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Topic: filament reviews

Can we get a sticky for filament reviews somewhere?  I feel like they are scattered and with all of the options available I would like one place to go to see reviews by users. 


Thoughts? ideas?

SD2 with E3D, SD Press, Form 1+
Filastruder
NYLON (taulman): http://www.soliforum.com/topic/466/nylon/

2

Re: filament reviews

It seems like they are all hit or miss, even solidoodle got a bad batch of black that came through.  I've used Octave with success but have seen some bad reviews of them.

3

Re: filament reviews

I purchased a spool of the Natural from Solidoodle with my printer which has worked great.  Last week I received a shipment of filaments from Octave based on the fact that I saw someone somewhere say something good about them and they were cheap ($32 USD/$35 for Glow in the dark).  They give free shipping on orders of 3+ rolls.  So I purchased their pink, glow in the dark blue, and regular glow in the dark.

I've used a little bit of the pink but currently have the glow in the dark blue going.  The diameter of the filament has been pretty good so far (I have slic3r set at 1.74), but realize now that I should really be doing measurements before each print until I am comfortable with the spool. I have been printing with the extruder at 190 and bed at 90 without issue.

I would like to get some base colors now, like white, black, and red.  I see that octave sells 2 different blacks and whites, their standards ABS and their new 3DD ABS.  Does anyone have experience with these or know what the difference is?

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Re: filament reviews

nickythegreek wrote:

I purchased a spool of the Natural from Solidoodle with my printer which has worked great.  Last week I received a shipment of filaments from Octave based on the fact that I saw someone somewhere say something good about them and they were cheap ($32 USD/$35 for Glow in the dark).  They give free shipping on orders of 3+ rolls.  So I purchased their pink, glow in the dark blue, and regular glow in the dark.

I've used a little bit of the pink but currently have the glow in the dark blue going.  The diameter of the filament has been pretty good so far (I have slic3r set at 1.74), but realize now that I should really be doing measurements before each print until I am comfortable with the spool. I have been printing with the extruder at 190 and bed at 90 without issue.

I would like to get some base colors now, like white, black, and red.  I see that octave sells 2 different blacks and whites, their standards ABS and their new 3DD ABS.  Does anyone have experience with these or know what the difference is?


This is why we need that thread...

SD2 with E3D, SD Press, Form 1+
Filastruder
NYLON (taulman): http://www.soliforum.com/topic/466/nylon/

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Re: filament reviews

If we gather up enough reviews/info in this thread, or if you can post links to the other threads then I will compile it all on the wiki.

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Re: filament reviews

I've purchased six spools of various ABS from repraper.com in preparation for my Solidoodle 3.

I got the package much sooner than I expected (from China) and it's all wrapped in cling-wrap, spools stuffed with silica gel packets, and sealed in bags. 

The shipping is very pricey but even  so with their cheap item prices I have yet to find a cheaper source. 

Upon visual inspection with the naked eye I'd say the filament looks rather consistent but I'll have to wait until I get some calipers for a more precise evaluation.   

Once I get my Solidoodle 3 I'll do a more complete review on each color as I use them.


http://image.bayimg.com/c701ad914fa8f504b32de5463474e5be090890ff.jpg

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Re: filament reviews

I bought 1KG of 'natural' color 1.75mm ABS filament from RainBot3D on ebay. $33 shipped, and on inspection it seems to have no bubbles or foreign matter, but I haven't used it yet. I will update when I get my printer. I can say he was very accomodating, and for $5 shipping I recieved it in 3 days. It was $28 before shipping, Good deal I think.

I edit my posts a lot.

8 (edited by jooshs 2013-02-13 16:20:45)

Re: filament reviews

Puck wrote:

I've purchased six spools of various ABS from repraper.com in preparation for my Solidoodle 3.

I got the package much sooner than I expected (from China) and it's all wrapped in cling-wrap, spools stuffed with silica gel packets, and sealed in bags. 

The shipping is very pricey but even  so with their cheap item prices I have yet to find a cheaper source. 

Upon visual inspection with the naked eye I'd say the filament looks rather consistent but I'll have to wait until I get some calipers for a more precise evaluation.   

Once I get my Solidoodle 3 I'll do a more complete review on each color as I use them.


http://image.bayimg.com/c701ad914fa8f504b32de5463474e5be090890ff.jpg

Be very careful to inspect this filament before use. It has received many complaints on quality and foreign objects in the filament. My impression is it is a crapshoot and some is a great deal and some is simply unusable and will clog your extruder.

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Re: filament reviews

jooshs wrote:

Be very careful to inspect this filament before use. It has received many complaints on quality and foreign objects in the filament. My impression is it is a crapshoot and some is a great deal and some is simply unusable and will clog your extruder.

So far I've used quite a bit of the grey, black, and gold. The gold looks more light brown but otherwise it has all performed very well. I did have to print at 205c with the black though.  I haven't had any problems of clogging, foaming, or anything so far.  I still haven't tried the clear yet though.

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Re: filament reviews

2 of the 2 rolls I've had with Octave have been bad.

I went through several dozen meters of the black octave before I thought to try another brand, and saw what good filament was. That black stuff would not bond and extruded far above typical temperatures.

I then went through 1kg of white zentoolworks filament; it was superb.

I then went through about 3lbs of my 10lbs roll of AcmePlastic filament,, it was super. It's in the furnace room at home in massachusetts (very dry) and I look forward to getting back to it.

I used another 1kg of Octave White, and I ignored the problems for ages.  I thought it was a problem in my system. I've finally got a new filament in and realized it's indeed a fault of the filament at least in part. It needs 210C (240C) real to extrude, and cakes to a gray very very quickly. I also sometimes see black flakes. Wth? 


Struggles! I am doing alright with a $39 roll from Inventables, but it's still early to say for sure.

11 (edited by Schieggster 2013-03-21 15:06:52)

Re: filament reviews

Vendor: Octave
Color(s): White, Grey
Cost: $33/roll
Diameter: 1.75mm
Print Temp (c): 195
Pros: Fast Shipping when ordered direct from octave,
Cons: Tightly wound, the filament will try to set its self free if you let go of the loose end.

Feel free to make changes or get rid of it.

Edit: Made changes to the Format, I'll update as needed.

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Re: filament reviews

Change manufacturer to something like Supplier.  Unfortunately you can't be sure who the manufacturer is much of the time.  You might be comparing filament from two different vendors that actually come from the same factory.  If the spools look the same they might be from the same factory, or the factories might order from the same spool supplier.

Something that might be useful for a review is a temperature test.  As you turn the temp down while extruding into air, at some point the gear marks will still be visible in the extruded plastic.  You could check to see what temperature that happens at, and compare it to other filaments.

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Re: filament reviews

SainSmart 1.75mm ABS Filament  Blue, very shiny flow is good, needed to put cat whiskers on the reel to keep it from unspooling on me.  amazon . I ordered it on Tuesday and on wednesday is came. A dark black SUV delivered it. It is kept in stock near indianapolis. Still not as good as my filastuder makes

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Re: filament reviews

2013-03-21 11:41:39




SainSmart 1.75mm ABS Filament  Blue, very shiny flow is good, needed to put cat whiskers on the reel to keep it from unspooling on me.  amazon . I ordered it on Tuesday and on wednesday is came. A dark black SUV delivered it. It is kept in stock near indianapolis. Still not as good as my filastuder makes
Additional issues with the SainSmart filament include contaminants, poor spooling that requires constant watching to keep print going. The filament locks up after a few coils. Really sucks.........Many ruined prints, cant leave it alone for more than a few minutes.

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Re: filament reviews

supraflyer wrote:

SainSmart 1.75mm ABS Filament ..... Still not as good as my filastuder makes

Wow! That's cool.

16 (edited by DePartedPrinter 2013-03-26 21:45:17)

Re: filament reviews

supraflyer wrote:

A dark black SUV delivered it.


strange

+1 for the filastruder

SD2 with E3D, SD Press, Form 1+
Filastruder
NYLON (taulman): http://www.soliforum.com/topic/466/nylon/

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Re: filament reviews

Not so strange, mine gets dropped off by black helicopters.

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Re: filament reviews

SILENT black helicopters?!?

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Re: filament reviews

cckens wrote:

SILENT black helicopters?!?

They're actually ninjas

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Re: filament reviews

Don't be silly, helicopters can't be ninjas.  The ninjas are the ones that slide down the ropes and have me sign for packages with their ninja pens.  Unfortunately there is no package tracking because you can't track ninjas.

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Re: filament reviews

IanJohnson wrote:

Don't be silly, helicopters can't be ninjas.  The ninjas are the ones that slide down the ropes and have me sign for packages with their ninja pens.  Unfortunately there is no package tracking because you can't track ninjas.

First thing that came to mind

22 (edited by rattobot 2013-04-03 06:47:31)

Re: filament reviews

the printing filament PLA is non-hazardous and food safe. if you want to use PLA printers 3dstuffmaker manufactures printers to print with only PLA.

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Re: filament reviews

I agree. some kind of place for our filament threads to get together.

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Re: filament reviews

I have tried both ABS and PLA from Honeycomb Filaments , the drone versions ... I'm very pleased with the quality and the color variety. Better than your average filaments and better than makerbot's in my opinion.

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Re: filament reviews

reviews can be found here:

http://www.soliforum.com/forum/22/filament/

SD2 with E3D, SD Press, Form 1+
Filastruder
NYLON (taulman): http://www.soliforum.com/topic/466/nylon/