Filament experiences

I have now been 3D printing for about a year, and this post will be a summery of my experiences until now with the different kind of filaments I have been using.

The different types of filament I have tried:

PLA

PLA is probably my favorites, because it does not smell, the warping/shrinking is minimal and you do not need that high a temperature on the bed and nozzle. (I use 70/210). The quality of the PLA brands are different and I had one than cause a lot of trouble (See the list below)

PETG

This is stronger than PLA and almost as easy to print with. You do need to have a higher temperature, and if you do not have an all metal hotend, you are at the temperature limit of what you nozzle can do. (I print at 60/240). I have only tried one single roll of PETG but I use when I need to make something that needs to be strong. (like the CNC i an currently working on)

Flex PLA

I have only tied on flexible filament from hobbyking. It can be a bit difficult to print with. You need to print slow (I used max 20mm/s), and the model should not have too small details. I did also have problems with removing support, but than maybe better using another slicer (this was Cura)

ABS

Abs is a nice material, and if you smooth the model in acetone vapors, you can get a really nice look. Using abs glue can help making the model stick to the bed (acetone and dissolved abs). Warping/shrinking is a problem on bigger models. The smell/vapors do require you have some kind of ventilation, and this is what cause me not to use it that mush.

Metal composite (brass)

This is from hobby king, and it prints ok, I have not printed very mush yet. It tend to clog (probably because of the metal), I think i will try it with a 0.4 nozzle (Almost all my print have been done using a 0.3 nozzle). The result is not as strong as PLA.

 

Note: when switching between different kind of filament (especially when going down in temperature from PETG to PLA), I have experienced problems with the  hotend getting clogged - and I have to disassemble it and clean it. When removing the old filament it is a good idea to do it at lower temperature about 100-120°C . this way when you pull out the old filament you don’t leave anything in the teflon tube.

 

Here it the list of where I have bought my filament. Most of these are danish web shops, but I keep this list here so I can also remember myself when I need to buy more filament.

Hobby king (Shipping 8.95$)

White flex PLA (32$) Print slow, ok  but will try another next time to  have some comparison

Brass ½kg (17$)

3deksperten.dk (Shipping GLS 39kr)

White ABS (150kr) The only ABS i have tried yet - but results are good, but nothing to compare with yet.

Black PLA (150kr) I have printed alot with this - good. (Brand “Prima value”?)

3dstore.dk (Shipping GLS 39kr)

Green PLA (165kr) I have printed alot with this - good.  Not sure what brand it is.

filament23d.dk (Shipping 37kr)

PETG (150kr)

Gold PLA - brand “PM”  (145kr) - I have not had a single successful print with this it keeps clogging in the nozzle. For now I will avoid the “PM” brand

Alfa-tech3d.com (Shipping 50kr)

Black Esun PLA (164,50kr) No problems yet

Blue Esun PLA (164,50kr) No problems yet

light blue Esun PLA (164,50kr) Not used this yet