What brand of filament does everyone recommend?  

RE: What brand of filament does everyone recommend?

Posted by: @mpothmann

My two favorite filaments at the moment:

Polymaker PA6-CF (left) and Eryone matte black PLA (right). One for technical prints, one for standard stuff.

Another good Nylon is the CARBONX HTN+CF - High temp nylon with carbon fiber by 3DxTech.  It is not cheap but this stuff is tough.  

RE:

Posted by: @cwbullet

 

Another good Nylon is the CARBONX HTN+CF - High temp nylon with carbon fiber by 3DxTech.  It is not cheap but this stuff is tough.  

Looks good as well.

CarbonX HTN+CF datasheet says 87 MPa tensile strength and 8200 MPa tensile modulus vs. Polymaker 105 MPa (dry), 81.72 ± 6.0 MPa (moistured) and 7453 ± 656 MPa tensile modulus, bot tested according to ISO 527.

Both are really great materials, although I haven't tested CarbonX yet since it's very expensive in EU at 105€ for 500g vs. 55€ for 500g of Polymaker PA6-CF. About double the price.

Polymaker gives a lot of material specs in the datasheet, so it's awesome to design and calculate mechanical parts with. https://cdn.webshopapp.com/shops/296832/files/318384333/polymaker-polymide-pa6-cf-tds-v4.pdf

RE: What brand of filament does everyone recommend?

I tried GEEETECH it once and I liked it. In fact, I am of the opinion that all brands are about the same. There is nothing on the market that is as impractical as possible. Unless you buy them in the gateway) The easiest way is to look at reviews on Amazon. People there always write a lot of reviews.

RE: What brand of filament does everyone recommend?

I have printed with the new Overture and Duramic PETG white.  Similar paper spools that are recyclable, but the filaments are clearly different.   

RE: What brand of filament does everyone recommend?

I tried posting a summary of this in a more relevant thread, but it errored out when I tried to submit it.  I'll copy my text to be sure on this one before I submit it.

On my other printer, when I use soluble support material, I've always used the genuine name-brand Ultimaker PVA.  I installed a spool of this around the first of the year and it lasted until about two weeks ago, and never showed stringing or other signs of moisture contamination.

When it started running low, I ordered the Dynamism (house brand for a well-known Ultimaker dealer) as it was not as expensive as the Ultimaker brand.  About two weeks ago I installed this, ran a print, and it behaved as expected.

About an hour ago I had two prints to do, both which require support material.  The first is running now, but the PVA is quite stringy.

It does appear to be laying down properly, so I'll let this print continue, but after it completes, the spool is going into the Ninja Cooker for several hours on dehydrate before I run the second print.

Just a heads up that for PVA, the ambient moisture contamination is significantly worse on the Dynamism house brand than it is with the Ultimaker name brand.

RE: What brand of filament does everyone recommend?

Another surprise with MG Chemicals filaments, and a heads-up for anyone who needs it.

With the current print I'm running, I just noticed that the spool of white ABS is running low, so time to re-order.

Amazon currently has MG Chemicals, with which I've had good luck, ABS white for US $14 and change.

$14 and change to the door is unheard of.

RE: What brand of filament does everyone recommend?

I had lots of great prints with Hatchbox as well, totally agree.

RE: What brand of filament does everyone recommend?

Just ran a test roll of 100% recycled PETG from GreenGate 3D. Had heard less than glowing reports on early recycled filament but had a chance to get a roll shipped to us. Got to say I'm impressed. A little more flexible on the printed parts but just as strong ultimately as our stuff from Atomic. Pints just a little cooler at 240 / 80 to get best results for us. 1.73 to 1.75 diameter on the roll we have. I was impressed enough we may switch suppliers I just have to see if his tan color is a close enough match to skin tone for us here. Also gives a veterans discount! Free USA shipping over a certain amount I believe. If you want to go recycled this seems a good bet.

RE:

From Canada, Prusament is too expensive.. ranging from $45-$60/roll.. For PLA I now use Eryone's PLA and it works well for me. I've also used PolyTerra from Polymaker. It has a matte finish and isn't the strongest. Nice finish if you need matte.. but I prefer the Polymaker PolyLite PLA and next, their PolyTerra plus.  For PETG, I liked PolyMaker's PETG, but now exclusively use Eryone's PETG with Prusa's rough sheet and it works superb. In Canada, Eryone has had a bunch of sales and often their spools are as low as $20 CDN.

RE: What brand of filament does everyone recommend?

My "GO TOs" are PLA and PETG. That being said, I'm a bit of a Prusa snob. 

1. My favorite PLA is the Prusa Silver PLA filament 1kg
   1. It prints cleanly and looks great.
   2. I've never had a nozzle clog with it.
   3. It doesn't have any of the sparkle inside the filament like the Prusament does. It is a superior filament. I've bought, printed a lot with it, and have more than a few spools stored.
   4. It is manufactured for Prusa Research at their specs, so it's cheaper than Prusament.
2. My favorite PETG is Prusament PETG. In fact, it is the only PETG I've printed with. Prints perfect every single time. Yes, it costs more, but you get what you pay for. 
3. Second favorite PLA is Jessie Premium PLA (Tan).
   1. Easy to print, never clogs.
   2. I've printed a lot with it, and it is consistent.
   3. Prusa Research bought them, so I look forward to buying my Prusa PLA from them with greatly reduced shipping (so far, no changes to their website, unfortunately).
4. Runner Up: Hatch Box Bronze Silk. It really looks good and prints out great. Though it does mark up the build plates a bit. I bought it on Amazon, probably would do that again as the boxes were pretty beat up. Great looking prints, though; see these.

Much like everyone else, I've tried more than a few others. But for me, it always comes back to the consistency of print and color.

That being said, I keep all of my filament in sealed plastic containers with desiccant. I don't open the filament boxes/bags until I'm ready to put them in the dryers. I run the dryers on a new spool for an hour or so before starting a print. I try hard to use up a spool rather than rebagging it (2 gallon Ziploc bags). I use multiple dryers with my printers (each EIBOS holds two spools). My favorites are the EIBOS filament dryer. It will drop the humidity down to 10% in a few hours of running. Dry filament is one of the keys to success in a good print (that and a clean build plate - wash it with Dawn dish soap, then don't touch it!) Even when the dryers aren't running the humidity stays at about 32% (this is in Houston, Texas where in the summer, the humidity runs around 95%. My home is air-conditioned, so the humidity is dropped down to between 45% and 50%.)

Jessie Premium PLA

Prusa Silver PLA filament 1kg (Space Port)

Prusament Galaxy Silver (Dragon's Rest)

Hatch Box Bronze Silk (Galindos and Electrical Grid Series)

RE:

My favorite PLA is the Prusa Silver PLA filament 1kg

A good second-source for this, particularly for those in the US or the UK, are the FilamentPM on-line stores.  The total cost to the door from Prusa to the US for a single spool of filament ends up being quite expensive.

I swear this is the exact same stuff as shipped with the kits.  A couple of years ago the FilamentPM UK site said it was produced by Prusa, but the US site said it came from the Czech Republic but did not specifically name Prusa.

I consider this to be the gold standard for how a filament should behave and print on the Prusa I3 series.

RE: What brand of filament does everyone recommend?

You may be right! I'll order a few and check them out. Thank you!

Posted by: @jsw

My favorite PLA is the Prusa Silver PLA filament 1kg

A good second-source for this, particularly for those in the US or the UK, are the FilamentPM on-line stores.  The total cost to the door from Prusa to the US for a single spool of filament ends up being quite expensive.

I swear this is the exact same stuff as shipped with the kits.  A couple of years ago the FilamentPM UK site said it was produced by Prusa, but the US site said it came from the Czech Republic but did not specifically name Prusa.

I consider this to be the gold standard for how a filament should behave and print on the Prusa I3 series.

RE: What brand of filament does everyone recommend?

Yes! @jsw, you were right. From their website: https://www.filament-pm.com/stranka/about-us-26  

Since then, we are a verified manufacturer of filaments for PRUSA Manufacturing a.s.

Just as we were concluding the contract with Prusa, in 2014, we bought the 2nd production line.At the turn of the year 2016/2017, Filament PM moved to a larger site and bought two more production lines.In 2018, another two production lines were purchased.In 2019, the purchase of the 7th production line, and finally in 2020, the 8th production line was ordered. We should receive this line in December this year.

Our Reach

We have distributors in about 25 countries, and we are still working to expand our distribution network. Our goal is to spread all over the UK, US, and Asia.Over the past couple of years, we have steadily gained distributors all over Europe.

2017 - Exclusive German distributor SchmelzBar.2019 - Opening a US warehouse and US Amazon.2020 - We are preparing a UK eshop.

RE: What brand of filament does everyone recommend?

Thanks.

So it then appears that FilamentPM is not a second-source, but the primary source of the sample filament that comes with the Prusa printers.

Good find!

RE: What brand of filament does everyone recommend?

I just ordered 10 spools from FilamentPM. Free shipping on UPS! That will save more than a few bucks! Not to mention the banging around DHL give the packages.

Good stuff! 

I like the FilamentPM the best of all the filaments I've used. Without Prusa's mark-up and no shipping, that brings the price in line with Jessie filament from Printed Solid. I'm curious to see if anything looks different. We shall see.

RISPONDI: What brand of filament does everyone recommend?

Posted by: @robertusmaximus

I just ordered 10 spools from FilamentPM. Free shipping on UPS! That will save more than a few bucks! Not to mention the banging around DHL give the packages.

Good stuff! 

I like the FilamentPM the best of all the filaments I've used. Without Prusa's mark-up and no shipping, that brings the price in line with Jessie filament from Printed Solid. I'm curious to see if anything looks different. We shall see.

I also like the FilamentPM. It is the best.

RE:

Posted by: @bobstro

Best value will depend on where you live. In the US, Inland is decent and readily available if you live near a Microcenter. If not, it's available from them online and also on Amazon. AmazonBasics/Overture are OK and have been on sale recently. eSun, Paramount and 3D Solutech are good. I prefer to support companies that actually support the 3D printing community unlike the Amazon behemoth, so like to buy from MatterHackers,  PrintedSolid and FilamentOne (resellers) as well as AtomicFilament and others (manufacturers) that offer competitive free shipping. MatterHackers manages to beat Amazon for deliver time with free shipping. So long as you avoid the really cheap no-name stuff, it's unusual to get really bad filament these days.

+1 for Inland if you have access to a MicroCenter. I used their PLA+ and PETG when I began printing, and now they have a PETG+ as well. eSun served me well during the pandemic when MicroCenter wasn't stocking filament due to supply issues out of Wuhan.

That being said, I'm looking to branch out into flexible filament, wood, and carbon fiber now that I have a Nozzle X. Has anyone used the Inland brand filament for those, or should I go with some of the more common recommendations I've seen like NinjaFlex?

RE: What brand of filament does everyone recommend?

scrooling thru this thread, forgive necro

I just discovred the paramount brand, but oddly, because rated so poorly for their white.

for whatever reason is has hardly any pigment, makes an unappealing waxy like finish.

Which, Makes it hands down, by far, THE BEST lithopane filament.  I'd like a hint less yellow,   but you can run a litho from 0.6~7.0   huge dynamic range

Posted by: @cwbullet

@kenraysr

I would recommend Paramount PLA if you looking for a PLA.  I am printing a spool of Iron Red PLA as I type.  

RE: What brand of filament does everyone recommend?

I've had good luck with Paramount, but I can't remember using their white.  Thanks for the warning.

Esolutech white obviously has less pigment, almost translucent.  One spool and I've avoided it since.

RE: What brand of filament does everyone recommend?

Thanks for the tip, I'll get a roll ordered and check the color