Newbie filament recommendations  

Buy a couple of spools of good quality PLA - Prusament is excellent, one good quality PETG, and a selection of the cheapest generic filament you can find.

Get a dryer; a food dehydrator is good and has a second use.

Use the good filament for fine products and as a check when you have difficulties that might be filament related.  Use the cheap filament for tests, experiments and prototypes. You will learn more, faster, and get into more difficulties with the generic filament and in consequence your results with the good stuff will improve.

Cheerio,

RE: Newbie filament recommendations

As @diem said, start with PLA and PETG and get some prints under your belt.  Understand that some materials may be superior to others for your particular purpose.  PLA is a pretty good all purpose material, but doesn't handle heat well and isn't good for outdoor use.  PETG has higher temperature resistance, but doesn't glue up as well as PLA.  A good place to start is Prusa's material guide:

https://www.help.prusa3d.com/en/category/material-guide_220

For quick reference they've put it in tabular form:

https://www.help.prusa3d.com/en/materials

Be assured, you will have prints fail, we all do, it comes with the territory.  Pay particular attention to your first layer, we'll help.  When doing your first layer, when you think you've got it, take 2 photos, a photo of the full bed and a closeup of the little rectangle at the end.  A good first layer will save you a lot of headaches.

Cheers

-Bob

RE: Newbie filament recommendations

Thanks @diem and @Bob. I did a bit of research a few years ago, and then.. life.. I cant believe how much has changed. Though seriously looking forward to learning more. Promised myself to build the printer first before ordering everything I can find online!

Cheers

RE: Newbie filament recommendations

It's gotten sooo much better.  I bought my MK2 back in 2017 and no sooner than I got it built the Mk3 was released.  I missed it by  that >< much.  Anywho I've since updated to the Mk2.5s.  Even still the XL is going to change the game when that's finally out.

Cheers

-Bob

RE: Newbie filament recommendations

All good suggestions were already mentioned. And I will emphasize again: don't forget food dehydrator for drying filaments!

I also agree on using PLA and PETG as a starting filaments, as both types are easy to print -that is, you should get results as expected. Just a short insight into each filament:

PLA
Pluses: Is the cheapest among all filaments, it exists in many colors, is very easy to print with very good results, filament absorbs moisture very slowly (you don't need to dry it that often), printed object can be easy glued in case it breaks, is quite rigid (which can be a plus sometimes), can be easily painted,...
Minuses: is not temperature resistant (printed object will deform above ~45°C if some force is applied), is not UV resistant (it will change color over the time in sunlight),...
Sumary: Mostly meant for indoor use (not for in-car parts, because it will soften on hot summer days). Normal PEI print sheet should be used for best print bed adhesion.

PETG
Pluses: Has higher temperature resistance than PLA (printed object will start to deform above ~65°C if some force is applied), is "softer" than PLA (so it doesn't break easily),...
Minuses: is not UV resistant, absorbs moisture much faster than PLA, not easy to glue, not easy to paint (some coating should be applied first),...
Summary: because of it's properties, it's very "universal" filament (indoor & outdoor use). It's highly recommended to use textured print sheet for best print bed adhesion. Btw. all printed parts of your printer are made by PETG (except fan shroud around print nozzle).

RE: Newbie filament recommendations

Yes Sir, the XL is going to be, IMHO, an industry game changer. I was quick to prepay for that. I think the price point may keep it out of the hands of many, which is unfortunate. With time though I think (hope) it will become more accessible to everyone in the hobby.

Posted by: @bob-2

It's gotten sooo much better.  I bought my MK2 back in 2017 and no sooner than I got it built the Mk3 was released.  I missed it by  that >< much.  Anywho I've since updated to the Mk2.5s.  Even still the XL is going to change the game when that's finally out.

Cheers

-Bob

RE: Newbie filament recommendations

Although I cannot say I have experience yet (my mk3s+ should be arriving this or the next week) I investigated pretty much all areas, including filament.

I came across this:

It's funny, very thorough and seems very accurate from what I know and understand. Have fun!

I also advise to start with PLA and just start printing with it. It's probably the easiest to print and cheap. It's pretty much the go-to for a friend of mine who is an experienced printer.

RE: Newbie filament recommendations

Thanks all.

Took 12.5 hours to assemble (I was streaming it and chatting with friends and tried to take my time and enjoy it.. Which I did).
BUT it's all done! I had an issue with the y Axis on the first tests, but turned out I had the motor gear a bit to close to the motor, and was a quick fix and it pretty much printed "out the box" once I had calibrated the Z axis (at least I think its right!!! still playing).

Will be ordering some more PLA and PETG as recommended by you all.

Thanks so much again!

RE: Newbie filament recommendations

I'm relatively new here and have been posting similar questions a while ago. I bought a lot of Prusament (PLA and PETG) and recently started buying Fiberlogy (EasyPLA and EasyPETG), which I've been very happy with. The quality is the same (or slightly better), the pricing is very good, and you can buy refills to use on MasterSpools. Importantly, there is a good choice of colors, while Prusament is very often out of stock.

RE: Newbie filament recommendations

I've had good luck with most major brands of filament (Hatchbox, Overture, Paramount, etc.) and some off-brands such as IEMAI and Amazon Basics.

Since the pandemic hit, it seems like supplies are spotty at times, and I've often times taken whatever brand was available.

I haven't seen one yet, in PLA, ABS, or PETg that the I3 would not print decently.  With rare exception, they print fine with the PrusaSlicer defaults for generic PLA/ABS/PETg.  The only one I can think of right off hand that needs some tweaking are the metallic silk filaments from Mika3d, and they just need a slight bump in nozzle temperature to avoid an occasional jam.

RE:

I purchased 2 cases of gst3d filament and so far I'm thrilled with it.  It's comparable with most other PLA filaments, but if you're willing to buy in bulk you can get it for $9.99 roll.

https://gst3d.com/

I have no affiliation with gst3d, just a satisfied customer.

Cheers

-Bob

RE: Newbie filament recommendations

Posted by: @bob-2

I purchased 2 cases of gst3d filament and so far I'm thrilled with it.  It's comparable with most other PLA filaments, but if you're willing to buy in bulk you can get it for $9.99 roll.

https://gst3d.com/

I have no affiliation with gst3d, just a satisfied customer.

Cheers

-Bob

Thank you.

I've ordered several filament brands due to positive recommendations here.

RE: Newbie filament recommendations

Below are prints I made with gst3d filament, these are gift card boxes I printed for Christmas.  The blue, green, and red are gst3d, the brown and glow in the dark are other brands.

Cheers

-Bob

RE:

I have used GST3d and lllDMAX.  https://llldmax.com/

Used to be the same company, but not anymore I guess.  More colors with iiidmax and quality control seems to be better based on facebook posts.  I like them both to be honest.  Currently iiiDMaxx is running 10 rolls for $109 with free shipping.