zero quality concerns with the filament or prints it produced.
The bottom line: The quality is top-notch and the filament is less brittle than other filaments. The price is great at $25 for 1kg. I strongly recommend Polymaker PolyLite PLA. 5 stars. I hope Polymaker will keep the quality and does not change anything.I would purchase this product in the future. In fact, I have a spool on the way!
A link to the product on Amazon: Polymaker PolyLite Orange PLA
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Chuck H
3D Printer Review Blog
RE: Review: Polymaker PolyLite PLA
I can recommend their PolyLite PETG as well. It comes in interesting colors for PETG. Nice summary, thanks.
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He is intelligent, but not experienced. His pattern indicates two dimensional thinking. -- Spock in Star Trek: The Wrath of Khan
RE: Review: Polymaker PolyLite PLA
@bobstro
I will post a review of several other Polymaker filaments soon.
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Chuck H
3D Printer Review Blog
RE: Review: Polymaker PolyLite PLA
Any requests for filament reviews? I may have the brand.
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Chuck H
3D Printer Review Blog
RE: Review: Polymaker PolyLite PLA
Review of the PolyMax products would be great (PLA, PC, PETG) 🙂
RE: Review: Polymaker PolyLite PLA
@3dprintingscience
Ok. They are next.
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Chuck H
3D Printer Review Blog
RE: Review: Polymaker PolyLite PLA
I am through my second roll of this filament and no jams and 100% successful prints.
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Chuck H
3D Printer Review Blog
RE: Review: Polymaker PolyLite PLA
I was just wondering what your printer settings were? As with my roll of polylite pla I am having warping issues on my freshly assembled MK3S.
RE: Review: Polymaker PolyLite PLA
@cmbanash
I used the standard Prusament PLA. No warping what so ever.
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Chuck H
3D Printer Review Blog
RE: Review: Polymaker PolyLite PLA
@charles-h13
Do you have any tips or things I could do to keep it from warping or lifting up at the edges? I printed the rectangular Prusa logo that came on the SD card and the corners warped and so bad in one case (before a good wipe down of the print bed with IPA) it even fully came off the print surface (texted sheet used).
RE: Review: Polymaker PolyLite PLA
@cmbanash
Yes. To reduce warping:
- Check your Z height - some filaments need it more exact. Never assume it is right when it fails.
- Clean your bed - each filament has a different level sensitivity to coating and dirty on the bed.
- try IPA
- try soap and water
- Scrub with
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Chuck H
3D Printer Review Blog
RE: Prusa Mini Settings for Polymaker Polylite | Profile
After many weeks of trying to find the best settings this is what worked for me
Use the default Generic PLA profile and 20mm quality profile, and modify the following:
NOTE* This is what worked for me. If anyone is having trouble with this filament try these settings.
I printed directly on smooth PEI sheet after cleaning with warm water + soap, drying and then cleaning again with 90% isopropyl alcohol
settings
Thank you for sharing your settings. I will try it and see if it improves quality.
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Chuck H
3D Printer Review Blog
RE: Review: Polymaker PolyLite PLA
I've used the PolyTerra PLA and PolyLite PLA. I found the PolyLite PLA a little finicky, but I liked its color and texture. I had to increase the bed and nozzle temp 220/65 for first layer and 215/60 for the rest in PrSlicr to get good adhesion on the smooth PEI. I do that for all the Poly PLA types, but I found it more necessary on the PolyLite PLA. I also find slowing down the first layer to 15mm helps. I've had some PolyTerra wound nicely and some that is really badly wound; that is.. not a neat layered winding.. but that is unlikely to affect performance. The PolyTerra seems to work well for me with mostly the generic PLA settings. Now they are coming out with PolyTerra PLA+. Maybe they have too many SKUs. Pick a few and stick with them. It's like choosing between 10 different types of toothpaste. I have mixed feelings on the cardboard spools, as I'm in a high humidity environment in the summer. I feel the cardboard will absorb more moisture than the filament so if you are putting them in and out of driers, you will mostly be drying out the cardboard. I'm thinking of making a bunch of desiccant driers and keeping my active spools in those until they are empty.
I've used the PolyLite PETG (about one spool) and really like that.. nice texture and seems easy to print. I can use that about 5F cooler in Nozzle and bed for the 'other layers' setting compared to Prusa PETG .. other than that I use the same settings. I use the rough PEI sheet for all PETG printing and it works super (clean thoroughly when new).
RE: Review: Polymaker PolyLite PLA
Well done. It's the only filament I buy that's not made in the States. And I don't have to rewind the spools into spools that work with the Bambu Labs AMS. Have you done any reviews of Atomic, American Filament and Coex?
RE: Review: Polymaker PolyLite PLA
I'm having a hard time printing PolyTerra on my mk3s+, even after downloading the profile from their website. Too much string, and overhangs look terrible. Can anyone share their Prusa Slicer profile?
RE: Review: Polymaker PolyLite PLA
RE: Review: Polymaker PolyLite PLA
Thank you for sharing! Are these configurations for the Prusa Mini or Mk3s+?